I have never said the coaches were perfect. I am saying even if they were, I don't see the results changing that much, no matter who the coach is. Do I think this team has enough talent to not be 0-5 yes I do. I think it is combination of upper class men having 3 different coaches, 3 different systems and just being burned out. I think it is having athletes that don't 100% fit what Frost wants to do, and Frost is just doing it anyways. I think it is kids who have seen losing as become the normal. I think it is kids who are use to doing things their way and not 100% buy in, even though they may think they are. I think it is 3 years of bad habits that need to be broken. All the way from weight room, to nutrition, to mentality. Negativity spreads like wild fire and is hard to stop. Yes I do agree that Frost being Negative about the players does not help break this cycle.
My thought is it took 3 years to get this bad, some could argue even longer. There isn't much a coach can do in 9 months to fix all of that. So I guess Frost could maybe sugar coat things and make it sound better than saying it is the kids faults, but again I don't think he cares. If the kids and fans don't like he doesn't care if they move on. He wants kids who are mentally tough, I think this is his way of weeding those type of kids out.
Well, some of this you say MAY be true to an extent but I simply can't buy it all.
First, the roster has turned over with over 50 new people, they came with no former coach baggage. I have seen players adapt to various systems quickly - the fundamentals are the same - you block, tackle, throw, catch, defend, it is the same. How the plays are run, translated, and some of the finer points are different but the overall abilities do not change. People say Frost needs more speed - well, so does just about every team in America. The WR's still run routes, block and catch balls. Defense still fights off blocks, disrupts the play and tackles the ball carrier. DB's still cover man to man or zone, not much changes there. That is WAY over stated. If you give Frost the benefit of the doubt you certainly have to give Riley even more. He followed Bo, and the attitudes that were present at that time, the poison well and all that, to what extent, I have no clue. He had a rough first year with a QB not made for his system but he won some games, was 7-0 his second year until the wheels fell off. He still didn't have "his guys" in there yet. So what is different? Nothing. Perhaps the nutrition and S&C were suspect under Riley, some players came out publicly and disagreed with that. I do like what the new crew is doing but that is not to say what was being done was completely wrong and have zero benefits. There has been enough time to make some positive gains in the S&C part of the game but holy cow batman did you see Wisky blow our D Line off the ball and they were sucking wind from start to finish. That doesn't take three years to fix. You keep talking about the mind set and how damaged some of these guys are. So who is it? Frost and the coaches know who is working and who is not - as stated earlier over 50 are new - it is open season for everyone but yet we are just now seeing some guys get benched for their work on the field so why didn't those bad attitudes show up earlier? Were they just so physically blessed they could overcome that weak mindset? Then how do you explain the team coming out and putting in a very good effort although losing. I didn't see the mental as much as just being totally whipped physically and thoroughly.
There is no doubt about your comments about being mentally tough. I have seen HS kids who do a lot more than their size would say they could simply because there were no limitations in their mind. That is rare though and it is the coaches responsibility to bring that out. If a guy has all of the problems you listed, they need to be benched and someone else step up. It is all based on success on the field and it simply is not there.
If, in fact, you are right in your assessment that the negative mental aspect is present, it is much worse than one thinks then because that means the smaller number that remained have influenced the larger number of newbies that came into the fold. Which seniors do you see as a problem in the leadership category? We don't have many to select from. Assuming it is all a "mental" problem, that is still the coaches responsibility to change. They change EVERYTHING from weight to eating to plays to studies to when practices are to the mental make up of the team.