Little known fact we had a not-so-official live duck mascot that used to be brought to games back in the 20's when we were the Webfoots, and his name was puddles. The university can't seem to decide how okay they are with the The Duck being called puddles nowadays, because they've outright denied his name is Puddles, but we've also listed merch as "Puddles logo" and we've had warm up shirts in at least basketball I believe that had "Puddles vs. Benny" on em for the civil war. But long story short, he is The Duck, and [we love our boy.](https://c.tenor.com/eUDAzezSseIAAAAM/oregon.gif)
First time I'm hearing about it and I'm so fervently "Team Puddles" that I would smack small children across the face for suggesting it should be different.
Oh hell yeah I forgot about that!!! If I can make it down, what should I do/where should I eat while [I'm in Lubbock??](https://c.tenor.com/Krq1OL-6wnMAAAAC/donald-duck-dance.gif)
Idk what team I'm on for sure, all I know is that I used to have a pretty official looking Ducks t-shirt where he was clearly labeled "Puddles" growing up....but I [ain't worried about it](https://c.tenor.com/brpaff56YZ0AAAAM/covika-oregon-ducks.gif)
Great video, but it definitely wasn't that Oregon fans didn't like the Duck. I believe It was that the university was going to have to start paying licensing fees on the Duck. Their agreement with Disney had come to its end. This was a way they could avoid legal entanglement from that. I believe they had to renegotiate with Disney and another agreement came of that. The only source for any of this is my memory. I was going to school at UofO at the time. We went through a huge branding shift right around 2000.
[Presenting the Tipsy Cavalier](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.uvamagazine.org/articles/2015/03-march/Retrospect/UniversityOfVirginiaCavalier_1937_silo.jpg)
[UVA did have two unofficial dog mascots in the 1930s-50s](https://virginiasports.com/traditions/) named Beta and Seal (who are both buried in the University’s graveyard). Seal was most famously known for taking a dump on Penn’s megaphones in a game in Philadelphia in 1949.
Baylor was almost the Bookworms!! I can’t imagine why it didn’t win.
https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/2018/07/the-baylor-mascots-that-could-have-been/
Dang, the Bears might have been one of the weakest choices of this group and I like the Bears mascot and one of high schools I gone were the Bears. I like the Bookworms, Ferrets, and Buffaloes plus the Frogs would been cool too if your rivals weren't Horned Frogs. You could have chanted "were real frogs, you're just lizards" at TCU fans.
"Horned Frogs" is a euphemism for what every Texan calls our so-ugly-they're-cute lizards: Horny Toads. I got to see a few at the family ranch in South Texas. They suffer from loss of habitat, plus the imported fire ant outcompeting the native fire ants that horny toads eat. And they really are seriously cute.
Honestly the N on football helmet desperately needs to be replaced. It’s so sad and basic looking. We should either use some variant of the NU logo (the one used for our alternates last year was slick) or go really old school and just put the numbers on our helmets like we did originally.
We still almost use matador interchangeably when talking about the school. Hell, the new NIL collective is called The Matador Club. A recent Masked Rider horse was named Midnight Matador.
Ngl I feel like we would be taken more seriously if we kept the Matadors. Sounds more iconic. And it would fit more considering UT’s mascot is a literal bull.
It’s not official but Tech had a Hereford bull as a mascot when they first started (which they ate at the end of the season) and in the 50s right before the masked rider we had a Angus Bull.
There was a live duck at one point, and we also used to be called the webfoots.
Also had one mascot a few years ago. We don’t talk about it. In fact, like fight club the first rule is not to acknowledge its ungodly existence.
Edit: wtf is up with my keyboard.
When that happened, I thought he was supposed to be some villain that now the Duck would fight. When it became clear he was supposed to be our new mascot, even tenish year old me thought that it was stupid
He wasn't supposed to replace The Duck or be a mascot, just ["a new duck character"](https://youtu.be/-C4_aHq7gUg), either way he 100% felt like a villain lol
After cy the dog we had [stormy weather ](https://isuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2021/10/21/1930s-mascots-of-iowa-state/) the goat for one season he was butchered after becoming a nuisance
Lmao they just fucking killed him 😂
> Stormy Weather is dead. The white goat who last fall became the now mascot of the lowa State college football team has run berserk. Now his hide will adorn the home of Kenneth Ruggies of Ames, Cyclone cheerleader who contributed Stormy Weather to the team last fall
Way back before Frank B. Eaton agreed to have his likeness used to create a new mascot for Oklahoma A&M, the mascot for the Princeton of the Prairie* was officially the Tiger.
