(Yet Another) Name Thread

[CajunFun]

But those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it, Fun. Never forget the damage done by The Fossil.

Remembering the past, good.

Refusing to leave the past, bad.

"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana

"Those who do not study the past will repeat its errors; those who do will find other ways to err."
Charles Wolf, Jr.

[HoustonCajun]

Remembering the past, good.

Refusing to leave the past, bad.

"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana

"Those who do not study the past will repeat its errors; those who do will find other ways to err."
Charles Wolf, Jr.

There is the past, past, as in what happened in 1984 and in 2000 with the name change that likely will not be able to be changed. I agree, not much point in rehashing it except to keep everything in perspective because many of the subsequent decisions are confounding. Then there is the very recent past with a La Louisiane edition on branding that was abandoned shortly thereafter. A brand name has value and can add prestige to the university with national recognition. The inability to have a firm policy on our brand leads to the multiple variations in use, not to mention the UL X identity that some tie us to academically and athletically with ULM. Use of our Louisiana brand seems to be maintained in an on-again, off-again mode that is perplexing even to us diehard UL fans. I have expressed my concerns in great detail to Dr. S with no response. This year is our 30th anniversay since the 1984 University of Louisiana name change and graduating class. After 30 years, we are still consumed with an identity crisis. Just look at another thread on this board with a UL alumnus/LSU grad student who refuses to recognize his own university as Louisiana. We are the only university in the country seemingly required by everyone from individuals to media to use only its legal name in all athletic matters. This is a state-wide as well as national phenomenon. UL is smack dab in the middle of the strongest economic and fastest growing city/Acadiana region with arguably the most powerful political delegation in the state, yet appears to have little leverage in getting this name debacle corrected. We walk on egg shells around our name issue while an anemic ULM manipulates us and LA Tech proclaims itself the far superior university and Flagship of North Louisiana, while mocking us for who they say we pretend to be. This is a problem that will never go away unless/until it is properly and fully addressed and a permanent position/solution stated. Just my opinion.

[cajunwarhawks23]

Guys, I think focusing our energies on what we can't change-- including the past-- subtracts from our energy to build our future.

JMHO.

I think this is a thought people are getting behind...I for one am...w/o the ESPNs and others using a certain moniker its gonna be pretty tough...and just come up yrly when state schools play each other...which isnt a bad thing...creates some buzz every yr and maybe brings more people to that stadium

[Hammer58]

I think this is a thought people are getting behind...I for one am...w/o the ESPNs and others using a certain moniker its gonna be pretty tough...and just come up yrly when state schools play each other...which isnt a bad thing...creates some buzz every yr and maybe brings more people to that stadium

You seem to be under the delusion that UL fans give a ____ about your thoughts. Maybe you should spend your time trying to convince your neighbors to your west of the merits of playing you.

[sportsfanatic21]

Serious question...does North Carolina get all up in arms that South Carolina has "Carolina" across the front of their football uniforms? Doesn't really have a whole lot to do with this conversation, but I was just wondering after looking at the pic in the article of "Louisiana" across ours, and how other schools freak out about it.

[HoustonCajun]

Serious question...does North Carolina get all up in arms that South Carolina has "Carolina" across the front of their football uniforms? Doesn't really have a whole lot to do with this conversation, but I was just wondering after looking at the pic in the article of "Louisiana" across ours, and how other schools freak out about it.

I think both schools use Carolina and there certainly isn't any confusion on which is which. Most people don't realize that Texas A&M also goes by the Texas Aggies. Certainly not their name but no confusion with the Texas Longhorns. Yet, everybody objects to our use of Louisiana.

[douglas]

Serious question...does North Carolina get all up in arms that South Carolina has "Carolina" across the front of their football uniforms? Doesn't really have a whole lot to do with this conversation, but I was just wondering after looking at the pic in the article of "Louisiana" across ours, and how other schools freak out about it.

Not to point out the obvious but this is a little different since there are two Carolinas. I'm sure unc would have a problem if ecu had Carolina only.

It could be worse I suppose nebraska-Omaha isn't even allowed to have a football program says nebraska-Lincoln

[CajunDreDog]

Serious question...does North Carolina get all up in arms that South Carolina has "Carolina" across the front of their football uniforms?

I believe I remember reading somewhere that they do.

I think UNC started it, and USC jealously copied. USC, wait am I talking about the east or west coast USC?

[Duckster]

Houston, we've got a governor's race in 2015. If the Governor of Louisiana wants something to happen, there's a good chance it will. The most likely candidates are already well known. School administration should press our case to clear up the name restrictions with the gubernatorial candidates asking for a pledge for support if elected.

[Louisiana84]

Another clueless post. Sorry, I'm gonna have to block you.

We can thank Dr. A for this cluster____ when it could easily have been avoided with using a better name for our university, like Louisiana University or even Acadiana University. Even University of South Louisiana and keeping the USL would have been better, at least athleticaly, than what we face today. It sure doesn't hurt athleticaly or academically universities like Southern Cal, South Florida, North Texas, East Carolina, and Central Florida. While changing from the University of Southwestern Louisiana was a good thing academically, it is highly problematic identity wise. Accepting the city tag along with UL Monroe in exchange for supporting their joining our conference created a nightmare for us. The slightest bit of vision back then would have established a solid new identity 30 years ago. Then Dr. S/Marketing screwed the pooch by telling the SBC that our preferred reference athletically is UL Lafayette, but our nickname is Louisiana Ragin Cajuns, making us the UL Lafayette Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. And please use UL-L...WHAT?Now, no one knows what to call us and we have every variation you can think of being used (and some we never thought of). Then, when ULM came to town last year and despite the LA Louisiane issue proclaiming our athletic branding as Louisiana, we crawfished before our own fans, still with no explanation as to why the cave-in. We don't even have consistent use within our university. It is more than stating that there are all of these various UMs and only 2 ULs, Louisiana and Louisville. We are stuck with a rediculous law that will continue to haunt us for years to come. Every other university in the state refuses to call us Louisiana and will never use UL thinking there is an implication that we are the flagship of the UL System. Other than an occassional reference to us as Louisiana, no one outside of Lafayette refers to us that way. Even throughout Acadiana, local newspapers refer to us as Louisiana Lafayette. That articles like this continue to be written is proof enough of our serious identity issue. We play Mississippi on Saturday on the SEC network. Let's see how many name variations are used in that game, despite Louisiana on our uniforms. I'm guessing UL Lafayette, UL Laf, Louisiana Lafayette, and perhaps even an U La La thrown in.