UL's Logo Crisis

[RCAJUN90]

_ Absolutely. Mascots are totally unimportant.

Changing from Bulldogs to Ragin' Cajuns was a complete waste of time & money. _

Yes it is paramount to good football teams. The 1950's looking Lion of Penn State and the goofy Cornhusker dude to mention just two of hundreds of bad mascots have negatively impacted their football teams. Ragin Cajuns is a great nickname not mascot but that will only get us so far.

[CajunNation]

I agree with you. The only current UL logo I like, or will wear is the interlocking UL. I have about 10 different shirts with the UL embroidered on it, and I go through great lengths to avoid the other logos.

So I didn't go into it... but check out this photo. It was another lapse here.

They were using this for years before we were. Any suggestions?

It's a non-issue as far as I'm concerened.

First, there are several schools that use the same lettering. Several have just an "M" on their helmets as their primary logo, etc. etc.

Are we really going to discourage use of our UL logo because of what another school's band uses?

If trademarking is an issue, just alter the font a little.

Secondly, one good thing that has happenned since the name change is that the general public has gotten into the habit of referring to us as UL. Very few of Louisville's own fans refer to them as UL. We are winning this battle.

To give up on the UL logo right now would be a disaster. So, if we are going to use it, we may as well use it like we mean it.

We are UL. Let's tell the world. Put it on the helmet.



On a side note, the bullgator would be a huge mistake. It would most definitely be seen as a copycat of Florida by the public. Also, it's not like you can have an actual gator roaming the sidelines, and it does nothing to identify ourselves as UL.

The brown pelican(state bird) is a great idea. I just prefer the Catahoula(state dog) because I think it would be a huge hit with the public. Everybody loves dogs, especially kids. Catahoula also has a slight "cajun" connotation as well.

Both are winners because both further enhance our position as THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA.

The bullgator would do no such thing and would only cause confusion with our extremely beloved, all powerful, bliss-inducing nickname, Ragin Cajuns.

Are they the Cajus? Are they the gators? Who are they?

[Turbine]

On a side note, the bullgator would be a huge mistake. It would most definitely be seen as a copycat of Florida by the public. Also, it's not like you can have an actual gator roaming the sidelines, and it does nothing to identify ourselves as UL.

The brown pelican(state bird) is a great idea. I just prefer the Catahoula(state dog) because I think it would be a huge hit with the public. Everybody loves dogs, especially kids. Catahoula also has a slight "cajun" connotation as well.

Both are winners because both further enhance our position as THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA.

The bullgator would do no such thing and would only cause confusion with our extremely beloved, all powerful, bliss-inducing nickname, Ragin Cajuns.

Are they the Cajus? Are they the gators? Who are they? _

I can't say I am well traveled out of the state, but in trips to Seattle (my sisters wedding) Nebraska every summer of my youth. And New York several times (where my perents met) the subject of Louisiana Alligators invariably was brought up by our hosts.

Not once (that I recall) did the topic turn to Pelican or the Catahoula or the Black Bear . . .

[RCAJUN90]

_ I can't say I am well traveled out of the state, but in trips to Seattle (my sisters wedding) Nebraska every summer of my youth. And New York several times (where my perents met) the subject of Louisiana Alligators invariably was brought up by our hosts.

Not once (that I recall) did the topic turn to Pelican or the Catahoula or the Black Bear . . . _

I like the "Red Bull Gator" but really is there such a thing? Although it doesn't matter. MT goes with that winged unicorn looking thing. I think the Red Gator might work for us but then again we have to start winning.

[HoustonCajun]

_ I like the "Red Bull Gator" but really is there such a thing? Although it doesn't matter. MT goes with that winged unicorn looking thing. I think the Red Gator might work for us but then again we have to start winning. _

Check out another thread on the Bullgator. It has great possibilities.

1. The character looks great and put Chicken Man in a Bullgator costume and you have something really entertaining and appealing to fans that finally has a connection to the university.

2. We have a natural swamp on campus with a Bullgator.

3. Our stadium is called The Swamp.

4. Our soccer complex is called Gator Cove.

5. The Bullgator mascot has marketing and apparel appeal.

6. We can do the gator chomp at games which gets the fans more into the game.

7. Only Florida has a Gator mascot. So what if there are similarities. Did we change The Swamp just because Florida's stadium is also called The Swamp? Clemson, Missouri, Memphis and LSU are all the Tigers and all play Hold That Tiger as their theme song and nobody worries about anybody copying each other. LSU's Tiger Stadium is also called Death Valley. Clemson calls their stadium Death Valley. Again, no problem there. Hey, we would be in great company with Louisiana and Florida. Besides, they are the Florida Gators and Gators is both their mascot and moniker. UL's moniker is the Ragin Cajuns and our mascot is the Bullgator. There is a difference.