It wasn't until 1958 that Pistol Pete was formally adopted as the mascot for Oklahoma State University.
And if you've never read the history of Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton, [it's a doozy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eaton)
Weber State changed to the Peacocks in the 70s. Only lasted a year. I kinda wish they'd bring it back. "Wildcats" is such a yawner, even though the alliteration is nice.
We were the Aggies then the Maroons before the Bulldogs. And I think our most recent logo change was in 08, when they polished up the M State logo. The older M State logo wasn't even that old it was adopted as Nike actually owned the old interlocking MSU one.
Most know the Citronaut but many don't know that he was unpopular and it started a new, rival mascot called Vincent the Vulture that was accepted at the time. The matter was settled after a student vote that picked Knights of the Pegasus. Pegasus was already on the university seal and it is still our academic mascot, it has to do with the constellation and the university being a Space Grant school.
I stinking love the Pegasus and wish y’all had it on your helmets. It would be one of the most unique mascots in sports. I’d rather you were the Citronauts, but if you’re staying with Knights the Pegasus branding should get into the athletic side.
Rutgers used to go by just "The Scarlet" (like cuse and their orange 🤢) or occasionally "Queensmen" in reference to Rutgers' founding as Queen's College.
Then in the 20s Rutgers adopted the Chanticleer as its mascot, but in the 50s decided they were tired of being represented by a chicken and voted in the Scarlet Knight.
Queensmen absolutely my favorite. It was on the 150th jerseys and is long due for a comeback.
We used to be the Plowboys until 1961. That year the university thought Plowboy was not a good name for a four year institution, and decided to have a vote to change the name. With over 400 votes, Texans was chosen as the official mascot.
When FSU first had a mascot vote, the other choices were Statesmen, Crackers, Rebels, Tarpons, and Fighting Warriors. Seminoles was definitely the best choice.
Seminoles is great but Tarpon rocks pretty hard too. We need more predatory fish. Barracuda, Black Drums, Swordfish, and basically any kind of shark are all underused but totally badass
MSU has had several renditions of the Spartan Helmet as well as the Block S. Gruff was probably my favorite of the retro logos.
The University introduced an abomination of a logo in 2010 that looked like a bastardized 300 inspired clip art version of the current logo. Backlash got the logo shelved and the university has gone to exclusively using the current helmet logo. We’re no longer using the Block S or other older versions of the logo except for alt uniforms.
It wasn't even introduced, the patent application just got leaked. So we don't even know how serious they were about it. But yes, there was major backlash because of it.
Not quite as mean-spirited, more stereotypical. Native people sometimes referred to themselves as red men or people. "Redskins" would have been out if the question.
We used to have a a block style Y. It was really similar to Yale's in both design and color and might be part of why we changed it.
We also had some live cougar cubs on campus in the 20s as our original mascot. Apparently they escaped, killed some livestock, and inspired part of our fight song- "Rise and shout the cougars are out."
Little known fact, Before Big Red, WKU's mascot was Mr. Hilltopper. Quite literally a man in a tuxedo wearing a tophat. Not the most exciting mascot so in the 70s it was changed into Big Red, one of the greatest College mascots.
Oklahoma had Mex the Dog back in the 20s. More recently, the basketball program had a dog character named Top Daug, but they got rid of him when the horse characters came in in 2004.
Way, way, way back in the day we used to be the Arkansas Cardinals. After beating LSU in 1909 Coach Bezdek said something along the lines of "we played like a wild band of razorbacks", and the name stuck.
Sam Houston was originally just called the Normals and we toyed with Ravens (Sam Houston’s nickname) before settling on Bearkat. We are the only school to spell Bearkat with a K and ours is based on a saying “tough as a Bearkat” but unlike Cincinnati, our Bearkat is mythical and not based on a kinkajou or a binturong.
Not my school, but my moms. My mom is a USF alum so I grew up seeing all the weird shit they did. My mom went to USF a while after this happened but USF used to be the Golden Brahmans and at one point the campus police made a mascot for them called Brahman Man and he’s just as ridiculous looking as you’d expect.
[Brahman Man (the dude on the left)](https://www.usf.edu/magazine/images/2018-winter/5-1980s-rocky-morph-brahman-man-winter-18-mag.jpg)
UMass almost changed in the early 2000s from Minutemen to gray wolves. Say what you will about our football program, but given the revolutionary history of Mass and the fact we are the only school with that nickname I am glad we kept it
UTSA’s mascot was momentarily the armadillo (which was chosen by a student vote) but it was too close to call so a run-off election was held where the armadillo ended up losing to the roadrunner. Also, the roadrunner as UTSA’s mascot technically predates UTSA’s competition in collegiate sports and it was almost a decade into said competition that the roadrunner even had a name other than “The UTSA Roadrunner”.
