Fans of the Nicholls football team are fickle sometimes, especially when they’ve been waiting a couple years for a winning season.Fans have already written off this year’s football team because they are 2-7 on the year, but I have a question for the fans: did you expect an immediate turn around?

This is Charlie Stubbs’ first year as head coach for the Colonels, and I think he’s done an outstanding job.

I’ve heard rumblings from students saying things like, “They got a new football coach and they still suck.” Fans always need to be patient when there is a coaching change especially at the college level.

Coaches have to recruit, implement their styles of play and even sometimes change the morale from a losing program to a winning one.

I’ve talked to Coach Stubbs on several occasions, and one thing he continues to say is that the team will continue to improve each year. Even though this team has seven losses on the year, it is evident that this team has made improvement.

The Colonels have been in tight battles all season with most of their opponents even though the scoreboard doesn’t show it. The Colonels often hang tight through the first couple of quarters and the other team pulls away due to turnovers or missed opportunities.

People don’t realize that the same group Stubbs has running the spread now ran nothing but a triple option a year ago. A team will have its share of growing pains when the offense goes from a run-heavy offense to a more balanced attack.

The bottom line is Coach Stubbs is a great football coach and has the experience it takes to turn a program around, but it takes time.

Stubbs has served as offensive coordinator at schools like Oregon State, Memphis, Alabama and Louisville. Everywhere he’s been, he’s improved the offense.

When Stubbs was at Alabama, they won Southeastern Conference Championship that season, and Stubbs was named the 1999 SEC Offensive Coordinator of the Year.

Not all good things happen overnight, so it’ll take a season or two for Coach Stubbs to get this team to become a legitimate contender in the Southland Conference.

So from one Colonel to another, please have patience with this team and continue to support your Colonels.