I also have a criticism of our branding in general. Some of the criticism is due to the perception of TU in general by people that know nothing about the school and others that just think TU is in the way of their prejudiced idea of thier favorite college institution.

(On a side bar, it was told to me once that T Boone Pickens (OSU sugar daddy) hates TU with a passion because he had applied to our energy/petroleum engineering school when he was looking for a college and was turned down, then had to attend the school in Stillwater instead.)

TU and other private schools are sometimes viewed as full of spoiled rich kids that don't relate well to the common folks. Of course I disagree, but part of the problem is that TU doesn't do enough to stop that criticism with its branding as a "school of the city and state". So IMO we need to show the local people some love. One way is to display that love with our branding.

I've noticed a lot of schools are wearing symbols on their athletic uniforms that symbolize their pride in being local. An example is the Fresno "V" on the back of their FB helmets. Louisiana Tech's helmet symbol has a state map design displayed prominently. Others schools do that as well on all their uniforms. So if TU wants to become more friendly inside our region here in Oklahoma, I believe they need to show that love back.

Last basketball season, I decided to brave the ice and snow and come to the TU-Cincinnati MBB game - a bad loss BTW. Noone else wanted to come with me so they stayed home. And as I was walking to the Don and passing Mabee Gym, a guy with OSU gear on asked where the basketball arena was. So I told him to follow me. He'd never even been to TU before - believe it or not. He lived in BA and owned OSU season tix, but decided not to attend their game because of the weather that night, was recording it on TV and decided to come to ours instead, but had never been "on" the campus. My first thought was "why" he hadn't been to TU before, living in BA. But its obvious that some folks just don't see TU as a part of their sports experience. They don't identify with TU in the same way they do with the state schools and of course there is the "media" giving prefential treatment to the other state schools on top of that.

So IMO TU has a branding problem that it needs to work on and could be helped by making its identity more "state" friendly. Its not painful to incorporate a state flag or a state map design onto the helmets or jersys of our sports teams.

BTW, even though we lost that game at the Don, the visitor from OSU said he would try to come back and see some games in the future. He really liked the campus and the atmosphere.

So TU needs to have a more inclusive brand, one that is more Okie friendly.

IMO