I simply don't trust Archibald to rebuild this squad. He has won the league granted but he's never put a team together to win the league, he inherited it from McNamara which means, really, this isn't a situation he has been in before and can be trusted to take care of. 2 of the 3 you list as shite choices to replace him have won the very same league and all 3 of them have won either the Scottish or league cup. As uninspiring as all 3 of them were if we were a club looking at those 3 plus Archibald to fill a vacancy and had no ties to any of them as club legends he'd probably wouldn't be further ahead of any of them in the race to be appointed.
Ultimately the manager is responsible for bringing in players like Woods, as nice a thought of him turning it around is I just can't see it happening.