Per ESPN NCAA tournament bracket guru, Valpo gets favorable mention.

[valpolaw]

This may be a bit off topic on this thread, but I felt it fit into these discussions the best.  Also, I'm not trying to be overly negative, I really love VU and want the best for it and all alumni.  Thus, I wanted to get these thoughts out there for discussion. 

With respect to the VU color scheme/logo, I don't understand what is/has been going on with the colors.  I think we need to pick a color scheme and stick with it.  I think constantly changing the colors and logo shows instability.  In the past, the colors were brown/gold, then we seemed to shift to a black/gold/white, now it seems to be more of a bright yellow color than gold.  At one point, VU even tried to toss in that ugly neon-greenish color into the scheme (although I never saw it used on the athletic teams thankfully and it appears to have been removed from the basketball court).  My personal opinion is that the brown/gold is atrocious.  I'd prefer a black/gold/white scheme (especially for the athletic teams).  Whatever the case, I think we need to consistently use a scheme and stick with it.  I think having a good color scheme would greatly enhance VU's appearance and would be helpful to recruits (who wants to play on a team with an ugly outdated brown/gold color??!).  While the color scheme may not be a huge factor for recruits, I think having an appealing color scheme could be helpful.

Moreover, the new crusader is ugly and looks cheap.  The V shield logo with the flame coming out of the V looks like a spinoff (possibly knock off) of the Vincennes University logo.  I remember that the university previously hired an outside marketing committee to assist with the colors and logo change several years back when it all changed.  In my opinion, VU should demand its money back as I think the marketing company and anyone that supported the changes made horrible choices.

Last, why doesn't the university sell a Bryce Drew throwback jersey?  I looked for one in the bookstore when I was on campus recently and didn't see one.  I think they definitely should--Bryce is the face of the university and VU's claim to fame--why not attempt to profit off it some and use it for marketing? 

[valpo84]

Some might prefer it to be a Bruce Lindner throw back jersey. 

[FWalum]

This may be a bit off topic on this thread, but I felt it fit into these discussions the best.  Also, I'm not trying to be overly negative, I really love VU and want the best for it and all alumni.  Thus, I wanted to get these thoughts out there for discussion. 

With respect to the VU color scheme/logo, I don't understand what is/has been going on with the colors.  I think we need to pick a color scheme and stick with it.  I think constantly changing the colors and logo shows instability.  In the past, the colors were brown/gold, then we seemed to shift to a black/gold/white, now it seems to be more of a bright yellow color than gold.  At one point, VU even tried to toss in that ugly neon-greenish color into the scheme (although I never saw it used on the athletic teams thankfully and it appears to have been removed from the basketball court).  My personal opinion is that the brown/gold is atrocious.  I'd prefer a black/gold/white scheme (especially for the athletic teams).  Whatever the case, I think we need to consistently use a scheme and stick with it.  I think having a good color scheme would greatly enhance VU's appearance and would be helpful to recruits (who wants to play on a team with an ugly outdated brown/gold color??!).  While the color scheme may not be a huge factor for recruits, I think having an appealing color scheme could be helpful.

Moreover, the new crusader is ugly and looks cheap.  The V shield logo with the flame coming out of the V looks like a spinoff (possibly knock off) of the Vincennes University logo.  I remember that the university previously hired an outside marketing committee to assist with the colors and logo change several years back when it all changed.  In my opinion, VU should demand its money back as I think the marketing company and anyone that supported the changes made horrible choices.

At the time my thoughts were pretty much the same as yours.  I don't particularly like the YELLOW and Brown color scheme and would much prefer more of a Wake Forest type old gold look.  Extremely happy that the neon green accent color has been minimized (It has worked... ok in certain situations) or perhaps never really caught on along with the "life lines".  The Crusader has been tweaked some from the original look which was really terrible.  He has done some fun things in the videos, but it is really hard to have or show a personality when you really don't have a face... I really don't get a faceless mascot, even the Stanford tree has a face!  The VU shield is ok, but not great.  As a whole things are probably not as bad as I originally thought.

[a3uge]

This may be a bit off topic on this thread, but I felt it fit into these discussions the best.  Also, I'm not trying to be overly negative, I really love VU and want the best for it and all alumni.  Thus, I wanted to get these thoughts out there for discussion. 