8. The Peppers only place is the accent on Ragin. It is not used anywhere else in marketing.

9. We need a name for the Bullgator. Fideaux is one name. Zydeco was also suggested, sort of like Gumbo for the Saints. Louie was also suggested as was Louie and Ana, if we got two Bullgators to reflect the Louisiana name.

10. We can build a swamp habitat around the stadium to duplicate the swamp on campus and have our Bullgator mascot there for our fans at The Swamp.

Just a few items to think about. The Brown Pelican and CatahoULa are also possibilities. However, the Bullgator brings the greatest benefit for reasons stated above, IMO.

[AstroCajun]

See my comments in the mascot poll. Louisiana is The Pelican State.

There are four things about Tulane's mascot that are salient to this discussion.

1) Tulane uses the white pelican, a fresh water bird located primarily in Europe & Africa. The brown pelican is a completely different species, a saltwater New World bird.

The two species are as different as the tiger and the lion.

2) Tulane has changed mascots and logos constantly, generating new ones every few years. They have had several versions of a wave, and just prior to the pelican, they used Poseidon ("Ruler of the Waves"... I had to figure out who it was, and why it was at a Tulane game, all by myself... they change 'em, and then they don't market 'em).

The pelican is the most recent effort, and has not really caught on (outside of a Tulane football game, how many times have any of us seen it?) I predict that Tulane will eventually abandon it, and return to the wave.

3) Even though I am a Tulane alum, I have to be honest: it is not at all clear that Tulane will remain 1A.

4) I can't state reason #4 publicly. But it's potent.

My favorite was when Tulane had a dude in a wave suit that looked like Gumby. It was as embarrassing to look at as Cayenne.

I remember the last time we beat Tulane in New Orleans sometime back in the 90's (early 90s that is) and we had gotten Gumby so mad at us that he flipped us the bird!

Good times, good times.

[CajunFun]

My point exactly. The White Pelican hasn't caught on because it is not inherently interesting or inspiring. Aside from the inspiring imported Brown Pelicans from Florida story, same goes.

Make no mistake their current thriving state in Louisiana is very exciting but it is just for looks. They are as native to Louisiana as the bee hive recently found in Ville Platte.

jmo

Is it because the pelican "is not inherently interesting or inspiring"? (Actually, it is extremely interesting, IMHO.)

Or because it hasn't been properly marketed?

There is nothing inspiring about the Miami Ibis, the Oregon Ducks, the Minnesota Gophers, the OU conestoga wagon, the Stanford tree, or the Ohio State shrub (the buckeye).

But they have all been huge marketing successes. Schools have shown that any identity-- correction, any unique identity-- can work, if properly marketed. Tulane, as I have noted, changes mascots every few years... and then they don't do much to market them. (Did you, or any of us, ever hear anything about the Poseidon mascot, even though Tulane used it for several years??)

A gator isn't unique. It may be interesting. It may be inspiring. You can argue that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

It may be all of these things, but the point is immaterial. If we use any variation of a gator, we will always be viewed as nothing more than Florida copy-cats.

Let me remind you that in the '60's, there was a staunch group of supporters who fought actively against "Ragin' Cajuns", and wanted to keep the Bulldog. At that time, Bulldogs were cool (but generic) and Cajuns were most definitely not cool (but entirely unique).

By your argument, we should have kept what was cool and generic-- and interesting and inspiring-- not what was un-cool, uninspiring, but unique. By your argument, we should still be the Bulldogs.

And I don't think you believe that.

Now, the Catahoula hound is unique, and can be inspiring. But the breed is not widely recognized outside of Louisiana. Remember, Tennessee uses a dog as one of its marks. And I would bet you that less than half of the casual college football fans even know that a dog is one of UT's mascots.

And I feel quite confident that less than 1 in 10 of them can tell you what the breed is, or the connection to UT. (For some time, I assumed it was a Tennessee bloodhound. I was wrong, it's a blue tick hound.) Now, EXCEPT for its use at UT, were any of us aware that there WAS such a dog as the blue tick hound? Or much less that the breed came from Tennessee?

