Once a table-thumper, always a table-thumper, eh, TLB?
If the damage to the tiles came when we think it did, it was when the shuttle was roaring to get to orbital velocity. The problem has to be detected within minutes at best if some kind of abort in the atmosphere is to be done. That's all the time you have at best before the shuttle and crew are above the atmosphere, in space, flying about Mach 25, and looking at a re-entry situation, the same problem that actually occurred.
The problem was noticed after the shuttle was in orbit. A reasonable guess is that they were "Spam in a can," in Chuck Yeager's memorable phrase, and didn't know it. If any of them suspected, if anyone on the ground did, there was nothing to be done in any event by that time.
It's all trade-offs. You can scream that the tile design is no good, but another approach will have its own problems. There's no safe way to be a space pioneer.
One thing they should look at in the next design is the current positioning of the shuttle on the booster. It's catching anything that comes loose from the forward parts of the booster during the acceleration into space. Maybe you need the precious payload up at the leading edge, like on the old space rockets.
Or an umbrella that would deflect falling stuff, then slough off. (Did I spell that right? I hate that word.)