Would you support a change

[CajunCanaille]

If another university within the state is using it then I change my mind. Either go with the BullGator or bring back THE CAJUN CHICKEN!!!!!

[IberiaCajun]

_ Centenary College has been using a Catahoula mascot for three years now:

http://www.gocentenary.com/ViewArtic...ATCLID=1177342 _

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that. So it wouldn't be "unique." I still think it would be good to have a mascot on the field at sporting events.

[HoustonCajun]

_ Thanks for the info. I didn't know that. So it wouldn't be "unique." I still think it would be good to have a mascot on the field at sporting events. _

If Centenary has the Catahoula (State Dog) and Tulane has the Pelican (State Bird), what is left is the Bullgator, which is a great fit because of the gators in our on-campus swamp. Also the Bullgator character in costume would be a great sideline addition.

So what if Florida is the Gators. How many Tigers, Bulldogs, Aggies, etc. are out there? I don't know of any other Gators and we would be in good company. Heck, we were first with the Swamp, which Florida now uses. That never seemed to bother them. A Gator fits the whole Swamp theme anyway. And, as THE University of Louisiana, we can have a male and female costumed characters named Louie and Ana, further tying into our name identity.

It is time once and for all for UL to come up with some creative and effective marketing. We have the #1 moniker in college sports in Ragin Cajuns. Let's add the Gator as our Mascot. Let's change our current circular logo by using ONLY red, white and black colors, saying LOUISIANA (without the 's) Ragin Cajuns and keeping the Fleur de Lis in the middle. The Pepper should be utilized, but ONLY for the accent on Ragin'. Then, let's get officially approved and licensed gear out there for us to buy using just LOUISIANA Ragin Cajuns and UL WITHOUT Lafayette. After 10 years, it is time to make our move. We can no longer say we have other priorities. Marketing should be a critical element of everything we do. Don't wait for the winning to start or the stadium to be renovated, then address all of this. Do it now in conjunction with everything else and it will all come together in an explosive way.

[rhineaux]

It is time once and for all for UL to come up with some creative and effective marketing. We have the #1 moniker in college sports in Ragin Cajuns. Let's add the Gator as our Mascot. Let's change our current circular logo by using ONLY red, white and black colors, saying LOUISIANA (without the 's) Ragin Cajuns and keeping the Fleur de Lis in the middle. The Pepper should be utilized, but ONLY for the accent on Ragin'. Then, let's get officially approved and licensed gear out there for us to buy using just LOUISIANA Ragin Cajuns and UL WITHOUT Lafayette. After 10 years, it is time to make our move. We can no longer say we have other priorities. Marketing should be a critical element of everything we do. Don't wait for the winning to start or the stadium to be renovated, then address all of this. Do it now in conjunction with everything else and it will all come together in an explosive way. _

You drop the pepper altogether. It doesn't even need to be used at the end of "Ragin" in a logo. Anything that will clutter the logo can't be present, be it a pepper, a flame, an extra color, whatever. I don't even like the idea of incorporating black. Doesn't mean it can't be used as trim/accent in our uniforms (although I'd prefer to keep it real with the vermilion & white...many schools get by with only two colors) but no reason for it to be a major part of our logo.

Secondly, two logos, max. Like I said earlier, there were countless variations of our school's name/logos seen last Saturday. You keep the FDL as the main "symbol" for your logo's. Then, you drop the U from all logo's, and keep just the L. They always say that if you use "UL", it has to be followed by the Lafayette. I'm not sure why none of them have figured out that they could just drop the U. So, you've got a capital L, with the FDL incorporated somewhere, as your first logo. Then, you've got another with "Ragin Cajuns" with the FDL incorporated somewhere. Maybe you do one other with LOUISIANA written out, and the FDL. But, that's all you need. The more variations you give them, the more opportunities they'll have to create their own variations.

Ideally, you want a single, simplified "brand" that you can easily market and that is easily recognizable, i.e. the Texas 'Longhorn', Michigan 'M', Oregon 'O'...something that, when people see it, even though it doesn't say, Texas, or Michigan, or Oregon, they know the school it represents. Some may say that the FDL wouldn't be good for this because the Saints are so well associated with it, and that may be a legitimate gripe. But, ours is a little different, and you'd be hard-pressed to find something that represents our culture so uniquely, than that.

[RaginWaldo]

We could always just have someone dress in Overalls and Rubber boots and have them hold a live Gator on a leash at each game LOL

[CajunNation]

We'll trade them the pepper. They're pretty nice people. They'll do it.

OK... "unique" just went out the window... but "cool" is still in play. If they got him from a shelter I wonder if they really have a Catahoula. Some guy got mad because a neighborhood Springer Spaniel knocked up his Lab. He brings them to a shetler and says their "Catahoulas". Centenary people are so easy.

I see no reason to let a DII school claim ownership of the state dog.

Also, I can't think for too long about the mind-blowing incompetence of the administration when it comes to marketing and branding. I will throw up.

[CajunNation]

The Bullgator would be an excellent idea if we were the UL Gators. I think it would cause confusion. When we had the Chicken and the Bulldog roaming the sidelines at the same time, it was a lot of fun for sure, but I can't tell you the number of fans from other schools who would question me as to just who the heck we are. The Bulldogs? The Chickens? They just didn't get it.


To me there are 3 options we have for a mascot.


1) A physical representation of our nickname, CAJUN MAN. We've tried it before, and while I think it could work, I don't think there are many that want to go down that road again.

