UConn Branding

[UConn07]

There is a problem with what the school administration did by rebranding the school UCONN.

UConn is a nickname those from the school gave the University of Connecticut. What is the school? It's Connecticut's state school. CONNECTICUT.

People from Florida call the Gators UF, but you don't see them changing the school to UF. Those from Michigan State call their school STATE, but they aren't going to rebrand their school. The dumb idiots in charge in Storrs are just that, idiots. You want to turn other people off from the state school? Ok, let's remove their affiliation from the name of it. Residents of Connecticut like seeing Connecticut, not UCONN. UConn just screams second rate. It screams UMass. We are Connecticut, we are not a nick name.

 

[freescooter]

There is a problem with what the school administration did by rebranding the school UCONN.

UConn is a nickname those from the school gave the University of Connecticut. What is the school? It's Connecticut's state school. CONNECTICUT.

People from Florida call the Gators UF, but you don't see them changing the school to UF. Those from Michigan State call their school STATE, but they aren't going to rebrand their school. The dumb idiots in charge in Storrs are just that, idiots. You want to turn other people off from the state school? Ok, let's remove their affiliation from the name of it. Residents of Connecticut like seeing Connecticut, not UCONN. UConn just screams second rate. It screams UMass. We are Connecticut, we are not a nick name.

I sort of get this, but I don't have a huge issue with it. Lots of schools are really known by their nicknames, especially ones with long names...Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Army and Navy, UCLA, Pitt. they all are more or less "branded" that way. In most cases I think it is in some official capacity, but it might not be in all cases. So I guess I don't see it as a huge issue. What I do see as a problem is how the current University leadership has zero respect for the history and traditions of the place. I fully expect that in a year or two they'll announce a plan to change the colors to grey and red and do away with the Husky in favor of the Turkey Vulture or something. And I don't like the way they make these decisions, presenting the community with changes fait accompli rather than seek any input from anyone. To me, that more than the actual name change was the real problem. Same as when they changed the logo. They obviously know best and wouldn't want input from mere mortals who attend the university, support it with donations, tuition, tax dollars, attendance at events and write letters and make calls of support to legislators and the governor and others. Susan Herbst and her cronies have some good ideas and high aspirations for the University, but at some point, this attitude will cause problems.

 

[junglehusky]

UConn just screams second rate. It screams UMass.

Disagree. UConn just screams championships. "Connecticut" screams J. Crew penny loafers. And half the country probably can't locate Connecticut on a map.

 

[CodyJ.]

This is the crap type of posts that I've had to read while HFD was away. my god, someone shoot me.

 

[Kingspoint]

This is the crap type of posts that I've had to read while HFD was away. my god, someone shoot me.

Will an electronic "bang" do?

 

[CodyJ.]

thanks. preech

 

[Dann]

There is a problem with what the school administration did by rebranding the school UCONN.

UConn is a nickname those from the school gave the University of Connecticut. What is the school? It's Connecticut's state school. CONNECTICUT.

People from Florida call the Gators UF, but you don't see them changing the school to UF. Those from Michigan State call their school STATE, but they aren't going to rebrand their school. The dumb idiots in charge in Storrs are just that, idiots. You want to turn other people off from the state school? Ok, let's remove their affiliation from the name of it. Residents of Connecticut like seeing Connecticut, not UCONN. UConn just screams second rate. It screams UMass. We are Connecticut, we are not a nick name.

People want to talk here about the casual and local fan. Well this is exactly why a state name vs nickname is a big deal... Uconn is unique to the school. Connecticut screams state property and pride. It's a foolish move. Just one of many.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

This is the crap type of posts that I've had to read while HFD was away. my god, someone shoot me.

LMAO......did you read his posts at all?

 

[Dann]

LMAO......did you read his posts at all?

I think what he meant was when I rant on this type of stuff I also rant way off target and make way to many random references so its more fun to read as entertainment vs just straight complaining. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

[Palatine]

And Federal Express killed itself when it rebranded to Fed Ex. Oops, sorry, that turned out to be a great move.

 

[CodyJ.]

I think what he meant was when I rant on this type of stuff I also rant way off target and make way to many random references so its more fun to read as entertainment vs just straight complaining. Maybe I'm wrong...

yes. exactly. there is zero entertainment value here. just wahhhhhhh

 

[Dann]

And Federal Express killed itself when it rebranded to Fed Ex. Oops, sorry, that turned out to be a great move.

When Memphis calls itself umem or uphis u let me know. Your takings for profit and comparing it to a non profit. Your taking a national dilevery business and comparing it to a college. One drives around in trucks and handles brown boxes the other teaches, researches and plays sports. Glad we're on the same page here.

Michigan
Alabama
Florida
Texas
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
West Virginia
Virginia
Maryland
Ohio state
Penn state
Illinois
Michigan state
Iowa
Nebraska
Utah
Washington
Oregon

And so on. Then there is the northeast with private schools and city schools. If there was ever a region where a state brand could show up and rise to the top it's where we sit. Yet we decided to throw the nickname as our brand out there. There is not any other region of the country where there are BCS teams without a state name. For every Baylor there is a Texas. Wake. North Carolina. Vandy. Tennessee. N western Illinois. Meanwhile up in the northeast we have Rutgers, Cuse and bc. It begs for a state name. So we went with a nickname. For decades we watched real football down south and west make fun of the northeast. Those small schools up there blah blah. We are the chance to kill that talk and rise above the region. Instead we act like we want to join them.

