No matter your opinion, Coach Stewart deserves support

On Nov. 13, 2009, West Virginia squared off against Cincinnati in a football game that would essentially decide the Big East champion.

I remember sitting in my living room watching the game with my friends when a buddy of one of my roommates came into the room intoxicated.

He asked what the score of the game was, and I told him that Cincinnati was ahead by seven points. His response still bothers me to this day.

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed.

Needless to say, I politely asked him to leave my apartment as soon as possible. We ended up losing that game 24-21, and Cincinnati won the Big East Conference Championship.

The next day, my roommate apologized for what his friend had said.

He offered up this excuse for why he was cheering against West Virginia. "Oh, he hates Coach Stewart. He wants us to lose so they fire him and get a real coach."

This was not the first time I had heard this line of thought. On the day of the Cincinnati game, I was given a ride home from class by a friend whose opinion I value. He took the line of argument that even though he wanted us to win, it may not be in our best interest in the long run.

Although I understand the reasoning behind those cheering against their team if they want the coach to be fired, I still find it to be deplorable.

The point of being a fan is that you cheer for your team to win. Period.

Another good friend of mine summed up this line of thinking by saying, "If you would prefer to be right and our team be bad rather than be wrong and our team be good, then you aren't a fan."

For example, I did not agree with the coaching philosophy of John Beilein. We took way too many three-point shots, we put absolutely no emphasis on rebounding the basketball, and we could lose to any team in the country on a given day. However, in his five seasons at the helm, I did not once cheer against West Virginia so we could get a coach that I liked better.

Even though I didn't like that style of basketball, we achieved a great deal of success under Beilein, which included a three year run of an Elite Eight, a Sweet Sixteen and a National Invitational Tournament championship.

Beilein did this University a great service. He took a program that was in shambles and righted the ship. He laid the groundwork for the extreme level of success that Bob Huggins is now achieving. Unlike other coaches who left, he carried himself with a degree of class, and I am proud to have had him as our coach for five seasons.

I may not agree with everything that Stewart has done in his two seasons here at WVU, but he is our coach, and he has my full support.

This is a call to every fan on campus and off, especially to our incoming freshmen and transfer students. Let's change the attitude. Let's be positive. Cheer every time we take the field that Stewart and the Mountaineer football team will take us to victory.

A leader is only as strong as the faith carried by those he leads.

We need to show that faith. That doesn't mean we have to agree with every decision that is made by the coaching staff, but it does mean that we should never waiver in our devotion to this team and its eventual success.

As this new football season approaches, I hope that Stewart and the Mountaineer football team prove all the doubters wrong.

I hope that the fans embrace this team and this philosophy as their own. Most of all, I hope that the first time Noel Devine only gets 12 carries in a game, I can take my own advice and not use this column to call for Jeff Mullen's job.