(05-30-2018 07:56 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(05-29-2018 08:58 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We've seen a rebranding elevate programs like Texas St, Missouri St, and others but I wonder what others might be more successful (or would have been more successful) under a different name?

In most cases, U of is the most prominent, followed by State. Tech seems fairly well regarded as well. Directionals and City names seem to be frowned upon.

Cincinnati---Ohio Tech
UC Davis---(U of) California A&M
Central Connecticut St---Connecticut St
Northern Arizona--Arizona Tech

What others are there out there?

Are you speaking with respects to athletics, academics, or some combination? Here in Ohio, Akron's attempt to rebrand as Ohio Poly went over like a fart in church.

I'd say Cincinnati has a pretty strong brand. Cincinnati, Louisville and Pitt are old institutions-- UC was founded in 1819, unlike some of these schools in the Summit, Horizon, MAC and other leagues that did not get their start until the 20th century. Changing our name to Ohio Tech would add zero to our brand strength in my opinion.

I agree with this. Cincinnati does not need to change its name.

(05-29-2018 09:49 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  City names are fine as well as unique names like Stanford, Duke, Wake, Notre Dame, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, etc.

Schools that would be better of with a better name
UAB - Birmingham
ULL - Louisiana
UCF - Orlando or should have kept Florida Tech Citronauts. Best name ever
USF - Tampa Bay
UConn - Connecticut
Southern Miss - Mississippi Tech
ECU - Carolina University
App State - Appalachian (unique name should drop the state)
ODU - Shoild go by as Old Dominon. Its a unique name and they should use it
UTSA - San Antonio
Western Michigan - Western University

Would love for UAB to be Birmingham. They have Birmingham jerseys that they roll out every so often.

(05-30-2018 02:23 PM)McKinney Wrote:  

(05-29-2018 11:06 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(05-29-2018 09:49 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  City names are fine as well as unique names like Stanford, Duke, Wake, Notre Dame, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, etc.

Schools that would be better of with a better name
UAB - Birmingham
ULL - Louisiana
UCF - Orlando or should have kept Florida Tech Citronauts. Best name ever
USF - Tampa Bay
UConn - Connecticut
Southern Miss - Mississippi Tech
ECU - Carolina University
App State - Appalachian (unique name should drop the state)
ODU - Shoild go by as Old Dominon. Its a unique name and they should use it
UTSA - San Antonio
Western Michigan - Western University

UConn is Connecticut. It's been on the jerseys and everything.

When I was growing up UConn was Connecticut, since y'all joined the AAC and rebranded you're "UCONN".

But I'll add on to the list UMass should be Massachusetts. We have a similar situation, we've used it on jerseys and everything too... although not with as much media coverage/usage as UConn has had with Connecticut. If "Massachusetts" is physically too long, then in those contexts I think Mass. would work just as well (similar idea to Pitt, Cal, Carolina, etc.).

"Mass." has long been used to identify our athletics, before "UMass", "U Mass" or "U-Mass". It goes back to the days when we were the "Mass Aggies".

UConn has been UConn before we joined the aac lol. I grew up in ct as well. the home jerseys have had uconn on them since the late 1990s but only recently have the away jerseys and other sports jerseys been updated to display the same phrase.

(06-04-2018 01:36 AM)joeben69 Wrote:  

(06-03-2018 10:39 PM)puck swami Wrote:  Metropolitan State University of Denver ---> Denver State University
but University of Denver has a problem with it...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolit...ontroversy



The main reason that the University of Denver (DI) objected to Metro State University becoming Denver State is because there is already another DII school with Denver in the name, the University of Colorado-Denver. Having three city named schools is confusing, citing the challenges in San Diego, with San Diego State University (SDSU), University of San Diego (USD) and University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

SDSU (DI) - San Diego State University
-- Marketed as San Diego State University
--- Not marketed as CSU San Diego...

USD (DI) - University of San Diego
-- Marketed as University of San Diego...

