Right after the clock ran out, they put copyright notices up on the bottom of the screen, and our good friends at ESPN credited BOWLING GREEN, and the UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS.

Glad we're so tight with the ESPN crew after all of the Saturday games we've sacrificed in their honor.

***I'm officially ready to no longer be an Illinois directional, could care less about any name recognition we've created recently, ripping off the bandaid and re-branding would be WAY better at this point.

(12-05-2015 12:00 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Right after the clock ran out, they put copyright notices up on the bottom of the screen, and our good friends at ESPN credited BOWLING GREEN, and the UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS.

Glad we're so tight with the ESPN crew after all of the Saturday games we've sacrificed in their honor.

***I'm officially ready to no longer be an Illinois directional, could care less about any name recognition we've created recently, ripping off the bandaid and re-branding would be WAY better at this point.

What do you suggest? Maybe Bart Simpson U (by the way anyone know if he supports NIU)? I would steer very far away from any political references.

ANYTHING would be a better brand than our directional moniker.

Bowling Green, Clemson, Ball State, Auburn, Marshall... those are brands.

Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, White Noise, WIU, NIU, SIU, Eastern Michigan. These are utterly forgettable directional sub sections of something else, not brands. If you're not USC, rebrand and move on.

(12-05-2015 12:15 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  ANYTHING would be a better brand than our directional moniker.

Bowling Green, Clemson, Ball State, Auburn, Marshall... those are brands.

Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, White Noise, WIU, NIU, SIU, Eastern Michigan. These are utterly forgettable directional sub sections of something else, not brands. If you're not USC, rebrand and move on.

I don't disagree, but what are the options? Personally, I think the University needs to push the NIU brand (like USC, BYU, TCU, etc). I think they are somewhat trying (notice the helmet stickers almost always say NIU - no more dog head). They may be trying already, if not they should be asking all media (including their radio announcer) to discontinue any references to Northern Illinois and use only NIU. I'm sure at some point people always called TCU, Texas Christian.

Prairie State University, Dekalb University, Illinois Tech, Novak University, Your Idea Here, Glidden University, anything.

First and foremost, change your name to filmmaker.

Second, give it up. It's not going to happen; neither you or anyone else has a better suggestion. And Northern Illinois University is far better than Northern Illinois State Normal School which was the name when it was founded.

Note to Cowboy, for every announcer who says TCU, one or two statements later they'll still say Texas Christian. Apparently you weren't following NIU in the days when Kent State wanted to distance itself from the shootings that took place on their campus and spent two years insisting the MAC office and everyone in the league refer to them as Kent.

(12-05-2015 12:36 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Prairie State University, Dekalb University, Illinois Tech, Novak University, Your Idea Here, Glidden University, anything.

Seriously, you don't know the name of the town is DeKalb, not "Dekalb"?
You'd rather we be confused with Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, or IIT (as in Illinois Institute of Technology), or a paint manufacturer?

(12-05-2015 12:42 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  First and foremost, change your name to filmmaker.

Second, give it up. It's not going to happen; neither you or anyone else has a better suggestion. And Northern Illinois University is far better than Northern Illinois State Normal School which was the name when it was founded.

Note to Cowboy, for every announcer who says TCU, one or two statements later they'll still say Texas Christian. Apparently you weren't following NIU in the days when Kent State wanted to distance itself from the shootings that took place on their campus and spent two years insisting the MAC office and everyone in the league refer to them as Kent.

No, I think was still in diapers then. I'm sure it is a lot easier to say the media should refer to you as something as it is to get them to actually do it. I think NIU is doing their best to push NIU. I have to say most clothing and swag says NIU, so I think they are trying. Regardless if the team keeps winning, and we can somehow get more people to show up and support the team it really won't matter what people call the university or the school.

(12-05-2015 12:42 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  First and foremost, change your name to filmmaker.

Second, give it up. It's not going to happen; neither you or anyone else has a better suggestion. And Northern Illinois University is far better than Northern Illinois State Normal School which was the name when it was founded.

Note to Cowboy, for every announcer who says TCU, one or two statements later they'll still say Texas Christian. Apparently you weren't following NIU in the days when Kent State wanted to distance itself from the shootings that took place on their campus and spent two years insisting the MAC office and everyone in the league refer to them as Kent.

At this point TCU is almost exclusively referred to as TCU. It's rare for anyone to call them Texas Christian anymore.

(12-05-2015 01:11 AM)PrideinthePack Wrote:  

(12-05-2015 12:42 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  First and foremost, change your name to filmmaker.

Second, give it up. It's not going to happen; neither you or anyone else has a better suggestion. And Northern Illinois University is far better than Northern Illinois State Normal School which was the name when it was founded.

Note to Cowboy, for every announcer who says TCU, one or two statements later they'll still say Texas Christian. Apparently you weren't following NIU in the days when Kent State wanted to distance itself from the shootings that took place on their campus and spent two years insisting the MAC office and everyone in the league refer to them as Kent.

At this point TCU is almost exclusively referred to as TCU. It's rare for anyone to call them Texas Christian anymore.

Agreed. They are there with UCLA, USC, and LSU as schools that are exclusively known by their acronyms.