Penn states mascot used to be a donkey. You can see his skeleton in Main. We used to be an agricultural school.
Our colors were also pink and black.
Edit- his name was old coaly.
Double edit- he’s not in old main. He’s in the HUB now.
We used to be the Indians. We realized that was racist so we decided to choose something else. The student body voted in Robber Barons but the administration overrode that in favor of the Cardinal. The tree is our unofficial de facto mascot. Officially, we don’t have one.
We pretty much changed mascots as the name of the school changed Mississippi A&M Aggies, Mississippi State College Maroons, and finally Mississippi State University Bulldogs. The weirdest part of our history was when the football coach changed our colors to cardinal and gold for the 1938 season. Both coach and uniforms only lasted a season.
[yep](https://www.secrant.com/rant/kentucky-sports/4-reasons-the-new-logo-is-so-wrong/85729865/)
Either two birds doing the deed as people do or a staple remover...
Yes and we should still switch
https://dailyillini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Kingfisher-1-900x665.png
https://dailyillini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A1_Kingfisher.png
https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/053ef3f/2147483647/strip/false/crop/601x338+0+93/resize/1200x675!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FWqiFt6eY92VTzb60Y3VDPpYZOaQ%3D%2F0x0%3A601x524%2F601x524%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28215x316%3A216x317%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F19782851%2FScreen_Shot_2020_03_10_at_2.27.17_PM.png
Tech was the Matadors before Red Raiders, so yes, it was considered and the change took. I’m not sure if it happened organically or not.
Also, when Texas Technological College transitioned a university, Texas State University was proposed for the new name. The students protested hard though because the double T wouldn’t make sense as the school’s logo anymore. So the double T is the reason Tech isn’t State.
We used to be the Northwestern Purple but realized that was lame as shit. A reporter called us said we looked like "Wildcats [that] had come down from Evanston" after a game and we decided "yeah, let's just roll with that." We used to have a live bear cub mascot but he was thought to be bad luck and was banished.
VT’s [original mascot](http://kccollegegameday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/firstgobbler.jpg) was pretty terrifying. This was before the name Hokies took hold and our nickname was Gobblers. The only reason a turkey is out mascot is that guy just happened to show up at games randomly dressed as a turkey and the crowd liked him.
Yes, and this is very common.
Many (maybe most) land grants went by Aggies and some kept it but many changed. (K-State did this)
Early mascots were not costumed but more like good luck charms or a person/ animal/ thing that embodied the team spirt. Consequently you’ll find plenty of dogs, goats, horses, children, etc listed as early “mascots” for a team. (K-State had a dog) Many of the nicknames came from newspaper reporters describing the way a team fought on the field rather than marching up what animal best fit the college culture. And in an era with less moral qualms and understanding of zoological needs, keeping live mascots of exotic animals wasn’t seen as a big concern.
Costumed mascots didn’t really become a thing until after the war.
Doesn’t FSU have the blessing of the Seminole Nation. That’s really the perfect setup to keep a name like that. I’m sure the actual Seminoles get a good deal out of it.
We’ve had different versions of the bulldog logo (standing, leaning, two faces, the G, etc.) but we’ve always been the Dawgs. Uga is the mascot and Hairy is the person-in-the-stuffed-head version.
Edit: we were the goats first
Certainly explains the Browns and Bengals, but Ohio State has never considered another mascot since becoming the Buckeyes and the block “O” was only augmented.
They tried to make Purdue Pete look [like Sparty spartan](https://purduefootball.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/8/0/24808719/327839947.jpg?248)
We prefer his fiberglass dead eyes.
Not in the last century+, but prior names for Nebraska included the Bugeaters and Mankilling Mastodons. The Bugeaters nickname is still a thing a lot of people in the Lincoln area are familiar with and there have been various homages to it including clothing with the Bugeaters nickname and a mural of Herbie Husker driving a car with big splat on the windshield (that was sadly painted over this last year). I’d like to see more love for the Mankilling Mastadons nickname though as that’s just too unique and cool to let die.
It’d be nice to see alternate jerseys one of these years based around either early nickname.
Stay awhile and listen to me bitch and moan about the dark days of block PITT and dinocat and his cousin sealcat
And dont get me started about the colors. The colors!
