The worst logos in NCAA Division I - Schools that are in dire need of a rebrand.

[AnPheitseog]

The entire branding for SUNY is a mess. Such convoluted and needlessly wordy school names.

How about

New York State University - Buffalo. Rinse, repeat for the 64 other campuses. "Buffalo State" for short.

It's the difference between using the active and passive voice in writing.

The branding for UB was pretty consistent with the academic and athletic sides, until the athletic department went rogue and embraced the "New York". 99% of the time it was "University at Buffalo"; the full "SUNY University at Buffalo" was for formal things like diplomas and some official releases. It's not much different than Ford/Ford Motor Company or Disney/The Walt Disney Company.

Also SUNY is a system of universities, rather than multiple campuses. UB is a different university than Albany is, even though both are within the SUNY system. In contrast, Penn State Allegheny and Penn State college park are the same university, but different campuses.

[Burkell007]

The chess piece isn't bad at all, it's the wordmark that needs to go.

Refresh the chess piece and new wordmark....

[schtee]

The entire branding for SUNY is a mess. Such convoluted and needlessly wordy school names.

How about

New York State University - Buffalo. Rinse, repeat for the 64 other campuses. "Buffalo State" for short.

It's the difference between using the active and passive voice in writing.

The branding for UB was pretty consistent with the academic and athletic sides, until the athletic department went rogue and embraced the "New York". 99% of the time it was "University at Buffalo"; the full "SUNY University at Buffalo" was for formal things like diplomas and some official releases. It's not much different than Ford/Ford Motor Company or Disney/The Walt Disney Company.

Also SUNY is a system of universities, rather than multiple campuses. UB is a different university than Albany is, even though both are within the SUNY system. In contrast, Penn State Allegheny and Penn State college park are the same university, but different campuses.

These are good points, but the system's branding is still a mess.

"New York State University, (city name)" is superior because it's less clunky than "State University of New York at (city name)" the same way that we say "blue car" not "car of blue." or "State Department" when speaking instead of "Department of State"

"SUNY" aside:

"University at Buffalo" and "University at Albany" are weird because of the use of "at" instead of "of." Moreover, nothing about their public status is implied in those names. Same lack of public school connotation for the other two flagships, Binghamton University and Stony Brook University.

In the northeast, city name universities are generally private (NYU, Providence, Boston U., Boston College, Philadelphia U., U. of Hartford)

[Cosmic]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

[BlazerBlaze]

I think it depends which state you're in. I go to Valdosta State and we don't have any connection to UGA like the Texas or California schools do.

[cajunaggie08]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

Houston, Cincinnati, and Louisville are public universities. However, I didn't realize until recently that alot of schools with city names were actually private unless it has the word state slapped on it.

[stumpygremlin]

The entire branding for SUNY is a mess. Such convoluted and needlessly wordy school names.

How about

New York State University - Buffalo. Rinse, repeat for the 64 other campuses. "Buffalo State" for short.

It's the difference between using the active and passive voice in writing.

Well, you see the issue is there's already a Buffalo State...

The question is... why does SUNY need two campuses in Buffalo?

[illwauk]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

The University of Houston is public. I didn't realize until recently that most schools with city names were actually private unless it has the word state slapped on it.

Yeah, it really goes on a state by state basis. That's why I hate that all the public universities in Wisconsin follow the "University of Wisconsin-___________" convention. In states like Ohio, where the only schools that share the name of their flagship university are satellite campuses and community colleges, telling someone you went to a UW besides Madison makes them think you went somewhere similar.

[cajunaggie08]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

The University of Houston is public. I didn't realize until recently that most schools with city names were actually private unless it has the word state slapped on it.

Yeah, it really goes on a state by state basis. That's why I hate that all the public universities in Wisconsin follow the "University of Wisconsin-___________" convention. In states like Ohio, where the only schools that share the name of their flagship university are satellite campuses and community colleges, telling someone you went to a UW besides Madison makes them think you went somewhere similar.

When state schools all share a name, its usually an attempt to show that all the universities are under the umbrella of one board of regents. I agree that the university of wisconsin system probably should follow the cal state example and let each school use its own name for athletic branding, but i can see the potential benefit of wanting all the schools to share a brand when it comes to academics, the board wants to capitalize on the name/reputation of the flagship campus in hopes that it draws better students (and more $$$) to the other schools. To me its weird that some states only have one public university system. In Texas there are 6 university systems and one independent state university with each one having its own board of regents. There is a lot of bickering when it comes to fighting for the shrinking pot of state funding.

