From the very beginning, the folks sponsoring the Rust effort from within Mozilla made sure that Mozilla couldn't directly control things. And Mozilla also just isn't that kind of organization to begin with, honestly.

These conversations have been going on a long time. This particular iteration of this conversation started before I left Mozilla. It has nothing to do with me personally, regardless of that relationship.

I have long (before, during, and after my employment at Mozilla) have thought that an independent foundation would be excellent for Rust, but am worried about the details. Foundations require active administration, which is even more work. And it's unclear who does that work. I think that we've grown to the point where it very well make sense now, though.