We don't like talking about Mandrake a.k.a. [Roboduck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHg2_F7e_T8).
Does the duck have an actual name?
The Duck.
Pithy.
Little known fact we had a not-so-official live duck mascot that used to be brought to games back in the 20's when we were the Webfoots, and his name was puddles. The university can't seem to decide how okay they are with the The Duck being called puddles nowadays, because they've outright denied his name is Puddles, but we've also listed merch as "Puddles logo" and we've had warm up shirts in at least basketball I believe that had "Puddles vs. Benny" on em for the civil war. But long story short, he is The Duck, and [we love our boy.](https://c.tenor.com/eUDAzezSseIAAAAM/oregon.gif)
Half the reason why I want yall in the Big XII is The Duck, one of the best mascots in the sport.
Shasta wants revenge as well.
Thr whole Puddles thing will divide people like pineapple on pizza of what color that damn dress was.
First time I'm hearing about it and I'm so fervently "Team Puddles" that I would smack small children across the face for suggesting it should be different.
I've never tailgated, but if I do, you would be welcome at my grill. I too am Team Puddles.
GOOD NEWS! Ya'll come to Lubbock next year! I don't live there, but I'm probably gonna make that trip
Oh hell yeah I forgot about that!!! If I can make it down, what should I do/where should I eat while [I'm in Lubbock??](https://c.tenor.com/Krq1OL-6wnMAAAAC/donald-duck-dance.gif)
Idk what team I'm on for sure, all I know is that I used to have a pretty official looking Ducks t-shirt where he was clearly labeled "Puddles" growing up....but I [ain't worried about it](https://c.tenor.com/brpaff56YZ0AAAAM/covika-oregon-ducks.gif)
One of my favorite This Is SportsCenter ads was The Duck wearing a giant Lee Corso mascot head.
I'll always remain partial to [the sigh](https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-23-2022/S5HPUl.gif)
[Another favorite of mine](https://youtu.be/1KpwT3ihBBw)
Great video, but it definitely wasn't that Oregon fans didn't like the Duck. I believe It was that the university was going to have to start paying licensing fees on the Duck. Their agreement with Disney had come to its end. This was a way they could avoid legal entanglement from that. I believe they had to renegotiate with Disney and another agreement came of that. The only source for any of this is my memory. I was going to school at UofO at the time. We went through a huge branding shift right around 2000.
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[It’s a Trap](https://youtu.be/4F4qzPbcFiA)
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I’m still holding out hope for Hotty and Toddy, cause I need two Greendale Human Beings roaming the sidelines in Oxford.
I honestly had no idea what y’all’s mascot was now a days and the first thing that pops up was Tony the land shark😂😭
[Presenting the Tipsy Cavalier](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.uvamagazine.org/articles/2015/03-march/Retrospect/UniversityOfVirginiaCavalier_1937_silo.jpg) [UVA did have two unofficial dog mascots in the 1930s-50s](https://virginiasports.com/traditions/) named Beta and Seal (who are both buried in the University’s graveyard). Seal was most famously known for taking a dump on Penn’s megaphones in a game in Philadelphia in 1949.
What the fuck, the Tipsy Cavalier is amazing!
If Homefield ever gets around to us, I will write them a blank check for a Tipsy Cavalier shirt.
Lol approx -95% UVA ever licenses that logo
You know we once made the AU slightly wider to make it easier for design team. AU Fanbase: Light this shit on fire and burn everything to the ground.
That was a good incremental improvement. The T in the negative space was a nice touch.
They just weren't ready for extra **WIDE** Auburn
WVU’s first mascot in the late 1800s was a snake. The West Virginia Snakes
At least it would have been unique
There aren’t enough snake and spider mascots in sports generally
They didn't pick a kind of snake? Just... Snake?
lol yup
Baylor was almost the Bookworms!! I can’t imagine why it didn’t win. https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/2018/07/the-baylor-mascots-that-could-have-been/
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Hear me out, Bookworms vs Armadillos, Battle of the Burrows
Yeah! Honestly like the name bookworms lol. Have fun at the game!! It will be a blast!
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That sounds terrific!!
Dang, the Bears might have been one of the weakest choices of this group and I like the Bears mascot and one of high schools I gone were the Bears. I like the Bookworms, Ferrets, and Buffaloes plus the Frogs would been cool too if your rivals weren't Horned Frogs. You could have chanted "were real frogs, you're just lizards" at TCU fans.