With respect to the VU color scheme/logo, I don't understand what is/has been going on with the colors.  I think we need to pick a color scheme and stick with it.  I think constantly changing the colors and logo shows instability.  In the past, the colors were brown/gold, then we seemed to shift to a black/gold/white, now it seems to be more of a bright yellow color than gold.  At one point, VU even tried to toss in that ugly neon-greenish color into the scheme (although I never saw it used on the athletic teams thankfully and it appears to have been removed from the basketball court).  My personal opinion is that the brown/gold is atrocious.  I'd prefer a black/gold/white scheme (especially for the athletic teams).  Whatever the case, I think we need to consistently use a scheme and stick with it.  I think having a good color scheme would greatly enhance VU's appearance and would be helpful to recruits (who wants to play on a team with an ugly outdated brown/gold color??!).  While the color scheme may not be a huge factor for recruits, I think having an appealing color scheme could be helpful.

Moreover, the new crusader is ugly and looks cheap.  The V shield logo with the flame coming out of the V looks like a spinoff (possibly knock off) of the Vincennes University logo.  I remember that the university previously hired an outside marketing committee to assist with the colors and logo change several years back when it all changed.  In my opinion, VU should demand its money back as I think the marketing company and anyone that supported the changes made horrible choices.

Last, why doesn't the university sell a Bryce Drew throwback jersey?  I looked for one in the bookstore when I was on campus recently and didn't see one.  I think they definitely should--Bryce is the face of the university and VU's claim to fame--why not attempt to profit off it some and use it for marketing?

We should stick to one color set by switching colors one more time to black and gold? That doesn't make sense. The university rebranded in 2010 and we haven't changed anything since then - no new logos or color changes, so I think it would be unstable to abandon everything and start over with new logos and new colors now.

Regarding the gold - we're a bit inconsistent with the exact color tone. I'm sure that's due to material and how colors appear digitally vs in real life. I do think the court itself seems like a lighter color than what's on the actual logo.

As for the logos - if the colors are scaring off recruits, I'd like to see what the old logo was doing. The old logo looks like a Notre Dame knockoff, except more like a Disney character. The University made it worse by creating cartoon Crusaders for each sport. Gross. Furthermore, the Valpo script was a complete mess and didn't blend well with the Crusader logo at all and was painful to see used in non athletic settings. It was no surprise to see Valpo strip down to a more generic, basic brand due to the mess they had before. The old logo had 7 different colors in it. The new one has 3.

The new branding isn't perfect - they made the new logo look bad on a gold shirt, and the logo itself is a bit generic. But it's way better than what they trotted out before and it's only 5 years old, so changing it now is way too soon.

[valpopal]

Regarding the gold - we're a bit inconsistent with the exact color tone. I'm sure that's due to material and how colors appear digitally vs in real life. I do think the court itself seems like a lighter color than what's on the actual logo.

From producing photos and posters for the football team, I can tell you the official color of gold they requested should be used and that can be recreated on all materials:


CMYK 0/12/100/0 RGB 255/204/0  Pantone 116 Hex ffcc00

[valpocleveland]

I personally liked the old logo better and saw no problem having variations for each sport. Not many multi sport athletes and most people are buying bball gear so I don't think it created logo confusion. I think the new mascot is ugly but see no problem with the colors. A couple years ago the University added green as a third color might have been only for the website and not athletic oriented. Anyone have info on that?

[VULB#62]

Some teams opted to use the florescent green as an alternate uni. I recall MSO and the VB team wearing green, but few others.

I have grown to like the whole rebrand. I especially like the choice of the milk chocolate brown over a dark brown and the toned down yellow over bright yellow for graphics (ARC floor, stationery, banners, etc.).  The uniform colors, on the other hand, vary quite a lot.  I agree with some that, when going to a gold uni, it should be what is termed "old gold" not the garish bright yellow. BTW some teams have opted for a gray base with brown and gold/yellow lettering.  As an alternate, I like it. I do not like a black base for alternates.

[valpo64]

Per a comment made last year by MLB, Bryce will have nothing to do with the gray uniforms and does not like brown , preferring the black.

[a3uge]

Per a comment made last year by MLB, Bryce will have nothing to do with the gray uniforms and does not like brown , preferring the black.

They gave the grey ones away on senior day in 2012. I think they were 0-2 in them in 2011.

[VULB#62]

So much for gray.