Marquette & UWM Deserve Better Team Names

Consider where your mind jumps when you hear mention of a Badger game compared with a Panther game. UW-Milwaukee's name is indistinct while Marquette's never felt connected to the university. If you’re solely interested in a list of alternate names or cute animal pictures skip to the bottom and enjoy; for a little history and reasoning continue on!

Panthers is a boring and widely used name of schools and teams across the United States where the animal roams the zoos. The UWM library wrote that the university's naming developed as follows,

• 1896: Wisconsin State Normal School Normals
• 1927: Milwaukee State Teacher's College Green Gulls
• 1956: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Cardinals (Wisconsin State College merged with the University of Wisconsin Extension)
• 1965: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers

As an outsider my feeling is UWM never fully habituated to either their school or team name. The UWM seal has three separate years on it which speaks towards the unsettled identity (if anyone has any idea why 1849 is on there please let me know!) As recently as 2006 the university name came up for reconsideration.

People don't seem to mind the Panthers name but there isn’t much local connection with it either; we don’t see paraphernalia spread about the area as we do for the Bucks, Brewers or the Badgers in Madison. The Panthers are considerably less visible throughout Wisconsin. Even around Milwaukee few flags are flown, few sweatshirts are worn, and Pounce the Panther isn’t widely sought after for special occasions like Bucky.

Some of this certainly comes from an inconsistent program that has long gaps between  winning basketball seasons. A competitive team helps alumni and locals stay connected to a university from youth through adulthood. When the team is lousy for a decade or more at a time it's difficult to maintain a following and create connection. For an example look no further then the popular statewide support Badger athletics enjoy, even from some people with an active dislike of the university. Once the bonds form many people will continue to come even during dry spells.

Golden Eagles is a solid name but it was sutured on after the whole Marquette Warriors kerfuffle (let’s agree to forget the Marquette Gold hour.) Maybe the answer for them is to drop the nickname altogether and just go with Marquette; this is how they are mostly referenced anyways. Golden eagles are not very common in Wisconsin; they come for food but nest elsewhere. On the other hand the name lines up well with the student population as the majority come from Illinois.

Smaller school names.

• Cardinal Stritch Wolves is solid.
• Concordia Falcons is okay but frequently used.
• MATC Stormers is excellent!
• MSOE Raiders doesn't make a lot of sense here but is alright.
• Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors uses one of the most common names.

I think of a proper name as the initial step towards what has existed in Madison for the better part of a century; a culture that continuously draws tens of thousands of people together to witness, support, and celebrate local students competing against others around the country. When done well the camaraderie spreads wherever alumni or fans happen to live and is consistent through thick and thin. UW has this; Marquette has some of this; UWM has very little of this.

Below are ideas for any local institution pondering a name change in no particular order.

Alternate Names

• Black Bears/Baribals – might be a tough sell in Packer country.
• Cougars/Lions/Pumas – Milwaukee lion anyone?
• Martens – remarkably cute animal native to Wisconsin (albeit endangered.)
• Forgers – shaping metal, not faking checks 😉.
• Trappers – works both historically and with basketball although it may be unpopular nowadays.
• Sprockets – Industrial terms are underutilized in sports.
• Pinions – See above.
• Casters – metal into a mold.
• (Red) Foxes
• Coyotes
• Gray Wolves – may lead to the gray versus grey argument.
• (River) Otters
• Moles
• Machine
• Ticks
• Bobcats – meh.