For ruggedness, there are a number of rackmounted, solid-state (e.g., SD card) recorders -- see Marantz and Tascam for example. I haven't looked into it that much, but it seems the problem with these is they a 2ch devices for the lower cost ones, or if you want multi-channel units they can be several thousand.
Then there are lots of multitrack recorders that have control surfaces more like the Zoom linked above. Must say, I know nothing about them.
If a portable recorder would work and rugged rackmount isn't needed, the new Tascam DR-680 might be worth considering. He can record up to 6 channels, and then record the final 2 tracks as a mix track. So with the one recorder he can record 3 sets of 2ch inputs (say stereo soundboard, on-stage mic pair, audience mic pair) and then record a mix-down of them all. All the raw files are there if he gets an itch to really play around with post production, and he has a 2ch mixdown done at the time of the recording with no fuss. The mixdown can be set to relative amounts of each of the L-R input pairs, so he can preset it for mainly soundboard and onstage, and a smaller amount of audience -- or whatever.
Get that and a few 16gb/32gb cards that can later be dumped to a computer. Leave some money in the budget for some TB drives, at 8ch recording, he'll be racking up the data.
The question of mics is a lot easier, since we all pretty familiar with them. For cost vs performance, without necessarily the need for multiple caps and active cables and whatnot, I'd give a vote for some Audio-Technica mics. Get a pair of AT4022 omnis for onstage and a pair of AT4021/AT4041 cards for aud mics. $1000 for 2 pairs of high-quality, excellent sounding, and rugged mics. Not to say that a couple pairs of Marshall MXL603's for a $100 a pair wouldn't do the trick if he is mixing in mainly a board feed.