One thing I did like on the old board was seing your Avatar on the menu screen. Is it possible to do on the new software? The banner could be shifted to the left and top right you could have your Avatar (or the WFC badge for guests/non logged in) along with your login name? Not urgent and if it's a nightmare, don't bother but think it would be nice.
In actual fact it already says, welcome : username and when you last visited so just the Avatar above it would be cool.
I found a few plugins and tried them on the test site. All looked awful. They all kept the same sized avatar so the front page was destroyed. I'm still looking for a way to display what you want but with a resized avatar. The only other way would be to use what I've already tried but limit everyone's avatars to 80x80. I'd get shot if I did that I'm still looking and posting on v-bulletin boards but don't hold your breath for now.