I have been championing for this for about a year. I was in Krush and there for his last dance. I love Chief and always will, but we are losing out on market opportunity and branding being without a symbol or mascot. My personal preference is something that I thing both sides of the aisle can rally around. The birthplace of the term "Fighting Illini" comes from when we were raising funds for Memorial stadium. I think that a WWI doughboy would be most fitting. I would love to figure how to contact the committee with this. Here are a few examples of images from google already out there:
Not a WWI doughboy, but I still like the imagery
All of this imagery is not inclusive of women and marginalizes their contributions to the university. This is culturally appropriating combat and placing it in an esteemed academic institution.
Though people will spin it that way, this really doesn't have much to do with the Chief. This is about branding. It's about having a figure that can attend media events, and that kids can take pictures with. It's something that can be in commercials when Capitol One does its whole mascot thing.
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My only concern with the soldier is that it won't be quite as warm and cuddly as the other mascots. Pretty tough to make a soldier cute without it becoming pretty farcical.
Another option I think would be something along the Flying Illini theme. Some sort of hawk or something. I'm less into that idea, but it would probably be easier to create a fuzzy mascot from that.
Generally, I'm on board with this because it's something that will help our marketing and give the kids (who don't have any connection to the Chief) something to get excited about. Does it do much for me personally? No.
Gargirl?We could get a female gargoyle to go with Bradley's Kaboom
I'm going to have to vehemently disagree with the bolded. I can assure you this effort has no origin from the athletic department, who manages near all of our branding. This has everything to do with academics and SJWs working to purge the lasting traces of the chief from our campus. They firmly believe the absence of a mascot is the reason the chief's presence continues to hang around.
Regarding the soldier, I see no way that we can have a soldier as a mascot in the standard definition that is not viewed as offensive if the chief was offensive just as a symbol. To ask a soldier mascot at games to deliver shirts, take pictures, and whatever isn't respectful of armed forces. If we aren't going to have the new mascot figure fill those roles, it isn't a mascot.
Ultimately, I think the answer is to follow the Michigan/IU mold, and be mascot-less. You can build a strong brand by winning, and as we all know, nobody needs a mascot to rally around at sporting events. We need a winning team, but there is no correlation between winning teams and having mascots, or between mascots and strong brands.
Since the state is known as the world leader in growing pumpkins...I propose Peter Pumpkinhead!
Jeremy Werner@JWernerScout 25m25 minutes ago
Even if you don't agree with this, this is the type of healthy conversation that should occur (Re: Illini mascot)https://twitter.com/jstriebel22/status/727564530646048768 …
https://twitter.com/jstriebel22/status/727564530646048768 Justin Striebel @jstriebel22 I have a big idea. Let me know if you think it is or could become a good idea. #Illini http://achiefsolution.com
That's a well written article, and one that I agree with wholeheartedly. It is similar to what Central Michigan has done, Florida State does to a small extent, and I believe North Dakota State had also done. BTW, NDSU "retired" the Fighting Sioux a few years back and are now the Fighting Hawks
I hate to constantly sound like a nay-sayer, however, but it's my understanding that Native American House and the Department of American Indian Studies (which may now be defunct) have expressed an unwillingness to compromise at all on this topic.
How about a gnome named Gene?
Let's just be the Fighting Illini. Have a guy dress up in battle gear and rev the folks up a bit. It could be a doughboy, but it could also be modern battle gear.
In the lines of the mountaineer at WVU, or the leprechaun guy at ND. Just a fighting Illini.