UCSD (DI 2024) - University of CA San Diego
-- Marketed as UC San Diego

Each institution embraces the San Diego name in their marketing campaigns...none objected to the other in their use of San Diego in their institutional names..USD does not object to SDSU's use of San Diego in their name...all of these institutions are DI universities (UCSD 2024)...their branding philosophy is to market nationally...

“UC San Diego” not “UCSD”
Using UC San Diego in place of the UCSD acronym better identifies our campus both locally and nationally. There’s confusion among San Diego higher education institutions because of similar acronyms—UCSD, USD, and SDSU—which we eliminate by using UC San Diego. Additionally, this naming convention is consistent with other campuses in the University of California system, such as UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, and so on.
https://ucpa.ucsd.edu/brand/story/use-of...sity-name/

"A school is known to the world by its name, and the university knows how important that is."
http://triton.news/2017/11/4225/

And for a few years, the San Diego Union-Tribune was marketing itself as UT San Diego, making it sound like Texas or Tennessee had decided to go out of state for their next branch.

The big-name directionals follow the 'University' of 'Direction' 'State' format, like: University of South California, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida.

I think the directional Michigan's would be improved from Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University, to University of Central Michigan, University of West Michigan, and University of East Michigan.

(05-29-2018 08:58 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We've seen a rebranding elevate programs like Texas St, Missouri St, and others but I wonder what others might be more successful (or would have been more successful) under a different name?

In most cases, U of is the most prominent, followed by State. Tech seems fairly well regarded as well. Directionals and City names seem to be frowned upon.

Cincinnati---Ohio Tech
UC Davis---(U of) California A&M
Central Connecticut St---Connecticut St
Northern Arizona--Arizona Tech

What others are there out there?

Actually Akron was considering renaming themselves as Ohio Tech.

(05-30-2018 07:24 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(05-30-2018 02:39 AM)Mav Wrote:  Results in the lab and on the field are what's in a name, not the name itself.

Buffalo tried what seemed to be a slam dunk by rebranding to New York, and that went over like a lead brick.

It didn't work because they branded it alongside Buffalo using the very-complicated mouthful 'The State University of New York at Buffalo.' Either do one or the other, but not both.

(06-04-2018 04:47 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  

(05-29-2018 08:58 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We've seen a rebranding elevate programs like Texas St, Missouri St, and others but I wonder what others might be more successful (or would have been more successful) under a different name?

In most cases, U of is the most prominent, followed by State. Tech seems fairly well regarded as well. Directionals and City names seem to be frowned upon.

Cincinnati---Ohio Tech
UC Davis---(U of) California A&M
Central Connecticut St---Connecticut St
Northern Arizona--Arizona Tech

What others are there out there?

Actually Akron was considering renaming themselves as Ohio Tech.

(05-30-2018 07:24 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(05-30-2018 02:39 AM)Mav Wrote:  Results in the lab and on the field are what's in a name, not the name itself.

Buffalo tried what seemed to be a slam dunk by rebranding to New York, and that went over like a lead brick.

It didn't work because they branded it alongside Buffalo using the very-complicated mouthful 'The State University of New York at Buffalo.' Either do one or the other, but not both.

Actually as I recall it was Ohio Polytechnic or something like that as there is already an Ohio Tech and it is a very small school.

One of the more interesting quirks in college sports naming is the unusual midwestern tradition of "initial reversal" where some universities that start with "University of________", but use reverse initial acronyms:

For example:

University of Oklahoma is "OU" (and not the more intuitive "UO")
University of Nebraska is "NU"
University of Kansas is "KU"
University of Colorado is "CU"
University of Missouri is "MU"

But it's not just the old Big 8 schools who do this...

University of Tulsa is "TU"
University of Denver is "DU"

I am guessing this tradition started in the early years of the 20th century because the eastern schools are older than midwestern schools, but if anyone knows more, please share...

(06-04-2018 11:03 AM)puck swami Wrote:  Nice to see that UC-San Diego is finally trying to fix part of the confusion problem among San Diego city-identified schools by moving away from its own UCSD acronym, as of 2017.

