Worst College Logos

[Legend]

The UC Santa Cruz Fighting Banana Slugs.

http://www.goslugs.com/

Oh, wait, that's the BEST college logo.

Agree 100%

I even bought a Banana Slugs hat from Lids a few years back.

[crashcarson15]

Yuck, always thought this had to be the least intimidating logo...

But the new one that isn't introduced yet is a huge improvement.

Thanks Butler for the new court. Horizon league ftw.

Nice update there.

Oh, and Youngstown State FTW!

[matthager]

It's not even a logo really. There seems to be so much they could do with that nickname, but instead they go with an uninspired wordmark.

[charger77]

I am a CMU grad and love the Flying C. But is a letter alone a good logo?

[Anubis2051]

Rutgers went from one of the best identities in college sports to a plain red letter set in Rockwell Extra Bold, a font that comes with Microsoft Office. If they absolutely had to go the single-letter route, couldn't they have just picked this instead of the two-second job they ultimately chose?

As a current Rutgers Undergrad, I can't agree more. I HATE the "R" logo. It's a shame that this has become basically the only logo on campus, from the banners on streetlights, the 50 yard line, center court, etc. The only place that the knight head is still used over the R is on the basketball shorts. It's such a great logo, I wish it was used more, especially on the football helmets.

[Boyee]

i really like the thread "5 worst logos in sports" so I decided to ask you guys what are some of the worst, uninspiring logos in college sports? the other thread focused more on professional sports. i think college logos are interesting in themselves, as well as the thought processes that go into choosing them. tradition is one of the dominating factors in choosing a logo for your school. i can guarentee we will not see the unanimity that we did in the other thread. most of my choices were based on the entire logo package, not just the primary listed on CC

So here are my top 5:

1.Illinois-Chicago

2.Georgia State

Isn't this from a Lion King movie?

3.Iowa State

very uninspiring logo package, they are like a lost kid in the Big 12

4.Marquette

catholic, smart university with a modern, flashy logo package

5.Depaul

LOVE the color scheme but it just doesn't fit a classy Catholic school

What are yours?

Georgia State has a new logo and no longer uses this cartoon logo.

University of Illinois at Chicago has no other real options for a logo with the nickname of Flames.

Iowa State has made a worse logo, I agree.

But DePaul and Marquette both have very strong logos, although this is not DePaul's primary logo, but an alternate logo.

[Boyee]

Catholic schools aren't allowed to have modern logos? Since when?

Not sure if the original poster is aware of this, but both Marquette and DePaul have reputations as being stuffy old Catholic schools that are stuck in the early 20th century and only remain relevant through donations from aging alumni. So I guess in that sense, the logos aren't fitting. But it doesn't change the fact that both logos would be candidates for a TOP 5 list.

Had he posted MU's Golden Chicken on the other hand...

Your charaterization of DePaul as old and stuffy is very unlike the university. It has over 25,000 students, is very diverse (named most diverse in the nation in 2007 by the Princeton Review), is located in one of the nicest neigborhoods in Chicago, and is very religiously diverse and extremely liberal.

[Boyee]

Catholic schools aren't allowed to have modern logos? Since when?

Not sure if the original poster is aware of this, but both Marquette and DePaul have reputations as being stuffy old Catholic schools that are stuck in the early 20th century and only remain relevant through donations from aging alumni. So I guess in that sense, the logos aren't fitting. But it doesn't change the fact that both logos would be candidates for a TOP 5 list.

Had he posted MU's Golden Chicken on the other hand...

Your charaterization of DePaul as old and stuffy is very unlike the university. It has over 25,000 students, is very diverse (named most diverse in the nation in 2007 by the Princeton Review), is located in one of the nicest neigborhoods in Chicago, and is very religiously diverse with Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists and many more. It is also very liberal. Also, DePaul is affiliated with the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) while Marquette is affilated with the Society of Jesus (Jesuit). There are only 2 other Vincentian schools in the USA, St. John's University in NY and Niagara University in upstate NY.

[illwauk]

Maybe things have changed since I was a prospective student (which wasn't THAT long ago), but I certainly didn't get that impression during the couple days I spent on campus. There was a movement to get the campus clinic to stop distributing birth control pills based on the church's stance on the matter and, while some quick googling shows that DePaul's student body does have something of a racial mix (by upper midwest standards, anyway), you wouldn't have known it walking around on campus. Besides, "diverse" is such a loosely-defined buzzword that pretty much any moderately-sized college can (and does) make some claim to it.

