As of late, all of the talk around campus has been the firing of Coach Don Carthel. Press conferences have been made, citing the NCAA by-law violations or lack thereof. The blame has been cast about and fingers have been pointed. There have been movements wanting to reinstate Carthel and the dismissal of both the Athletic Director and the President of the University. In spite of such a talented football team this year, this is murky territory for Buffalo Nation. It’s quite chaotic, but yet, it doesn’t need to be.

Let’s find ourselves a voice of reason here.

Obviously, Coach Mike Nesbitt has been given the reigns of the program. He’s a ‘Carthelite’ in a sense, meaning that he runs the practices just like the most successful coach in West Texas A&M Football history. He has a fair degree of pedigree, being the punter for Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints before crafting offensive game plans for the likes of Stephen F. Austin and the University of Houston. Nesbitt has also had his own history with Buff Nation, guiding the Buffs to strong offenses in 2009 and in 2010.  He served as a mentor for recent Buffalo greats such as Taylor Harris and Charly Martin.

Obviously Nesbitt is not Don Carthel, but with his successes at WTAMU and everywhere else, he’s pretty close. The scrimmages recently have been lauded as great and the players have put this situation behind them. This team is hungry to do more than claim the Lone Star Conference as their own once more and return to the playoffs. They want a shot at the Division II National Championship.

Don’t get us wrong, Coach Carthel is a good person and we do wish that things would smooth over between him and WTAMU much sooner than later. We do have to accept what happened and realize that with or without Don Carthel, there will always be a WTAMU football program and despite the recent events surrounding this issue, we will be here to support the program, through high and low times.  We hope Buff Nation would do the same.