Ancient Greeks coined the phrase "Perfect practice makes perfect performance." Lombardi popularized it more recently. Yet it often gets degraded into "practice makes perfect."
Bad practice repped repeatedly only makes bad habits. Working hard should inherently require working smart, otherwise you're just wasting time and resources.
Mario saying he's working hard means nothing without actual insight into what that entails, but the results on the field indicate it's not smart effective work.
Actions speak louder.
Where is self scouting and evaluation? Where is evaluation of current coaches, coordinators and position groups? Where are changes and adjustments based on film study and external scouting? Are they even holding player competition in practice?
Nothing is changing week to week for the last 5 weeks, what is he working on? Is he just referring to recruiting?? That seems to be the only thing hitting consistently (obviously not great this year, but comparatively speaking).