The rub is that SRB seems to have been ahead of the curve in at least one respect, namely the mounting gulf between Y and F (VX's F may have been surpassed on the "premium Transcon" routes, but I'm noticing a slow creep of better "F+" options out there, be it DL's modest spread of lie-flat routings or B6's Mint). They got smacked with a bit of a first-mover curse, but...good God, I remember how blown away I was on that first trip. I think the overarching trend is towards a truly impressive F/Y gulf and he did twig that.
Part of the losses were timing-based (rolling an airline out right before the market crashed was not a winner) and part was down to the fact that the "obvious" opening has been for a Spirit/Allegiant-type carrier (even B6 started out on that side of things with a coach-only business model...which is part of what underwhelmed me with them...and IIRC even B6 has had some profit margin issues). But yeah, part of it is the simple fact that the top tier of airlines in the US has become so consolidated that other folks do have a spot of trouble competing.