I am sure there is not just sports confusion there, but especially general confusion among people who are not from California, and especially for international students still trying to figure out which San Diego school is which. Names and acronyms can take a long time to change in common use....

The DU vs Metro State name issue came to a head in 2011, some six years before the UCSD acronym change. I know DU was consulting closely with fellow private USD during that time in 2011, and USD mentioned that there was a lot of confusion with all three San Diego schools.

ucsd's rebranding to uc san diego in 2016 was related to it's move to d1 from d2...

In January 2016, Associated Students UC San Diego unanimously approved the wording of a new Division I referendum.

In May 2016, UCSD undergraduates voted to increase athletic fees by $480 per year and transition UCSD athletics to Division I.

In October 2016, UCSD started a branding campaign marketing and referring to the university as UC San Diego instead of UCSD.

In December 2016 the move to Division I was approved by the UCSD Academic Senate.

In November 2017, UCSD was accepted and officially joined the Big West conference along with Cal State Bakersfield. UCSD will begin the required four year transition period effective July 1, 2020 and will be a full member on July 1, 2024.

Move to Division I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_San_Die...Division_I

Brand New
UC San Diego breaks boundaries in new branding campaign
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/brand_new

it is confusing having two state university systems plus one private university...in the same city...using similar abbreviations...and in the same division (d1)...but that's part of the price of doing business in the same area...

I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

"Miami State University of Florida"?

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

It's bad enough we have the University of Miami (FL) and Miami University (OH). Adding a third FBS school with Miami in the name would only lead to more confusion.

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

Is Florida Tech already taken?

(05-29-2018 10:00 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  UC Davis is only incidentally an Ag school, it's a generic UC school, with well over 95% of the students in fields not Ag related. It is impacted for all majors and very well thought of, with perhaps the 4th most difficult admission of any public school (after Cal, UCLA, and UC San Diego). We think of it as the school you go to if you want to open a winery (yeah it's California, it has the Robert Mondavi Institute and a great major in viticulture https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/viticulture-and-enology) -- if any name change it would be California Vintner University. But in truth the UC name is all the advertising any school needs to have nothing but Ivy League level applicants, and too many to accept them all. There wont be any change.

Now should there be a Chancellor change, I'm right there with you.

Cal Davis has one of the top, if not the top, ag schools in the country. They are "aggies" for a reason.

(06-05-2018 09:37 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

Is Florida Tech already taken?

Yes, it is. https://www.fit.edu/

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

Well there is West Florida, North Florida, South Florida and Central Florida. Maybe University of East Florida?

(06-05-2018 09:46 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

Well there is West Florida, North Florida, South Florida and Central Florida. Maybe University of East Florida?

I don't know if a directional name is much of an improvement.

(05-29-2018 09:49 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  UCF - Orlando or should have kept Florida Tech Citronauts. Best name ever

UCF Citronauts, USF Golden Brahmans, FIU Sunblazers

What the hell is wrong with state schools in FLA screwing up cool nicknames?!?!

I have no idea what's going on with this FIU baseball insignia though...

(06-05-2018 08:29 AM)Fish Wrote:  I haven't seen it listed here yet, but there are some FIU fans whole wish to change the university's name to something with "Miami" in it. Many currently make fun of Florida International University, saying that it sounds like an airport. Also, there is confusion with FAU (Florida Atlantic). The university has settled on branding as just "FIU." The problem with changing the name to something with "Miami" in it is that the University of Miami clearly already exists. The top alternative seems to be Miami State University, as FIU is a public state university. I have heard some raise the potential issue that Florida state universities must include "Florida" in the name, but I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm curious to hear what those outside of the university community think of the name FIU and what a good alternative would be, if any.

I used to refer to them as the airport (Florida International) and the airline (Florida Atlantic).

(06-05-2018 08:55 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  It's bad enough we have the University of Miami (FL) and Miami University (OH). Adding a third FBS school with Miami in the name would only lead to more confusion.

Rename Miami University (OH) to University of Oxford (US).

Rename FIU to Miami State.

Then we can finally drop this parentheses nonsense.

Miami
Miami State
Oxford