I have lived all over America and have been around a handful of college towns and universities, from those I attended, the football games I covered, or those my family has been involved in.

I had never seen a university president so beloved by the students before I started covering Southeast Missouri State athletics.

Nowhere else have I gone to a college basketball game and seen the president's facial cutout hoisted by a fan in the student section.

It is probably because nobody is a bigger supporter of the Redhawks than SEMO president Dr. Carlos Varges and his wife, Pamala Vargas, who is also the Director of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Wherever the Redhawks are, they are. They cheer on the team and get the fans going.

Dr. Vargas can regularly be seen in the SEMO tailgate scene before football games and occasionally in the student section with the fans during basketball games. Where else will you find a student fan holding a fat head cutout of the school president?

SEMO, that's where.

SEMO's home opening win over UT Martin was the first game since the Southeast Arrow, the school's student paper, broke the news of Vargas' contract not being renewed, thus concluding his decade-long term at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Dr. Varges had a lot to celebrate in recent years. Since 2019, the Redhawks have won an Ohio Valley Conference title in all but two sports, 21 in total, including two OVC Comissionor's Cups.

"His legacy will live on, and he certainly has been a part of one of the success, most successful athletic departments in the school's history," SEMO football coach Tom Matukewicz said. "And he was the leader of that."

It's been a promising season for SEMO so far. The Redhawks capitalized on their rare primetime appearance on ESPN and defeated North Alabama in the FCS Kickoff. They lost to New Mexico State but put up a good fight, leading for 3 1/2 quarters. Their victory over UT Martin put the Redhawks in an early lead in the Big South-OVC race.

"I would say the only one who is happier is Pam," Matukewicz said. "Pam's a legitimate Die Hard football fan and loves a lot of the Redhawk players."

It's something to be said when plenty of the athletes I've talked to over the past few years view SEMO as a welcoming community and their teams as a family.

"It's a culture," Matukewicz said. "You recruit the right kind of people, you have the leadership, and we just believe that really, legitimately all we got is each other. What makes it special is not necessarily the win, it's winning with your brothers. That's really just the depth of the emotions because you're doing that with people you really, really care about."

Mid-major programs like SEMO are supposed to be stepping stones for ambitious coaches and players alike. Matukeawicz could've left to lead a bigger program after winning his first OVC championship. However, not only has he been leading the Redhawks for over a decade, every Fall sports coach has been around for that long, most notably Heather Nelson, who started the women's soccer program at SEMO and has been there for 26 years.

If there was ever something to play for this season, it's Carlos and Pam Vargas. They deserve to go out with one more FCS playoff run.