[JaxNoles]

Okay, there are a few listed that I do not agree with. First off, I have always loved the Colorado logo. It may not be the most realistic rendering but it looks good IMO. Kansas State and Iowa are two more that I really like. Again they're simple. And they both look very good on football helmets, especially the Iowa one.

Alabama's current set isn't bad, but I think it is a huge downgrade from the retro elephant coming through the A logo. I know that they pretty much had to drop it because nobody uses logos like that anymore but I loved it.

[fortius54]

I have to agree. I have no idea what Rutgers was thinking. They look like a junior high team running around out there. Not even a good junior high team. They look like a junior high team at a primarily basketball school.

[PackerBadger]

http://sportslogos.net/logo.php?id=7476

Central Connecticut State hands down.

I'll call your Central Connecticut State and raise you a Scottsdale Community College (take your pick):

I actually think the second one is pretty awesome.

What the hell do they chant at games? "GO CHOKES GO!"?

[PackerBadger]

1.Illinois-Chicago

For those who think that's bad: UIC was, until the early 1980s (I think), known as the University of Illinois–Chicago Circle. (See http://www.uic.edu/depts/uichistory/index.html and http://www.arch.uic.edu/school6.php for the supposed reason.) And what was the University of Illinois–Chicago Circle’s athletic nickname?

Of course, it was “Circle.”

The University of Illinois–Chicago Circle Circle hockey team (1966-1996, R.I.P.), about to lose to my alma mater.

[illwauk]

To me, that's not even the funniest thing about UIC's nickname history.

At the time, the school was known as UI-Chicago Circle, and "Circle" was a nickname in the same vein as "Zaga" for Gonzaga or "The Rock" for Slippery Rock... but it happened to become the default nickname for few years after they dropped their previous nickname "Chikas," as in the Chickasaw first nations tribe. They dropped that name not for PC reasons, but because it was encouraging homophobic taunts from the fans of opposing teams... if only they'd have been able to see into the not-so-distant future when they finally settled on "Flames"

[Shmee]

Sadly, this South Carolina logo is absolutely horrid. I'd welcome a change in a heartbeat.

[JQK]

{img}

Rutgers went from one of the best identities in college sports to a plain red letter set in Rockwell Extra Bold, a font that comes with Microsoft Office. If they absolutely had to go the single-letter route, couldn't they have just picked this instead of the two-second job they ultimately chose?

As a current Rutgers Undergrad, I can't agree more. I HATE the "R" logo. It's a shame that this has become basically the only logo on campus, from the banners on streetlights, the 50 yard line, center court, etc. The only place that the knight head is still used over the R is on the basketball shorts. It's such a great logo, I wish it was used more, especially on the football helmets.

{img}

Why this is not on the 50 at Rutgers Stadium, i'll never know...

[Buster]

Yawn, Minnesota's upside-down W:

[erikstoll]

{img}

Rutgers went from one of the best identities in college sports to a plain red letter set in Rockwell Extra Bold, a font that comes with Microsoft Office. If they absolutely had to go the single-letter route, couldn't they have just picked this instead of the two-second job they ultimately chose?

As a current Rutgers Undergrad, I can't agree more. I HATE the "R" logo. It's a shame that this has become basically the only logo on campus, from the banners on streetlights, the 50 yard line, center court, etc. The only place that the knight head is still used over the R is on the basketball shorts. It's such a great logo, I wish it was used more, especially on the football helmets.

{img}

Why this is not on the 50 at Rutgers Stadium, i'll never know...

never seen that logo, but I agree, that would look great on the 50

[GottaDeal]

Not sure if the original poster is aware of this, but both Marquette and DePaul have reputations as being stuffy old Catholic schools that are stuck in the early 20th century and only remain relevant through donations from aging alumni.

I would spend time explaining just how incorrect your statement is, but considering you have a UWM logo in your sig, I'll just assume you're a rube who wouldn't understand anyway.

[Viper]

Yuck, always thought this had to be the least intimidating logo...

But the new one that isn't introduced yet is a huge improvement.

Alas, they still insist on shortening their name to something that sounds more like dog food than a college athletic program.