[illwauk]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

The University of Houston is public. I didn't realize until recently that most schools with city names were actually private unless it has the word state slapped on it.

Yeah, it really goes on a state by state basis. That's why I hate that all the public universities in Wisconsin follow the "University of Wisconsin-___________" convention. In states like Ohio, where the only schools that share the name of their flagship university are satellite campuses and community colleges, telling someone you went to a UW besides Madison makes them think you went somewhere similar.

When state schools all share a name, its usually an attempt to show that all the universities are under the umbrella of one board of regents. I agree that the university of wisconsin system probably should follow the cal state example and let each school use its own name for athletic branding, but i can see the potential benefit of wanting all the schools to share a brand when it comes to academics, the board wants to capitalize on the name/reputation of the flagship campus in hopes that it draws better students (and more $$$) to the other schools. To me its weird that some states only have one public university system. In Texas there are 6 university systems and one independent state university with each one having its own board of regents. There is a lot of bickering when it comes to fighting for the shrinking pot of state funding.

More often than not, though, the exact opposite happens where the flagship school ends up starving the others for money and resources.

There's also the issue of branding when it comes to university system's with as many schools as Wisconsin has, where there's two UWP's, UWS's, and UWM's. I ought to be able to tell people in my own state that I went to UWM without them asking "Madison or Milwaukee?" Especially when UW-Madison doesn't even brand itself as UWM.

[cajunaggie08]

Yea, I would think UWM would clarify it enough for people in Wisconsin to know that means UW-Milwaukee. In Texas UT generally means the Austin campus, but in the last 5 years I've noticed a trend of graduates saying its UT-Austin while UTA still is the term for UT-Arlington. They definitely want you to know they went to the Austin campus and not one of the other schools.

[sc49erfan15]

Is there a reason public universities can't have a city name?

The University of Houston is public. I didn't realize until recently that most schools with city names were actually private unless it has the word state slapped on it.

Yeah, it really goes on a state by state basis. That's why I hate that all the public universities in Wisconsin follow the "University of Wisconsin-___________" convention. In states like Ohio, where the only schools that share the name of their flagship university are satellite campuses and community colleges, telling someone you went to a UW besides Madison makes them think you went somewhere similar.

Heh, try South Carolina's system, which is a confusing mess of:

Flagship: Columbia (always referred to as "USC")

4-year schools: Aiken, Beaufort, Upstate

2-year schools: Lancaster, Salkehatchie, Sumter, Union

...and both the 2-year and 4-year schools have a smattering of branch campuses. Without knowledge of a specific school, an outsider would have no idea whether someone went to a 4-year or 2-year school.

[illwauk]

Yea, I would think UWM would clarify it enough for people in Wisconsin to know that means UW-Milwaukee. In Texas UT generally means the Austin campus, but in the last 5 years I've noticed a trend of graduates saying its UT-Austin while UTA still is the term for UT-Arlington. They definitely want you to know they went to the Austin campus and not one of the other schools.

That's actually very similar to how its supposed to work here. UW means Madison, UWM means Milwaukee. But people still get confused because the phenomena of UWM drawing most of our students from outside the metro area is still less than 20 years old. UW-Madison graduates usually just say "I went to Madison," which works because of the city's reputation as a college town. But saying "I went to Milwaukee" out of context is still likely to lead to questons like "For what... a Brewer game? Summerfest?"

Although I have noticed a trend of younger graduates saying "I went to Milwaukee" without any qualifiers, so maybe that's starting to change.

All that said, I think UWM would be much better off being known simply as the University of Milwaukee.

[debo0775]

I know my school has been mentioned, but Bradley University needs a different logo in my opinion. It works just fine as a secondary logo I feel, but it looks horribly out of place on most uniform applications (and in most applications, we just use a script/block lettering).

Though, we really need to work on renaming our mascot first. The imagery is fine (IMO), but the name is based solely on a basketball catch phrase from our longtime announcer. It's hard to be excited for a mascot when its name doesn't even reflect all of our sporting programs. Tobias/Toby, in my opinion, would have been a MUCH better choice (especially since that's the name of the school's founder's husband who died shortly before she was able to actualize their dream...).

[CallMeT22]

Leave the pitchfork, UCLA, and Oregon State. Pitchfork is better than smiling, not-scary-at-all sparky. UCLA is tradition. And what else can you do with a team named "Beavers": absolutely nothing. That's the best they are ever going to get.