The battle with the NCAA is over, and the University of North Dakota appears ready to give up its nickname of "Fighting Sioux" and its mascot.
And for the under-40 crowd that was not yet born at the time, the University of Massachusetts went through this in 1972 when it let go of the nickname of "Redmen".
At North Dakota, the Fighting Sioux was the name that put fear into its hockey opponents, and keeping the name had plenty of supporters. But NCAA pressure regarding potential sanctions would be the deciding factor.
That brings me to the following issue. When UMass changed its nickname to "Minutemen", there was not much going on in the way of women's sports at UMass.. But then with the growth of women's sports in Amherst, those teams were simply referred to as "Minutewomen" as an after-thought
Now we know the patriotic reason behind the name "Minutemen", and I have no problem with that. But I always felt that the name "Minutewomen" was just a lazy slapped-on easy tag to the men's side. I'm not sure that in the days of 1774-76 , women were called "Minutewomen", and the original idea of the militia itself was that men were required to carry weapons to be ready in a moment's notice to defend against attack, ironically, mainly against the Indians.
So why can't UMass have a different, more creative name for its women's teams. It should have one that shows respect for the UMass women, not just sticking a "w" and "o" in the middle to make it fit. It's not being disrespectful to the school or the name of the men's teams. It's just giving the women their own identity with a name that makes sense, just as UMass hockey is sometimes referred to as the "Mass Attack".
Remember this decision was made by the UMass student senate in 1972. Much has changed since then.
At Springfield College, the men's teams were formerly called the Chiefs, and the women's teams previously were the Maroons before the school changed its name to the Pride. But the women were really taken into consideration at the time. There have been hundreds of name changes like that. why not one more?
I don't think women's teams were even taken into account when UMass changed its name in 1972. Shouldn't they be now?
I would like to hear from women student-athletes, women coaches, and women administrators, not only from UMass, but other schools as well. And if you agree that a name change is in order, feel free to pass along your suggestions.
I mean, UMass women athletes, do you really like being called a "Minutewoman" ?
If I'm wrong, and courageous females of the American Revolution were actually called "Minutewomen" in the pages of history, please send the title and page number of the reference. I'd like to see it. Maybe I didn't pay attention in class.
I don't know. Maybe it should be just the UMass Minute for both teams. It has a nice ring to it, you know it's a UMass minute, but still honors the history of the Minutemen.
At Syracuse, it's the Orange. I don't remember anyone calling the women's teams - the Orangewomen - but If they do, that sounds awful too.