Originally, both he and Pan were supposed to be nominated for the achievements in the Geometric Langlands Conjecture this year, and then lose the race.
But now that Frank has been kicked out, it means he has already lost the chance to enter the conference as a runner-up. It's impossible for him to recommend a candidate whose achievements cannot convince the public, even if that person is his own son-in-law.
He wouldn't even nominate Frank to compete for the Gauss Prize. The academic world may have various tricks, but first, one must produce convincing results, no matter where those results come from.
As for starting anew with a different topic now...
Obviously, it's too late.
A large-scale mathematics research project worthy of challenging the Fields Medal takes years, just like Danis's proof of the Geometric Langlands Conjecture, which took fifteen years.
Or Frank could come up with achievements akin to a new mathematical direction in the next four years...