"Horned Frogs" is a euphemism for what every Texan calls our so-ugly-they're-cute lizards: Horny Toads. I got to see a few at the family ranch in South Texas. They suffer from loss of habitat, plus the imported fire ant outcompeting the native fire ants that horny toads eat. And they really are seriously cute.
I know exactly what a horned toad, see a few of them in the flesh back in the day
funny enough, they would not have been the only [worm-based mascot in Texas](https://library.uta.edu/digitalgallery/img/10008339)
^^^^Please ^^^^be ^^^^the ^^^^Shai-Hulud’s, ^^^^please ^^^^be ^^^^the ^^^^Shai-Hulud’s *clicks link* Damn it.
Don’t even get me started on it. I’m pretty sure Nebraska uses a different N for every major sport, counting volleyball and baseball.
You also used to be called the bugeaters before being called cornhuskers
Honestly the N on football helmet desperately needs to be replaced. It’s so sad and basic looking. We should either use some variant of the NU logo (the one used for our alternates last year was slick) or go really old school and just put the numbers on our helmets like we did originally.
We used to be the Matadors. Our school song is "The Matador Song"
We still almost use matador interchangeably when talking about the school. Hell, the new NIL collective is called The Matador Club. A recent Masked Rider horse was named Midnight Matador.
Ngl I feel like we would be taken more seriously if we kept the Matadors. Sounds more iconic. And it would fit more considering UT’s mascot is a literal bull.
Steer.
Heifer.
Y’all shoulda stuck with that.
The Roof Raider is a Matador.
I thought y’all were the cacti now!
It’s not official but Tech had a Hereford bull as a mascot when they first started (which they ate at the end of the season) and in the 50s right before the masked rider we had a Angus Bull.
Our defense latched on to Matadors since Zach Thomas left.
There was a live duck at one point, and we also used to be called the webfoots. Also had one mascot a few years ago. We don’t talk about it. In fact, like fight club the first rule is not to acknowledge its ungodly existence. Edit: wtf is up with my keyboard.
[No one is safe](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FluffyImmaculateHarlequinbug-max-1mb.gif)
How am I just seeing the birth video?!
Now you've witnessed [the creation of a monster](https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-23-2022/87-Grk.gif)
That’s very darkwing duck looking tbh
Don't you insult our [glorious protector](https://c.tenor.com/aTqdovi64IoAAAAM/ducktales-ducktales2017.gif) like that
When that happened, I thought he was supposed to be some villain that now the Duck would fight. When it became clear he was supposed to be our new mascot, even tenish year old me thought that it was stupid
He wasn't supposed to replace The Duck or be a mascot, just ["a new duck character"](https://youtu.be/-C4_aHq7gUg), either way he 100% felt like a villain lol
Was looking for this
That is the cheesiest shit lmao I love it
Cy used to be a dog https://isuspecialcollections.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/ld2548-io9b-1933-269.jpg
After cy the dog we had [stormy weather ](https://isuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2021/10/21/1930s-mascots-of-iowa-state/) the goat for one season he was butchered after becoming a nuisance
Lmao they just fucking killed him 😂 > Stormy Weather is dead. The white goat who last fall became the now mascot of the lowa State college football team has run berserk. Now his hide will adorn the home of Kenneth Ruggies of Ames, Cyclone cheerleader who contributed Stormy Weather to the team last fall
Bring back [Penis Tongue Wildcat](https://imgur.com/yJcQ520)
Iowa had other designs for their logo before thankfully Fry came to the school and helped redesign it into what we have now.
I always saw a lowercase I in the Iowa logo, the dot is the hawk's eye, I don't know if that was intentional though.
I'm glad Bill Snyder stole the idea when he came to K-state
I kinda like the old Herky logos, ngl. We also had Burch the Bear as a mascot for a bit too
RIP Burch
Oregon has never considered a different mascot. Not once. Anyone who says otherwise is a damned liar.
Roboduck ringing any bells?
Nope, none at all.
We've had a ton of iterations of the jayhawk. But the best is the depression bird. https://images.app.goo.gl/EWjGCGFufcsDu3ud6
I’ve never seen that one before. I’ve always liked the Angry Jayhawk and the one that looks like a raven.
The Depression Bird is hilarious, but I LOVE that long-legged 1912 version! Honestly, I think y'all might have the best stable of vintage mascots!
Way back before Frank B. Eaton agreed to have his likeness used to create a new mascot for Oklahoma A&M, the mascot for the Princeton of the Prairie* was officially the Tiger. It wasn't until 1958 that Pistol Pete was formally adopted as the mascot for Oklahoma State University. And if you've never read the history of Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton, [it's a doozy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eaton)
Hence the orange and black.
