“Mentality” is inherently subjective - it’s not directly measurable - so we agree there.
Objectively, you could argue that a very similar roster using very similar contributors against a very similar schedule managed to significantly outperform the previous year in the one category that matters - wins. Something changed and it wasn’t the talent or infrastructure. The coaches changed, as did the systems. No real arguing that. You could argue that those two things somewhat measure “mentality”.
Which draws me back to my original post and why I made it. Leadership matters. It sets the “tone”, or “mentality”, if you will. I’ve seen it firsthand. The unit I’m with now failed a deployment certification event 2.5 years ago - putting it at risk of failing to deploy. Culture and morale were cited as the primary culprits - the officers and senior enlisted didn’t trust the command element and start going through the motions. Junior enlisted personnel followed suit. Unit limped through some remediation drills and barely qualified to deploy. A new command element came in and invigorated the junior officers and rebuilt trust with the senior enlisted. A unit with only 20% turnover not only passed all events 18 months later, we won the Battle E - awarded to the highest performing unit of its type. The junior enlisted talent pool or training hadn’t changed. The senior enlisted didn’t suddenly learn to be better leaders. The junior officers were still learning - an expectation for all first tour officers in an operational unit. The only difference was the leadership style and “culture” it created. We have a damn good shot at winning it again this year.
Don’t dismiss it as different - my guys are the same age range, come from similar backgrounds, and deal with similar problems to UF football players. In some instances, harder circumstances. Yet they fall prey to “culture”, “morale”, and distrust of leadership and it completely undermined their ability to perform. I saw that in the team under Mac. So I can’t measure it but I know what I saw - an unfocused unit going through the motions. That wasn’t the case this year.