FIUGoldenPanthers.com

Why? Home many schools have a mascot that is unique and sets them apart. For the most part they are some type of predator or bird of prey.

And just say no to Sunblazer. It's a made up word that says nothing about us or S. Florida but tries to describe what the sun does (and it also sounds too much like an aritcle of clothing ).

I dunno, how many other Hurricanes, Gators, or Seminoles are there? Just to take our own state.

I understand where you're coming from... but to me, the fact it's unique off-sets the fact it's a made-up word. The only other school with a nickname like that is UAB and even then, it's not really the same.

Besides... when you have a made-up name like that, you can pretty much define it how you want. I think that's a great thing in this case. A good marketing campaign could make some serious hay with that.

Plus... FIU's teams used to be the Sunblazers. The history is there. I think having some sort of connection to the past would be a good thing, especially if you're going to change the school name.

Also... it likely brings Son of a Blazer back. Nothing against Roary, but S.O.B. is way cooler.

One final point. Look at minor league baseball's mascots. There's all kinds of goofy ones. Biscuits, Flying Squirrels, Blue Wahoos, Mudcats, Threshers... and that's just off the top of my head. Most of the time, the names were chosen because they were unique. It was a ploy to sell merchandise and to build community pride in the team. For the most part, it works.

I'll give you a personal example that I've been covering at my current job. In Daytona Beach, the long-time minor league baseball club changed its mascot recently from the Cubs to the Tortugas. The name change was forced because Chicago (NL) moved their Single-A ops to Myrtle Beach and Cincinnati took over.

Team officials decided even before the Reds came in that they weren't going to take the parent club name. They wanted to build an identity that could go through affiliation changes and bring something unique.

They came up with the Tortugas name around 3 months later and the local reaction at first was... mixed. At best. A lot of people had gotten used to the Cubs, but there was also complaints about it being Spanish and hard to say for the non-Latino populations. Not to mention the obvious complaints of it being a turtle.

(In case you're curious... Volusia County gets a lot of sea turtles during nesting season, so that's why the name. The Spanish twist was because the team officials thought it sounded better and was more unique than the Turtles.)

By the time the season started a few months later, though, people were used to it. And merch sales went through the roof. The team made more money off merch in the first half of the season than they had the entire year prior. Seeing Tortuga gear around Daytona now is not uncommon, I'll just put it that way.

The Tortugas also won some pretty prestigious awards for how the campaign was implemented as well as for the mascot and uniform design. Including a fan vote on MiLB.com.

So... I'm just throwing that out there for consumption. I know Miami's not Daytona Beach and college isn't minor league baseball, but I think some of the lessons could definitely apply.

First, allow me to say, I don't think "Southpaw" is a moron; he just has a different way of expressing himself. But, changing the name of FIU is a big thing and it would get a push back from city county, and state leaders, plus, from the “U”. However, from a marketing standpoint it works in so many ways.

The name Miami is known national and internality… There is a reason Metro Dade changed its name to Miami Dade, this was done for the sole purpose of linking the county with the city. The county leaders’ found it far easier to better market the county to governments, business and civic organizations change. In rebranding and changing the name they were able to do that for the betterment of the community and give the county a visible link with the city. Also, others outside of the state had a time grasping the name Metro-Dade, but Miami Dade was a slam dunk.

I don’t know if FIU has the will or the strength to fight for a name change, but if they did, would the students, alumni, faculty and community support such a change. I have a friend that is originally from Gainesville, FL and asked me, (“Why doesn’t FIU use the name Miami”)? It was hard for me to answer the question; but, like a lot of you we all know the answer it’s “the U baby”. I love the U, and all it’s done for the community, but, maybe it’s time for them to share the name Miami with us.

That's a great point, actually. I remember thinking it was kind of dumb when the Miami-Dade name was proposed but it really does work for marketing purposes. Especially outside of the area, which is important when trying to attract new business to the area.