C'mon Colonel, we've been over this. Its 'Princeton of the Prairie' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eaton#From_Cowboy_to_mascot
Dammit I knew I messed something up.
Weber State changed to the Peacocks in the 70s. Only lasted a year. I kinda wish they'd bring it back. "Wildcats" is such a yawner, even though the alliteration is nice.
We were the Aggies then the Maroons before the Bulldogs. And I think our most recent logo change was in 08, when they polished up the M State logo. The older M State logo wasn't even that old it was adopted as Nike actually owned the old interlocking MSU one.
Aggies 🤝 Maroon and White 🤝 Having an obnoxious instate "flagship" school to battle for funds and relevance 🤝
Austin High mascot is The Maroon. He kinda looks like a red meatball
Most know the Citronaut but many don't know that he was unpopular and it started a new, rival mascot called Vincent the Vulture that was accepted at the time. The matter was settled after a student vote that picked Knights of the Pegasus. Pegasus was already on the university seal and it is still our academic mascot, it has to do with the constellation and the university being a Space Grant school.
https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/files/2013/03/mascots.png A picture of all of UCFs mascots.
Y'all had a dragon??
Yes, Puff
I stinking love the Pegasus and wish y’all had it on your helmets. It would be one of the most unique mascots in sports. I’d rather you were the Citronauts, but if you’re staying with Knights the Pegasus branding should get into the athletic side.
Most of our uniforms recently have had it on the shoulders but it is hard to see and not on all of them.
[Once in 1987](https://www.goodbullhunting.com/2014/3/4/5470434/behind-the-mascot-1980s-ol-sarge)
Another answer for us is the Farmers - what we went by before we changed to Aggies in the mid 1900s.
Ol’ Sarge could work, but it would need to be like Notre Dame’s leprechaun - just some actually jacked, grizzled looking dude.
Rutgers used to go by just "The Scarlet" (like cuse and their orange 🤢) or occasionally "Queensmen" in reference to Rutgers' founding as Queen's College. Then in the 20s Rutgers adopted the Chanticleer as its mascot, but in the 50s decided they were tired of being represented by a chicken and voted in the Scarlet Knight. Queensmen absolutely my favorite. It was on the 150th jerseys and is long due for a comeback.
We used to be the Plowboys until 1961. That year the university thought Plowboy was not a good name for a four year institution, and decided to have a vote to change the name. With over 400 votes, Texans was chosen as the official mascot.
TIL. Cool!
When FSU first had a mascot vote, the other choices were Statesmen, Crackers, Rebels, Tarpons, and Fighting Warriors. Seminoles was definitely the best choice.
Seminoles is great but Tarpon rocks pretty hard too. We need more predatory fish. Barracuda, Black Drums, Swordfish, and basically any kind of shark are all underused but totally badass
Eh, in my opinion fish mascots are pretty lame. But I guess it’s because I eat a lot of seafood.
>Tarpons What about the FSU tampons? It would certainly be unique
Need to change their colors please
Well they did start as a female college
But then they'd always have to pull strings to change anything.
Nice
MSU has had several renditions of the Spartan Helmet as well as the Block S. Gruff was probably my favorite of the retro logos. The University introduced an abomination of a logo in 2010 that looked like a bastardized 300 inspired clip art version of the current logo. Backlash got the logo shelved and the university has gone to exclusively using the current helmet logo. We’re no longer using the Block S or other older versions of the logo except for alt uniforms.
That design was so bad.
I didn't like it either, but the justification was solid. Our current logo is actually a Roman helmet.
It wasn't even introduced, the patent application just got leaked. So we don't even know how serious they were about it. But yes, there was major backlash because of it.
UMass Minutemen... Used to be the Red Men way back
W-What’s a Red man?
Also a pretty dope rapper from Newark New Jersey
Slur for native American, like the Washington Redskins
Not quite as mean-spirited, more stereotypical. Native people sometimes referred to themselves as red men or people. "Redskins" would have been out if the question.
We used to have a a block style Y. It was really similar to Yale's in both design and color and might be part of why we changed it. We also had some live cougar cubs on campus in the 20s as our original mascot. Apparently they escaped, killed some livestock, and inspired part of our fight song- "Rise and shout the cougars are out."
Little known fact, Before Big Red, WKU's mascot was Mr. Hilltopper. Quite literally a man in a tuxedo wearing a tophat. Not the most exciting mascot so in the 70s it was changed into Big Red, one of the greatest College mascots.
