(05-28-2013 10:03 AM)blazr Wrote:  I have to ask, USM fans: When Iowa received the judgment in the trademark infringement case, the USM administration was fully confident publicly that the issue would be resolved such that they could continue using the offending logo (you fans had even more confidence...but that's to be expected). I didn't see a financially feasible way they could do so outside of the ruling being reversed (after all, they aren't going to use a logo that they can't trademark and, so, can't profit from via merchandising) and fully expected a new branding effort to be announced with all positive spin. Instead, it seems the school has adopted a strange, "we're just doing this because it's cool" strategy where they use multiple combinations of older logos, numbers, nothing, now maybe a state profile, etc. The one image missing, of course, has been the one that was the subject of the judgment...and it hasn't been seen - to my knowledge/memory - since that case.

Are they just avoiding the public admission of defeat that would come with a rebranding? Are they waiting until everyone forgets that the "new" logo ever existed?

There is rebranding of sorts going on now. The new uniforms were the first step. The new midfield logo for football will be another step. One thing Southern Miss is not going to do is take a large step away from the current color scheme and the Golden Eagle images. Too big a step, and you end up in the quagmire Ole Miss is in, where you are trying to please too many people and end up pleasing no one in the end. They are in a situation now where one group won't be satisfied until all references to Rebels and Mississippi's past are gone, one group won't be satisfied until the grey color schemes, confederate battle flags, Dixie, and Colonel Reb are restored, and the final group, by far the largest of the three, can't figure out what they are supposed to be thinking anymore.

One factor is that there is a group that has been commissioned whose job it is to report on how Southern Miss is perceived outside the Southern Miss community. Until that report is in, most changes will be done on an ad hoc basis.

I don't think the logo flap is really that big of a deal anymore. It happened, and the sense is that now it is time to move on. You don't get the sense that anyone is really dwelling on it, since there isn't anything we can do to change it. Instead, it just seems like more of a gradual transition to a new logo.