On the other hand, the brown pelican is unique, and strongly identified with Louisiana-- it's our state bird, it's on the Louisiana flag, it's on the Great Seal of Louisiana, it's on our US quarter, and it is our state's nickname.

So my point is the one I always take: we're here to build a University, not a sports program. The Brown Pelican isn't inspiring? The above examples show that this is not a salient concern.

It's unique. And it's the state bird. That mean it has great value, both from the point of identity, but much more, from the standpoint of political support. Because just like "UL" and "Ragin' Cajuns," it once again solidifies our identity as THE University of Louisiana.

If we are looking to build a University, not a football program, I can't see how we can pass up political points to be cool (but puzzling), or to be cool (but generic).

PS Just why DID you leave the pelican off of the CURRENT poll?

[NOCajun]

_ I agree with you. The only current UL logo I like, or will wear is the interlocking UL. I have about 10 different shirts with the UL embroidered on it, and I go through great lengths to avoid the other logos.

So I didn't go into it... but check out this photo. It was another lapse here.

They were using this for years before we were. Any suggestions? _

THAT hat is the ONLY place at the University of Louisville where you will see that interlocking UL. Their official logos are the Cardinal head and the "Roman-style(?)" L.

[CajunNation]

Now, the Catahoula hound is unique, and can be inspiring. But the breed is not widely recognized outside of Louisiana. Remember, Tennessee uses a dog as one of its marks. And I would bet you that less than half of the casual college football fans even know that a dog is one of UT's mascots.

And I feel quite confident that less than 1 in 10 of them can tell you what the breed is, or the connection to UT.

Now, you know the same is true for the pelican. The fact that it is on the state flag means very little to the public. Who memorizes the state flags of this country?

The bottom line is that we are not changing our nickname to either the Catahoulas or the Brown Pelicans. It would just be a mascot for a school that doesn't have a good representation of it's nickname. Like the collie at A&M and the hound at Tennessee.

All I know is that if we are looking for something to represent the fighting spirit of The University of Louisiana and this state, this seems like a darn good choice:

<<The King of the stock dog breeds, most enduring... stamina is their middle name... CATAHOULA LEOPARD STOCK DOGS outwork and outfight all other breeds of stock dogs when protecting their master, livestock, and property. They are the largest and most aggressive of the cattle dogs, bred to handle wild cattle and hogs in the roughest, most remote country. Catahoulas will also hunt coon, bear, or whatever else they are introduced to. >>


http://www.catahoulaleopard.com/homepg.htm


The Catahoula is the perfect bridge from building a university(state dog) to building an athletic program(see above).

[CajunFun]

Now, you know the same is true for the pelican. The fact that it is on the state flag means very little to the public. Who memorizes the state flags of this country?

The bottom line is that we are not changing our nickname to either the Catahoulas or the Brown Pelicans. It would just be a mascot for a school that doesn't have a good representation of it's nickname. Like the collie at A&M and the hound at Tennessee.

All I know is that if we are looking for something to represent the fighting spirit of The University of Louisiana and this state, this seems like a darn good choice:

<<The King of the stock dog breeds, most enduring... stamina is their middle name... CATAHOULA LEOPARD STOCK DOGS outwork and outfight all other breeds of stock dogs when protecting their master, livestock, and property. They are the largest and most aggressive of the cattle dogs, bred to handle wild cattle and hogs in the roughest, most remote country. Catahoulas will also hunt coon, bear, or whatever else they are introduced to. >>


http://www.catahoulaleopard.com/homepg.htm


The Catahoula is the perfect bridge from building a university(state dog) to building an athletic program(see above).

Well, I disagree.

But there is a point I need to clear up:

Name . . . . . . . . .Nickname . . . . . . . .Mascot
Oklahoma. . . . . . .Sooners. . . . . . . . . . . Conestoga Wagon
Texas A&M. . . . . .Aggies. . . . . . . . . . . . Collie (Reveille)
Miami . . . . . . . . . . Hurricanes. . . . . . . . . Ibis
Tennessee. . . . . .Volunteers. . . . . . . . . Man in Buckskin, Dog
Georgetown . . . . .Hoyas. . . . . . . . . . . . . Bulldog
Bama. . . . . . . . . . . Crimson Tide. . . . . . .Elephant
Louisiana. . . . . .Ragin' Cajuns. . . . .Mr. Red Okra Head

I don't want to replace Ragin' Cajuns with the Brown Pelican.

I want to replace Gumbo Gumby.