My thought on the whole Irvin family sphere of influence on these kids is that it was always overplayed. if anything, I think negatively recruiting against us is probably a bigger deal than them actively pushing kids to come here (which, if I'm being honest, probably isn't what is happening now).
I think if any favors have shifted our way, its the Irvin's are/have stopped being so negative towards us and are more neutral on the subject. In all likelihood, hiring Chin has done very little to sway our power in Chicago--as would hiring most anyone who the Irvin's see as favorable.
The belief that the Irvin's are the key holder's to talent in Chicago and that they refuse to give us grade A recruits has become so engorged online. Chin might be the best addition we could've made to help us sign guys like Ayo, but he certainly isn't some golden ticket to 5* 's.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but it has always seemed to me that the Irvins legitimately do have their players' best interests in mind (at least in part because the players' best interests are their own best interests). It also seems pretty clear that most good recruits really value the input of their AAU coaches, which makes a lot of sense.
So the Irvins legitimately do have a pretty fair big of influence on where their players are likely to play college ball, and if the Irvins had an overall negative view of UI, it probably did hurt us. One important voice expressing doubts to a player can do a lot, even if that player really did like us. So, even just flipping their opinion to neutral at least means they no longer have that negative voice.
They really seem less like gatekeepers and more like a hill in the landscape of a player's decision. If they are positioned such that we have to drag the player uphill to get them here, we will lose out on more recruits than not. If they are positioned such that it's downhill for the player to end up in Champaign, then we will have a much easier time. We also have to remember that there are other hills in that landscape with competing priorities, and those hills just get bigger when you add more stars to a recruit, so sure, the Irvins aren't the sole deciding factor.