 

[CodyJ.]

LMAO......did you read his posts at all?

Jimmy, do you honestly read this post and think it holds any value what so ever? Somebody whining about our name being UCONN? How about i start a thread that cries about the grass in redlot being mowed without criss cross pattern?

 

[CodyJ.]

.

Does it matter if its UConn or CONNECTICUT on the helmet? I get what you're saying, but everybody knows that UConn is Connecticut. I was in NC recently wearing the new UConn shirt. Everybody told me I was in Tar Heel Country now. They all know UConn = Connecticut and vice versa. I personally dont think it matters.

 

[Dann]

Does it matter if its UConn or CONNECTICUT on the helmet? I get what you're saying, but everybody knows that UConn is Connecticut. I was in NC recently wearing the new UConn shirt. Everybody told me I was in Tar Heel Country now. They all know UConn = Connecticut and vice versa. I personally dont think it matters.

Old ppl know connecticut. Young ppl can't put uconn- Connecticut together. They think its a private school. Your sports recruits and future students are young people. That simple. Locals in Boston don't care about bc. It's just a school in there backyard. That's what we're doing with uconn vs connecticut. State pride means something. If it didn't then all those school I listed would have cooler names also.

The block c was the right thing to do but it was never pumped. Here's how right it was, Clemson is now putting it on hats and having the coaches wear them to slowly mesh it into the paw logo. We missed the boat. We missed the ocean.

 

[PRHusky]

When people asked me where I went to school and I answer "Connecticut", they follow up by asking "Where in Connecticut?". When I answer "UConn", they instantly recognize the school name and need no further clarification. Of course I could answer with "University of Connecticut", but that is a little long.

I used to be a in favor of 'Connecticut' vs 'UConn'. However, I have come to the realization that we can better expand our following/fanbase by using UConn instead of Connecticut.

 

[Waquoit]

Connecticut is the state, UCONN is the school. This isn't a bug, it's a feature. Penn State, Cal, UConn, s'all good.

 

[Dann]

So you want a unique logo and identity but want to copy Clemson? Cool, got it.

Are u kidding? Do u have any clue what I have spent the past 2 years ranting about?

I think you should go back to work warde, your school is falling apart because of u.

 

[Waquoit]

When people asked me where I went to school and I answer "Connecticut", they follow up by asking "Where in Connecticut?".

No . I was at OSU I followed that up with a (true) little quip, "Someone asked me if it (Connecticut) was near New England." The answer, "Well it IS, isn't it?"

 

[CodyJ.]

Are u kidding? Do u have any clue what I have spent the past 2 years ranting about?

I think you should go back to work warde, your school is falling apart because of u.

is uconn insider really warde? haha. I wonder who on here are people lerking in the tall grass.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Old ppl know connecticut. Young ppl can't put uconn- Connecticut together. They think its a private school. Your sports recruits and future students are young people. That simple. Locals in Boston don't care about bc. It's just a school in there backyard. That's what we're doing with uconn vs connecticut. State pride means something. If it didn't then all those school I listed would have cooler names also.

The block c was the right thing to do but it was never pumped. Here's how right it was, Clemson is now putting it on hats and having the coaches wear them to slowly mesh it into the paw logo. We missed the boat. We missed the ocean.

Dan, your posts and points are so off the wall, contradictory, and sometimes just plain negative that they are getting really hard to read. Just in this post alone:

1. "young people" can't put UConn & Connecticut together. really? I have never ever had any confusion on this;
2. "they think its a private school" - again, really? i have never ever ever ever heard anyone say this;
3. then you point out that people in Boston don't care about "Boston College" to make the argument that using the name Connecticut will engendered the following of the entire state when without realizing that you undermine your own point because the name "Boston College," on your thesis, should make the community care (and it doesn't)
4. "state pride" has nothing to do with whether we are called UConn or the University of Connecticut. do you think people in southern California are less prideful about UCLA, northern California about Berkeley, Pennsylvania about Penn State? Hell, even South Carolina goes by Carolina, Clemson goes by, well Clemson (how is that for state pride?), University of New Jersey by Rutgers, and on and on and on.

I was in the camp that kinda missed you, but you have burst back onto the board with a tidal wave of negativity that is already wearing thin. We have a new logo and new branding, it's over. I like it, and many others don't, but it's done. Now we have to focus on marketing, public relations, and winning. This is where you should be putting your energy because I think you have some good thoughts on those aspects. But what is really not needed are holier-than-though posts where anyone who has actually had to make a decision, based on hard data and constituent input, is wrong and you are so perfectly correct. Let's look forward to things we can control and stop trying to divide our own fanbase.