The will is the real question. It'd take someone with real vision and able to take all the heat that would come with it and still build enough political consensus to make it happen. That's a mean feat. I'm not sure Maidique could've done it and he's the only FIU president I think who could've made it happen. Rosenberg, to me, is more of a caretaker. Nothing wrong with that, for the record, but I don't think this is something he'd push for.

I've always wondered why FIU was chosen instead of something Miami-based. I'm sure there's a reason for it. I just have no idea what it is. Anyone know the answer to that?

Got bored and did a Google search. Ran across the article below from the Sun-Sentinel.

I guess this proves that old saying in fashion about old things becoming new again.
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Fiu May Change Name
DIGEST
January 11, 1987

MIAMI -- Officials at Florida International University are considering a name change for the institution because, as one faculty member believes, the current one makes the school sound like a floating ``diploma mill.``

New President Modesto ``Mitch`` Maidique came up with the idea. Names already rejected are University of Tropical Florida, New World University of Florida and University of Florida at the Beaches.

Among names under consideration are University of Southeast Florida, University of Florida at Miami and Miami State University.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-0 ... men-slogan
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Thanks for the link. It seems our former school president was way ahead on this issue.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-0 ... men-slogan

I don't like the Miami State name. It just sounds second rate to me. I get the complaint with "FIU" is that it also sounds second rate and doesn't specify location. But neither does FSU, UF, UCF or USF (or the rest of the SUS schools). And USF even has the added complexity of "South Florida" when they obviously aren't in south Florida. I don't see Miami State as significantly better than FIU, and you shouldn't propose a name change when there may be little-to-no benefit from it.

That said, I've always been willing to a name change if it was the "right" name. Finding that "right" name is quite the arduous task, however. But your link actually gave me a name I could live with, though it's somewhat silly on first blush: South Beach University.

You all want something that has name cache, and South Beach provides that. Where did LeBron take his talents? They already put a beach on the basketball court. Don't they take football recruits to South Beach on their official visits? FIU has facilities on Miami Beach, so it's not a complete farce. UMiami isn't officially located in Miami, and SoBeU wouldn't be officially located in Miami Beach.

The only other name I could get behind that specifies location is Miami University of Florida (MUF), and there's no way that would ever work. I'm sure UMiami could successfully argue against it, and would even enlist the help of UF if need-be.

Are people serious with some of these names though? University of Tropical Florida? That literally advances the brand nowhere. New World University. Sounds like NWO wrestling. University of Southeast Florida? There's already a USF in Florida; they won't allow a second. Southeast(ern) Florida University? Location uncertain. UF-Miami? Sounds like you're a stage 5 clinger-on to UF.

Most of the names being proposed just scream, "severe inferiority complex". Let the performance of the university build brand recognition, not the other way around.

Sorry, but South Beach University sounds like a school you'd find in a former Quizno's in a strip mall.

Sorry, I would not want to say that I went to Sobe U.

I'm like 99.9% sure that we won't change our name though.

I've said that for several years on here. People complain about an acronym name that doesn't specify an exact city. That's not a problem for MIT, USC and others.

I happen to think the name doesn't make much difference if the quality of the institution itself doesn't improve. Academic and athletic reputation is how people "know" you. FIU lacks both. A name change would improve neither.



I was simply giving you what you wanted: a school whose name specifies its location so that you wouldn't have to answer anymore questions.

We can have Pepe billete as our president and a chonga as our mascot

Well said. Americans fail to understand what free speech really means. By the way, glad Southpaw is gone. When is the other resident moron going to go? BGH...................out of here.

Look at the names of all the Ivy League schools: Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, and Penn. Maybe they should change the name of their universities because people don't know where they are located. Do you guys really know where they all are located? See, it would be so idiotic for them to change their name. Why? Because they built a reputation for their name THROUGH PERFORMANCE. The name doesn't make the school. The school makes the name.

You can call FIU whatever you want. Sure, change it to something with Miami in it. At the end of the day, the school will still be FIU and will still have to grow in athletics and academics through performance.