2) An obscure spirit leader/lovable abstact thing. It seems to work for WKU and "the blood clot", not so much with "the flaming vegetable".

3) A mascot that doesn't confuse people like the Bulldog, Chicken, or Gator, but serves a purpose very well in that it further defines who you are. That is the state dog of LOUISIANA, the CATAHOULA.



It could be present at the football games and it could have a page in every gameday program in every sport dedicated to it's long history in the state and it's ties to the fighting spirit of the RAGIN CAJUNS.

You won't be able to promote it like "the flaming vegetable" or the "Bullgator" with its logo on everything, but that is how it should be. RAGIN CAJUNS and UL/LOUISIANA should be center stage.




It boils down to this. While they are many who seem to be very eager to rally around a "thing" that we can be entertained by, wear on our clothes, and put on a bumper sticker, that is a bad idea for the UL RAGIN CAJUNS. We should be rallying around the CAJUNS who are busting their tails on the field of play.

Either embrace RAGIN CAJUNS as our nickname, or change it to the Bullgators, Bulldogs, or whatever animal you want to plaster on your clothes and cars.

[Boomer]

_ We could always just have someone dress in Overalls and Rubber boots and have them hold a live Gator on a leash at each game LOL _

the first part is a winner---Just look at the West Virginia Mountaineer----Hey Camile da Cajun would work --come out and get the Ragin'-Cajun chant coming from both sides----Shot a unloaded shotgun shell when he comes out---Would be great ---A lil Cajun accent would be great!!!!!

[CajunNation]

Clemson and lsu-br ARE the Tigers.

We are the Ragin' Cajuns. If we roll out a gator mascot, people will confuse us as being the Gators.

With a group of people as a nickname, unless you have an actual person as a mascot, the leprechaun at Notre Dame, your mascot almost by definition has to be, at best, a background figure. It's something that adds background as to who you are without confusing people.

Tennessee VOLUNTEERS have a dog mascot, a coon hound.

Texs A&M AGGIES have a dog mascot, a collie.

The beauty of the Catahoula is that it is original, is not confused with a bulldog to where people will assume you are the bulldogs, and it is tied to the state.......a state that we want to have as our name.

The only way we can have a mascot that can be front and center, with the crazy guy in an animal suit that everybody just loves and doesn't cause mass confusion as to who we are is to change our nickname to whatever that mascot is.

Now, who wants to change our Ragin Cajun nickname?

Not me.

[CajunNation]

[CajunNation]

What mascot comes to mind when you hear the word "AGGIE"?

What mascot comes to mind when you hear "VOLUNTEER"?

What mascot comes to mind when you hear "MOUNTAINEER"?

IRISH?



How many times do I have to say this? When you have a group of people as a nickname, you either have a mascot that is an actual, physical representation of the nickname, or you have a mascot that has to be given background status.

You can't have it both ways. Once you put a mascot, that is not the physical representation of your nickname, on the same level or higher than your nickname, you are changing your nickname by default.

Do you people think that the A&M fans worry that they don't have a cute/cuddly mascot that they can dress up their precious 1 year old like?

They are AGGIES. Everything else is window dressing.

[HoustonCajun]

_ The Bullgator would be an excellent idea if we were the UL Gators. I think it would cause confusion. When we had the Chicken and the Bulldog roaming the sidelines at the same time, it was a lot of fun for sure, but I can't tell you the number of fans from other schools who would question me as to just who the heck we are. The Bulldogs? The Chickens? They just didn't get it.


To me there are 3 options we have for a mascot.


1) A physical representation of our nickname, CAJUN MAN. We've tried it before, and while I think it could work, I don't think there are many that want to go down that road again.

2) An obscure spirit leader/lovable abstact thing. It seems to work for WKU and "the blood clot", not so much with "the flaming vegetable".

3) A mascot that doesn't confuse people like the Bulldog, Chicken, or Gator, but serves a purpose very well in that it further defines who you are. That is the state dog of LOUISIANA, the CATAHOULA.



It could be present at the football games and it could have a page in every gameday program in every sport dedicated to it's long history in the state and it's ties to the fighting spirit of the RAGIN CAJUNS.

You won't be able to promote it like "the flaming vegetable" or the "Bullgator" with its logo on everything, but that is how it should be. RAGIN CAJUNS and UL/LOUISIANA should be center stage.




It boils down to this. While they are many who seem to be very eager to rally around a "thing" that we can be entertained by, wear on our clothes, and put on a bumper sticker, that is a bad idea for the UL RAGIN CAJUNS. We should be rallying around the CAJUNS who are busting their tails on the field of play.

Either embrace RAGIN CAJUNS as our nickname, or change it to the Bullgators, Bulldogs, or whatever animal you want to plaster on your clothes and cars. _

Do you mean like the Alabama Crimson Tide with an elephant as its mascot? Or Auburn Tigers/War Eagles? Or the Tulane Green Wave with a Pelican as its mascot? Or the Texas A&M Aggies with a collie dog as its mascot? I could go on and on. We can be the Ragin Cajuns and have a gator as a mascot. It ties in perfectly with the on-campus swamp and Cajun Field as "the swamp". The Cajun Chicken I never got. The guy was colorful and imaginative in his antics, but there was NEVER a connection to UL. He could do the same antics in a Gator costume. The Bulldog is history, let's leave it there. Besides, with the LA Tech Bulldogs, we don't need to go back to a similar mascot. And, the same with the Catahoula if Centenary has it or the Pelican if Tulane has it.