LV's move is reflective of a greater movement among today's youth in athletics in general. They are taught to think about themselves first, team a distant second. This is ingrained by their parents from an early age and is a hard habit to break. You can aruge whether this is a good thing, but as a teacher and coach I have witnessed first hand this trend over the decades. I believe it is worse in a sport like distance running (XC, Track, Triathlon), than say for example basketball, which I also coach, because distance running is inherently an individualistic endeavor.
I don't blame LV for what I would consider a poor decision (a better one would have been to have finished out the season, then transferred), but his parents. Obviously, the kid was out of his comfort level and his paretns were first in line to say "it's alright honey! come back to us, it will all be fine!" Again, for more and more people today, this is the appropriate parental response. I would say that is different than years ago.
That said, I will still route for the kid in triathlons. If he can come out the swim near the leaders, he can draft the bike, which has been mentioned, in ITU competitions, and crush the run, his specialty. But I also believe once he commits full time to triathlon training, he will never be able to switch back to elite distance running (if for some reason he has yet another change of heart). The requisite cycle training needed to go with these elite guys, even drafting, is immense and will change his physiology so that it is specifically tailored to triathlons. Will be able to run a 29 flat 10k, probably. But 27 low will never again be in the equation.
My two cents.