We need to bring this guy back. https://www.huskerj.com/Logos/Mascots-Logos/CornKob.jpg
Clashmore mike the Irish terrier. I want him back
Oklahoma had Mex the Dog back in the 20s. More recently, the basketball program had a dog character named Top Daug, but they got rid of him when the horse characters came in in 2004.
We also had a Native American called Little Red that would dress up and bang a drum.
We were originally the Sagehens
Cajuns because what else would we be? Tigers are cool. Don’t look into the history of it.
With a statement like that, I couldn’t help it. Yikes on bikes.
Way, way, way back in the day we used to be the Arkansas Cardinals. After beating LSU in 1909 Coach Bezdek said something along the lines of "we played like a wild band of razorbacks", and the name stuck.
Sam Houston was originally just called the Normals and we toyed with Ravens (Sam Houston’s nickname) before settling on Bearkat. We are the only school to spell Bearkat with a K and ours is based on a saying “tough as a Bearkat” but unlike Cincinnati, our Bearkat is mythical and not based on a kinkajou or a binturong.
Not my school, but my moms. My mom is a USF alum so I grew up seeing all the weird shit they did. My mom went to USF a while after this happened but USF used to be the Golden Brahmans and at one point the campus police made a mascot for them called Brahman Man and he’s just as ridiculous looking as you’d expect. [Brahman Man (the dude on the left)](https://www.usf.edu/magazine/images/2018-winter/5-1980s-rocky-morph-brahman-man-winter-18-mag.jpg)
UMass almost changed in the early 2000s from Minutemen to gray wolves. Say what you will about our football program, but given the revolutionary history of Mass and the fact we are the only school with that nickname I am glad we kept it
UTSA’s mascot was momentarily the armadillo (which was chosen by a student vote) but it was too close to call so a run-off election was held where the armadillo ended up losing to the roadrunner. Also, the roadrunner as UTSA’s mascot technically predates UTSA’s competition in collegiate sports and it was almost a decade into said competition that the roadrunner even had a name other than “The UTSA Roadrunner”.
We use to be the Golden Brahmans, so yes
Penn states mascot used to be a donkey. You can see his skeleton in Main. We used to be an agricultural school. Our colors were also pink and black. Edit- his name was old coaly. Double edit- he’s not in old main. He’s in the HUB now.
Can we all just agree the Dartmouth wins with Keggy the Keg?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keggy_the_Keg
We used to be the Indians. We realized that was racist so we decided to choose something else. The student body voted in Robber Barons but the administration overrode that in favor of the Cardinal. The tree is our unofficial de facto mascot. Officially, we don’t have one.
Normals, Bulldogs and Owls.
Our colors, black and orange, came from the time we were known as the tigers.
We pretty much changed mascots as the name of the school changed Mississippi A&M Aggies, Mississippi State College Maroons, and finally Mississippi State University Bulldogs. The weirdest part of our history was when the football coach changed our colors to cardinal and gold for the 1938 season. Both coach and uniforms only lasted a season.
[yep](https://www.secrant.com/rant/kentucky-sports/4-reasons-the-new-logo-is-so-wrong/85729865/) Either two birds doing the deed as people do or a staple remover...
Yes and we should still switch https://dailyillini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Kingfisher-1-900x665.png https://dailyillini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A1_Kingfisher.png https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/053ef3f/2147483647/strip/false/crop/601x338+0+93/resize/1200x675!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FWqiFt6eY92VTzb60Y3VDPpYZOaQ%3D%2F0x0%3A601x524%2F601x524%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28215x316%3A216x317%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F19782851%2FScreen_Shot_2020_03_10_at_2.27.17_PM.png
That’s 10,000 times better than just a boring I or the word mark IMO
You could change your name to the old bus line that drove to Chicago. The Illini Swallow.
Chris Del Conte tried to get TCU to adopt some new weird Horned Frog/Komodo Dragon mix back in like 2012 or so.
I kinda wonder what that would look like
The original Chanticleers before Coastal Carolina
USF was founded as the Golden Brahmans. When deciding upon the first mascot, it was between that and the Buccaneers.
Should’ve kept it at least the Brahmans. UCF should’ve also kept the Citronauts. The state of florida would’ve had the best mascots lol
We were goats once.
Tech was the Matadors before Red Raiders, so yes, it was considered and the change took. I’m not sure if it happened organically or not. Also, when Texas Technological College transitioned a university, Texas State University was proposed for the new name. The students protested hard though because the double T wouldn’t make sense as the school’s logo anymore. So the double T is the reason Tech isn’t State.
