It's typically the opposite. The most successful operations from secret services are the ones you never suspected even happened, while the fuckups are the ones who make the news.

And recast your wins as failures (and failures as wins) when the need so arises

That's a little flip.

When one visits South Bend, I would guess there are zero posters commemorating when they were ranked #1 and lost the last game of the season to an unranked Boston College.