The State Of The Musket Address: To New Beginnings

Greetings, everyone.

I'm sure by now you've had time to read WVUIE97's farewell to everyone here at The Smoking Musket, past and present, and have had time to dry the tears, so I figure it's time to make my Inaugural State Of The Musket Address. I know how much energy Mark has put into this site for the past six or seven years, and his journey into the Post-Musket era is well deserved. But I also know he will be around to offer guidance if I need it as I get my feet under me; my own personal Gold & Blue Yoda, if you will, and for that I want to go ahead and thank him for everything he has done.

As for everything here at The Smoking Musket, changes are coming. Don't let that scare you, because change can be a good thing. In order for a site to thrive it has to grow, and that will be my goal as site manager. That doesn't mean I want to lose sight of who we actually are, and with the help of our current editorial staff I believe this can be achieved. I want to take what Mark and Dr. Charley West before him have built, and use it as a foundation to bring The Smoking Musket to new heights.

You may begin to notice some of these changes beginning over the next couple days and into the next few weeks. I know we are in the doldrums of the college sports world, but you can expect more content to comment on and discuss. I also want to encourage and include more of your FanPosts on our front page, and will be actively working on that going forward. Yes, that even applies to you people I won't agree with. First and foremost, this is a community for Mountaineer fans, and everyone has a voice. Furthermore, I expect our current staff to stay largely intact, and the features you know and love will remain here, in addition to new features as we ramp up into football season and beyond.

I'm excited to begin leading The Smoking Musket into a new era and look forward to interacting with everyone of you as we continue to grow the site and become even better than we already are!

And as always...