 

[J187Money]

Old ppl know connecticut. Young ppl can't put uconn- Connecticut together. They think its a private school. Your sports recruits and future students are young people. That simple. Locals in Boston don't care about bc. It's just a school in there backyard. That's what we're doing with uconn vs connecticut. State pride means something. If it didn't then all those school I listed would have cooler names also.

The block c was the right thing to do but it was never pumped. Here's how right it was, Clemson is now putting it on hats and having the coaches wear them to slowly mesh it into the paw logo. We missed the boat. We missed the ocean.

When you say this, which young people? You travel around the country a lot to ask people about this? The reality is - across most of the country, everywhere I've been, they don't recognize that we play football at all. Most people don't know what UCONN is, most people don't have any idea that the University of Connecticut is the institution that it is. College sports fans, particularly basketball fans, know who we are. Most of the rest of the country doesn't care and couldn't care what we name ourselves. Kind of like Wyoming. Or Idaho.

To the people that DO know us, they know us as UCONN. We've kicked their asses AS UCONN. And for those of us that went there, very few of us refer to the school as anything else.

(I also love the fact that the rant about UCONN being incorrectly branded as UCONN instead of Connecticut is called "UCONN Branding")

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Jimmy, do you honestly read this post and think it holds any value what so ever? Somebody whining about our name being UCONN? How about i start a thread that cries about the grass in redlot being mowed without criss cross pattern?

Personally, I don't give a crap either way. The irony I'm pointing out is that you're killing the OP for a lame post while praising Jesus that HFD is back so you won't have to sift through this garbage. Meanwhile, back in reality, HFD has been whining about this for years now.

 

[Husky25]

There is a problem with what the school administration did by rebranding the school UCONN.

UConn is a nickname those from the school gave the University of Connecticut. What is the school? It's Connecticut's state school. CONNECTICUT.

People from Florida call the Gators UF, but you don't see them changing the school to UF. Those from Michigan State call their school STATE, but they aren't going to rebrand their school. The dumb idiots in charge in Storrs are just that, idiots. You want to turn other people off from the state school? Ok, let's remove their affiliation from the name of it. Residents of Connecticut like seeing Connecticut, not UCONN. UConn just screams second rate. It screams UMass. We are Connecticut, we are not a nick name.

I suspect you are complaining because there is nothing better to do on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

For years in the 90's, Michigan State had a Block "S" on thier helmets. Whether it was meant to stand for Spartans or State is debatable. A Q&D Internet search was inconclusive.

Nowhere on their uniforms does LSU state "Louisiana State University." LSU is prominant on the Basketball Uni's, Football helmets, and Baseball Uniforms (a Script "Tigers" in baseball banner font is also used). The official athletic dept website is http://www.lsusports.net/ and the School website is LSU.edu.

The University of Pittsburgh regularly goes by PITT and it is an official Logo of the sports teams. Their website is pitt.edu/, however "University of Pittsburgh" is on the homepage banner. In the late 1990's/early 2000, Pitt even tried to do away with the Pitt moniker and go solely by PITTSBURGH, but it didn't take. PITT is on their football uniforms, baseball uniforms, and (whatdayano?) their basketball uniforms.

Similarly, the University of Connecticut's website is uconn.edu/, with University of Connecticut prominantly displayed in the openning banner. The one thing I don't see, which is a shame, is that Athletics is not in the sub-banner with Academics and Arts & Culture. UConn's official athletic website is UConnHuskies.com

There are a number of other examples I could state, but do I really need to? If the new branding included just plain old CONN, would you still have an issue (Arizona used to go by 'Zona and Missouri still referred to as Mizzou)? The new logo resembles a wolf because wolf is in the Siberian husky's ancestory. The blue in the new logo because UConn's official colors are National Flag Blue AND White. The accent Red is not prominant, but most likely has to do with The National Flag shade of blue. Again. it is not prominent. The only thing that I have not bought into is the football helments. They look too Arena League to me (See: Iowa Barnstormers)

 

[Husky25]

When Memphis calls itself umem or uphis u let me know. Your takings for profit and comparing it to a non profit. Your taking a national dilevery business and comparing it to a college. One drives around in trucks and handles brown boxes the other teaches, researches and plays sports. Glad we're on the same page here.

Michigan
Alabama
Florida
Texas
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
West Virginia
Virginia
Maryland
Ohio state
Penn state
Illinois
Michigan state
Iowa
Nebraska
Utah
Washington
Oregon

And so on. Then there is the northeast with private schools and city schools. If there was ever a region where a state brand could show up and rise to the top it's where we sit. Yet we decided to throw the nickname as our brand out there. There is not any other region of the country where there are BCS teams without a state name. For every Baylor there is a Texas. Wake. North Carolina. Vandy. Tennessee. N western Illinois. Meanwhile up in the northeast we have Rutgers, Cuse and bc. It begs for a state name. So we went with a nickname. For decades we watched real football down south and west make fun of the northeast. Those small schools up there blah blah. We are the chance to kill that talk and rise above the region. Instead we act like we want to join them.

Penn St. is a nick name. No one calls them by their given name of State College, Pennslyvania.