New Valpo Team Name Ideas

[jackvitashow]

Hey Valpo fans!

I'm a VU alum and I currently host a sports podcast. I'm going to be doing a livestream soon (date/time TBD - I will share later) on Facebook.com/jackvitashow and Youtube.com/jackvita where I will be talking with a pair of other alums about what the next Valparaiso team name should be.

I would LOVE for you to respond to this post with your best suggestions for a new mascot/team name. I want to include as many suggestions as I can in the livestream, and will give you a shoutout if you suggest a name. What should Valpo's new team name be?

[valpo64]

i am sure you have heard it before but I like the "Knights"...good luck on your  pod cast

[vu72]

Hey Valpo fans!

I'm a VU alum and I currently host a sports podcast. I'm going to be doing a livestream soon (date/time TBD - I will share later) on Facebook.com/jackvitashow and Youtube.com/jackvita where I will be talking with a pair of other alums about what the next Valparaiso team name should be.

I would LOVE for you to respond to this post with your best suggestions for a new mascot/team name. I want to include as many suggestions as I can in the livestream, and will give you a shoutout if you suggest a name. What should Valpo's new team name be?

I've suggested the "Golden Knights"which would follow the previous change from Uhlen to Crusader.  Still a guy in armor but with a different name.  Or,  "The Flames", something to follow on the Valpo theme of other organizations light The Beacon, The lighter, The Torch etc.  the other possibility in my mind is to just stick with  the "The Brown and Gold".  This would put us in good company with other schools just using a color like The Crimson or The Cardinal.

[IndyValpo]

If you look down the page of topics on the basketball page to the topic New Mascot there is six pages of ideas. My choice is Vultures. Look forward to your show.

[vu84v2]

I really like Golden Knights. Yes, it is used by the Vegas hockey team but it is not used in college sports. Knights is also fine.

[vuny98]

A while back I compiled a list of the names suggested and posted in another thread. Copying it here. Some good, some decent, some not so much.

My personal favorite is "Gold".

Golden Knights/Knights   
Gold     
Bold (Brown and Gold)     
Storm/Golden Storm (not to be confused with Golden Shower)   
Lakers/Great Lakers/Golden Lakers
Shield     
Dunehawks     
Hilltoppers     
Kernels/Fighting Kernels/Golden Kernels
Victory/Victory Bells   
Golden Gales     
Crew/Golden Crew   
Union     
Golden Bells     
Trailblazers     
Voyagers     
Paladins     
Huskarl     
Hussars     
Dragons     
Lancers     
Rollers     
Surge     
Breakers     
Blizzard     
Golden Otters/Fighting Otters   
Yeti/Golden Yeti/Fighting Yeti
Dune Surfers     
Saders     
Koalas     
Polar Bears     
Tundra Thunder     
Lake Effect     
Glockners     
Zvonars     
Bellringers   

Adding:
Vanguard
Brown and Gold
United   
Etwetritschen

Flames

[crusader05]

I tend to like either just being the Brown and Gold or just the Gold or Bold.

I also have liked the Vortex and it's got an alliteration and goes well with both the meteorology program and the fact that many students come to Valpo and learn first hand the meaning of the word "Polar Vortex"

I'm on record of not liking the Knight or Golden knight b/c I tend to find Knights as a mascot name pretty bland and it seems that there wasn't much rallying around the Crusader mascot that I think wasn't solely or even mostly about finding the name/identity offensive and just it not really resonating with the campus and I worry that basically just making him a Knight may not increase student Buy in.

[vu84v2]

With all due respect to the meteorology program (which is good), I would have a real problem singling out one college or program in developing a nickname - especially when it is relatively small compared to other colleges and programs in the university.

[Piledriver]

The Vaccinators

"Givin' everybody a shot!"

[VUSWIM08-12]

Really like "Voyagers" Goes with Valpo and just seems to fit imo.

[GoldenCrusader87]

Top 3 in no particular order:

Dunehawks     
Hilltoppers     
Kernels/Fighting Kernels/Golden Kernels

[VUSERF]

The Valpo...

Shield
Vanguard
Dunehawks

Top 3.

[jtm]

Golden Knights is very boring.

[IndyValpo]

Golden Knights is very boring.

As opposed to?

[SanityLost17]

Lancers is a really good idea.    Saw it on the list above.   Not super far off from Crusader.    Easy transition.

[wh]

The university's humble-braggers and virtue signalers that created the illusion of a problem with the name "Crusader" will never allow substitute names like Lancers and Knights.

[valpo64]

Let's not confuse the daze with the Knights and just go with the "Brown and Gold".

[vu84v2]

I also like Lancers, as it is still unique (there is a high school in the Chicago suburbs with the nickname Lancers). Golden Lancers could work too. No offense to those who have suggested it, but I do not like Brown and Gold as a nickname - nor do I like Gold. Additionally, I would not recommend "creating" an animal (I am not aware that there is a bird species named Dunehawks).

[wh]

As long as the university is hell-bent on hiding its Christian identity, it might as well get some brand value out of it. Dunehawks works perfectly when Valpo partners with Grand Canyon Education to establish a vibrant, high quality, online/in-person hybrid degree completion program for working adults and nursing students in the NWI Region.

[bbtds]

As long as the university is hell-bent on hiding its Christian identity, it might as well get some brand value out of it. Dunehawks works perfectly when Valpo partners with Grand Canyon Education to establish a vibrant, high quality, online/in-person hybrid degree completion program for working adults and nursing students in the NWI Region.

This may have been posted on the message board before but here is an story where the writer says why he likes Dunehawks and when it was first proposed as a replacement for Uhlans in 1942 before Crusaders was ever chosen.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/griffonagedotcom.wordpress.com/2021/02/13/crusaders-no-more-go-valpo-dunehawks/amp/

[78crusader]

There is some consideration, apparently, to simply going with "Valpo" and not replacing the Crusader name.

I was informed that some people believe the "Valpo" name is already a national brand, and as a result would be a better choice than trying to come up with a replacement name that everyone could get behind.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but I have never liked the "Valpo" name. It just seems ... unserious, I guess, and not very classy. I much prefer "Valparaiso University" and I have never purchased any "Valpo" gear.

Paul

[NativeCheesehead]

"Valpo" is a national brand the same way the NCAA is a "model of consistency".

[vu72]

I was informed that some people believe the "Valpo" name is already a national brand,

I think that's right as nobody knows us as the Crusader but just Valpo.  May not be as classy as Valparaiso University but it isn't mispronounced half the time either!  I really think just name recognition is the most valuable issue, not the mascot. And as for abbreviations, one could think of others like SMU, UCLA, TCU, VCU or other shortened but yet fully recognized names.

[johnu1]

Living in Valpo and not being a graduate and not even a lifer, I don't find a lot of connection between the university and the "Dunes." It seems quite a stretch.

But Brown and Gold also offers very little appeal.

Mascots matter.

I am still backing Swamp Ducks, which isn't about anything. You can just do some great cheers that rhyme with it.

[valpo64]

FYI   Grace College in Warsaw IN are the "Lancers".  Brand names and recognition  are all that matters.  If "Valpo" is the Nationally recognized name, just plain "Valpo" is fine with me...the "Brown and Gold" nick name will take care of itself in the natural flow of things.  Forget a mascot.