I don't know why Frost wouldn't come out and blame the prior staff for their current issues yesterday. He's had no problem doing it the other times he's been asked about it before.
This puzzled me as well. "This is my team now" may be a step in the right direction, but as Pennsy noted it still comes off as a way of potentially hedging one's failures as a coach and staff.
In answer to Pennsy's question, I think he is problematically trying to do both: Frost is trying take responsibility for the product on the field and point out that part of the reason it's so bad has nothing to do with him.
Some of the criticism Frost has leveled at his own players thus far would have been lamented by the fans and media of previous administrations as "throwing kids under the bus." He has also taken seemingly every opportunity to point out flaws in the way the previous administration did things. That is starting to look real bad right now, because whatever the flaws of the previous administration they did not have a season start out like
this, and the players do not seem to be making satisfactory progress.
Also, so far in Frost's tenure there has been a palpable "us" and "them" mentality, where "us" mostly points to being a winner, a hard worker, and a defender of past tradition and "them" refers to selfish players who don't work hard enough and don't get Nebraska's "culture." All of this talk about "buy-in" and establishing a culture, while it's great low-hanging fruit for the fan base and may galvanize them and keep them from losing hope, does not at all seem to have been healthy for the
team.
Even yesterday Frost is pointing out individual players he'll go to "battle" with, but that means there are some players on the team he
wouldn't go to battle with. Is Gerald Foster someone he would battle with, or is Frost just waiting for his eligibility to expire? What about Tanner Farmer and other players who at least
seem to get it but can't quite execute (for whatever reason)? Do these outsiders know who they are? Have they been held accountable, or will they be held accountable now?
Most importantly: why isn't he willing to go to battle with
everyone if it's
his team?
Apparently, when he said it was "his team" he meant he is responsible for the product on the field, but he is not responsible for the players that comprise it. So it's both "his team" and
not "his team."
I hope that kind of thinking changes going forward, because Frost has the longest leash of any coach at a D1 program ever. If he truly feels that way he has the leeway to start true freshmen and walk-ons where needed and to get "his team" on the field. If after this game there is still an "us" and "them" that shows up on the field--well, after five games in that that's a problem that seems to me to rest squarely on Frost's shoulders.