(12-05-2015 01:26 AM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  

(12-05-2015 01:11 AM)PrideinthePack Wrote:  

(12-05-2015 12:42 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  First and foremost, change your name to filmmaker.

Second, give it up. It's not going to happen; neither you or anyone else has a better suggestion. And Northern Illinois University is far better than Northern Illinois State Normal School which was the name when it was founded.

Note to Cowboy, for every announcer who says TCU, one or two statements later they'll still say Texas Christian. Apparently you weren't following NIU in the days when Kent State wanted to distance itself from the shootings that took place on their campus and spent two years insisting the MAC office and everyone in the league refer to them as Kent.

At this point TCU is almost exclusively referred to as TCU. It's rare for anyone to call them Texas Christian anymore.

Agreed. They are there with UCLA, USC, and LSU as schools that are exclusively known by their acronyms.

Those are the exceptions to the rule, the rest of us are on the other side of the fence. We have decades of being NIU, and a decade of crazy success as well as NIU. It remains a directional name that confuses and fails to impress the hell out of everyone, even professional broadcasters. I would rather go forward as say Prairie State University, and claim a statewide representation. ESPN et al will forever not screw that up, and its a real brand you can build upon.

Keep you rebuttals polite. Always confused why so many people want to cling to the marketing ball-and-chain "NIU".

NIU is fine with me. Much easier and much less expensive than changing the name of the university just so our sports teams have less of a stigma. "Northern Illinois" goes back to our birth in 1895, and that's what it should always be.

(12-05-2015 02:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  NIU is fine with me. Much easier and much less expensive than changing the name of the university just so our sports teams have less of a stigma. "Northern Illinois" goes back to our birth in 1895, and that's what it should always be.

Southwest MO State that is now MO State said it cost 300-400k total for their name change, and it paid for itself 100 times over in the first few years of being a non-directional with increased applications, alumni support, etc..

"I don't think you can overestimate how important this was," said MSU President Clif Smart. "This was the catalyst that has changed the profile of the university. It would be hard for you to pick a factor that the name change didn't impact." The old name, Southwest Missouri State University, focused on the region while the new name emphasizes statewide reach.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/ed.../29082657/

Illinois State is obviously taken, but a new name like Prairie State has the same statewide claim. I'm spent, think it makes a world of sense though...

(12-05-2015 04:39 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(12-05-2015 02:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  NIU is fine with me. Much easier and much less expensive than changing the name of the university just so our sports teams have less of a stigma. "Northern Illinois" goes back to our birth in 1895, and that's what it should always be.

Southwest MO State that is now MO State said it cost 300-400k total for their name change, and it paid for itself 100 times over in the first few years of being a non-directional with increased applications, alumni support, etc..

"I don't think you can overestimate how important this was," said MSU President Clif Smart. "This was the catalyst that has changed the profile of the university. It would be hard for you to pick a factor that the name change didn't impact." The old name, Southwest Missouri State University, focused on the region while the new name emphasizes statewide reach.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/ed.../29082657/

Illinois State is obviously taken, but a new name like Prairie State has the same statewide claim. I'm spent, think it makes a world of sense though...

South Florida, Central Florida, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Southern Cal a lot of schools are in the same boat. Though they try to brand as USF, UCF, ECU, USC, etc. Going from NIU --> Prairie State is quite a jump above and beyond going from Southwest Missouri State to Missouri State. We also don't have a luxury of being in a large city with name recognition, like Cinci / Boise / Houston / etc. Any attempt to change would be a massive under taking imo.

Name change to UNI was tried a few years and a couple of Univ Presidents ago...shot down due to expense

(12-05-2015 02:52 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  NIU is fine with me. Much easier and much less expensive than changing the name of the university just so our sports teams have less of a stigma. "Northern Illinois" goes back to our birth in 1895, and that's what it should always be.

+1000

(12-05-2015 12:00 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Right after the clock ran out, they put copyright notices up on the bottom of the screen, and our good friends at ESPN credited BOWLING GREEN, and the UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS.

Glad we're so tight with the ESPN crew after all of the Saturday games we've sacrificed in their honor.

***I'm officially ready to no longer be an Illinois directional, could care less about any name recognition we've created recently, ripping off the bandaid and re-branding would be WAY better at this point.

I just take this as a running joke now.

Prairie State is lame. Might as well change the mascot to a cloud.

There was a Prairie State University Chicago Heights. Kinda still is.

It is now Prairie State College.

Used to be known as Harvard on Halsted for those who went there.

Not quite as bad for South Suburban College, fka Thornton Community College, aka South Holland Institute of Technology.

(12-08-2015 12:21 PM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  There was a Prairie State University Chicago Heights. Kinda still is.

It is now Prairie State College.

Used to be known as Harvard on Halsted for those who went there.

Not quite as bad for South Suburban College, fka Thornton Community College, aka South Holland Institute of Technology.

I know, kinda figured if University of Illinois could co-exist with Illinois College and Illinois State University, nobody could argue against Prairie State College could co-existing with Prairie State University.

We should probably obtain an operating budget before discussing name changes I guess