2014 Branding Fiasco: UL-Lafayette or UL-L (SBC Reference Guide)

[jumboragncajun]

The chicken would bang that drum and nobody ever had a problem screaming U-S-L.

[HoustonCajun]

The name effort will not ultimately fail. A retreat was taken here but the surrender flag has not been raised. Eventually-may take awhile but it will happen at some point- we won't be in the same conference as ULM and their opinion will then be meaningless.

May take a while...It has been 13 years since our name change. We had the administration on board with LOUISIANA. We were fighting the fight and were near winning it. Then the ULM game, which was a precurser to this, and now we officially just LOST it with the SBC announcement and it will never be recovered. We as fans CANNOT change what ESPN or any other network calls us. UL marketing just lost this name for us and it is a crying shame. No one fought harder for Louisiana than I did, and in one fail swoop it is gone. To say our President wants us to use UL-L and UL Lafayette, then say it is not mandated is absurd. Changing conference won't make a difference. We are now entrenched as UL-L and UL Lafayette. UL marketing is trying to crawfish on this, but there is no getting around how greatly they screwed the pooch on this while our President remains silent. I have never been so disgusted to be an alumnus of this university.

[SlappyCajun]

The name effort will not ultimately fail. A retreat was taken here but the surrender flag has not been raised. Eventually-may take awhile but it will happen at some point- http://www.vaneatonromero.com/L13246836 we won't be in the same conference as ULM and their opinion will then be meaningless.

Mike,

Did you use hyphens on purpose?

[CajunEXPRESS]

You got it HC, you got it 100%. All the bravado by the poor remaining jap soldiers on UL-L Island will never change it, Tojo, er T-Jo has spoken. The Tabby A Bomb has blown away all will.

[Turbine]

The chicken would bang that drum and nobody ever had a problem screaming U-S-L.

I liked that logo.

USL was a forever problem much like UL because national media did not honor it, they would say "Southwestern Louisiana" which to this day was the best recruiting tool McNeese ever had.

Opposition used it to say Slow Learners which was one of the reasons why ULL was so frowned upon from day one.

[MelRock]

I liked that logo.

Opposition used it to say Slow Learners which was one of the reasons why ULL was so frowned upon from day one.

I thought that was always our best logo. I would tell people USL stood for University of Super Lovers.

[ZoomZoom]

I have never been so disgusted to be an alumnus of this university.

I understand the personal financial risk our president faces to buck the system. However, giving the green light for different parties to try UL again only to let your fan base collectively take it up the backside, accountability is needed.

At least the bus was lighter weight wise this time. +1 HC

[CajunEXPRESS]

Our president has almost zero financial risk. He is fully vested into the retirement system, and if fired he could easily find other employment thus making MORE money.

I understand that WE fans cannot see the end game, the big picture, yet we do understand the little picture, and it is ugly.

[ZoomZoom]

Heck, let's change our name from Ragin Cajuns to Passive Eunuchs...

[CajunJack55]

I don't want to turn this into a bash our leadership thread which is why I started a seperate thread. Just some ideas for alternatives in this whole name debacle. Since we are doing this I thought about possible names and this is what I think could be best long term. Our leaders don't want Louisiana, other schools don't want us using Louisiana...

THE University of Lafayette Ragin Cajuns

Now hear me out:

PROS

1) We can still use UL (100% legally)
2) We have enough recognition as Lafayette so it wouldn't be that big of a change on a national level (another words people would still recogize we were ULL)
3) MOST IMPORTANT: NO confusion or association with ULM..As long as we are UL-L and they are UL-M, we will always be associated/linked to them on a national level. Period.
4) City tag is similar to AAC members Houston, CIncy, Memphis and former Louisville. All schools we want to be associated with and a conference we want to be in
5)NO "flagship" argument or pushback from other state schools. They all say they don't care but we all know they do. If we are University of Lafayette, they have absolutley NO ARGUMENT whatsover. Sure the older fans will still call us USL, but they will eventually die off and newer fans will call us UL or just Lafayette (which is what most younger fans from the state call us)
6) We can continue to proudly market our French/Acadian/Cajun roots. With the Lafayette name we will still be strongly connected to those roots and use this as a powerful marketing tool for our university. (Marketing has GOT to get better though)

Cons

1) Lafayette Leopards - We already get confused with these guys sometimes but honestly they are no threat and they will not keep us down being confused with them. I would rather that then be associated with Monroe anyday.
2) ULM using Louisiana - I do not see this happening for a few reasons...ULM was not the only school in Louisiana that fought us using Louisiana. If they try then they will not succeed. Other Louisiana system schools and LSU willl not allow it. We also know that they like to be called ULM and has chosen to market themselves as so.
3) Could it get done?? I am ignorant to the process of actually changing our name and what Monroe would have to do if we change our name.

Obviously I am just brain storming here. But if our leaders are giving up in Louisiana then they need to think of alternatives in my opinion. No UL-L, ULL, UL-Laf...We do not want to be linked to Monroe. We do not want to be linked to LSU. We don't want to be linked to McNeese or any other school. Just like our culture and city, we want to our own unique university.

Again I don't want this to be a bashing thread otherwise you could just merge it Turbine. Just some constructive ideas for alternatives and how it could be done.