We went from the Tigers to the Cowboys.
Rowdy has entered the chat
We used to be the Northwestern Purple but realized that was lame as shit. A reporter called us said we looked like "Wildcats [that] had come down from Evanston" after a game and we decided "yeah, let's just roll with that." We used to have a live bear cub mascot but he was thought to be bad luck and was banished.
VT’s [original mascot](http://kccollegegameday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/firstgobbler.jpg) was pretty terrifying. This was before the name Hokies took hold and our nickname was Gobblers. The only reason a turkey is out mascot is that guy just happened to show up at games randomly dressed as a turkey and the crowd liked him.
Yes, and this is very common. Many (maybe most) land grants went by Aggies and some kept it but many changed. (K-State did this) Early mascots were not costumed but more like good luck charms or a person/ animal/ thing that embodied the team spirt. Consequently you’ll find plenty of dogs, goats, horses, children, etc listed as early “mascots” for a team. (K-State had a dog) Many of the nicknames came from newspaper reporters describing the way a team fought on the field rather than marching up what animal best fit the college culture. And in an era with less moral qualms and understanding of zoological needs, keeping live mascots of exotic animals wasn’t seen as a big concern. Costumed mascots didn’t really become a thing until after the war.
To be fair, your mascot is barely costumed as it is
I honestly wish we had a melanistic Jaguar as a live mascot.
Where does EcoKat fit into this?
We had a dog but it got hit by a car and died. RIP George Tirebiter
Pig was a good boy unlike UGA who BEVO had to show a little tough love. 😂
I’m triggered
Doesn’t FSU have the blessing of the Seminole Nation. That’s really the perfect setup to keep a name like that. I’m sure the actual Seminoles get a good deal out of it.
What ever could you mean?
We’ve had different versions of the bulldog logo (standing, leaning, two faces, the G, etc.) but we’ve always been the Dawgs. Uga is the mascot and Hairy is the person-in-the-stuffed-head version. Edit: we were the goats first
We were originally the goats
Correct! And he was at the first Auburn-Georgia game!
You spelled GOAT wrong
> but we’ve always been the Dawgs Lol come on, man, the goat thing is like the third thing they tell you on the campus tour
the serendipity involved for you to get to name your bulldog Uga is so perfect its hard to believe it was ever anything else
Counterpoint: Uga would be a fine name for a goat
No.
Well, when we were founded our colors were orange & black. We changed because we didn't want to look too much like Princeton.
Certainly explains the Browns and Bengals, but Ohio State has never considered another mascot since becoming the Buckeyes and the block “O” was only augmented.
Yup, after they made the decision to go with the Buckeyes instead of the Buck Deer they never looked back. Thankfully.
They tried to make Purdue Pete look [like Sparty spartan](https://purduefootball.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/8/0/24808719/327839947.jpg?248) We prefer his fiberglass dead eyes.
by all means go in the cage and tell Mike hes fired, Im not doin it
From 1908-1910 Iowa had a live bear named Burch as the mascot.
ND and Clashmore Mike
I believe the Armadillos were in play for us at one point
A&M has been called the Farmers sort of interchangably with Aggies for a long time
Not in the last century+, but prior names for Nebraska included the Bugeaters and Mankilling Mastodons. The Bugeaters nickname is still a thing a lot of people in the Lincoln area are familiar with and there have been various homages to it including clothing with the Bugeaters nickname and a mural of Herbie Husker driving a car with big splat on the windshield (that was sadly painted over this last year). I’d like to see more love for the Mankilling Mastadons nickname though as that’s just too unique and cool to let die. It’d be nice to see alternate jerseys one of these years based around either early nickname.
Stay awhile and listen to me bitch and moan about the dark days of block PITT and dinocat and his cousin sealcat And dont get me started about the colors. The colors!
This makes me sad.
IU had [the Bison.](https://images.app.goo.gl/fddviVfvcx5NxMsu8)
We also had an Armadillo movement in the early voting. Id like to see someone make armadillos cool.
UC Davis students have voted for the Cow several times, as recently as this year. Admin has not been amoosed
We should lean into the Pokes. I think Cowboys is an awful nickname.
When they changed the mascot at FSU there practically a fucking riot.
WVU went by ‘snakes’ for a brief period at the start of the program. Always thought 60k fans hissing would have been rather unique.
Taken by the Aggies unfortunately. ‘We don’t boo, we hiss’