>> simply getting credentialed (i.e. getting your Ph.D.) 
  >> does not mean you can count on a tenure track 
  >> academic faculty position.

This has never been the case. In order to avoid exponential growth, the average professor that trains Ph.D.s can only produce in his/her career about one student who goes on to become a professor that trains Ph.D.s. (ignoring some growth in a particular field). Some schools produce a much larger number of future professors. As a result many smaller schools produce very few.