A Mascot for William & Mary

The final five mascot ideas will be revealed on the Mascot Search website before December 15.

The talented folks at Torch Creative are currently working on drawings of the five finalists. Along with the final five, we’ll offer a link to a survey so that you can tell us what you think.

- Susan T. Evans

The Mascot Search Committee welcomes three new members who are student athletes at William & Mary. We are very fortunate to have a total of seven students on our committee.

• Sarah Louie ‘10 represents Field Hockey.
• From Women’s Tennis, say hello to Carmen Pop ‘10.
• And, from Men’s Cross Country, we now have graduate student Charles Swartz.

- Susan T. Evans

Professor Katherine Kulick was kind enough to send me a link to a blog post from The Chronicle of Higher Education. The post could serve as useful data for a mascot search committee.

Entitled “When Picking Mascots, Go Inanimate,” the post provides evidence that teams with inanimate mascots have a higher percentage of victories.

I like it that W&M faculty are even watching out for our mascot search!

-Susan T. Evans

Thanks @lskravy.

I found out from her tweet that William & Mary’s mascot search is currently featured on the msn.com home page. Nice.

Here’s the more permanent link - Search: College mascot updates

Follow @williamandmary, @wmnews and @wmmascot - you’ll find out all kinds of stuff.

- Susan T. Evans

Earlier this week, we infused the Mascot Search Committee with four new students. There’s nothing better for a campus committee than adding William & Mary students to the mix. Our newest members are:

• Brittany Fallon ‘11
• Brian Focarino ‘11
• Chase Hathaway ‘10
• Sarah Rojas ‘10

Shout out to Sara Greene ‘09 and Tom Yake ‘09! These two even participated beyond their graduation last May; now we call them emeritus members Gracias Sara and Tom.

- Susan T. Evans

There is some crazy mascot stuff out there.

If you’re bored, need a good laugh, want to waste some time …

College Football’s Top Ten Mascots (Bleacher Report blog)

Mascot Madness: a look at some of college football’s best mascots (NBC Sports)

The Fifteen Worst Mascots in America (College Hoops Heaven blog)

The Ten Worst Sports Mascots of All Time (Dallas Observer blog)

Enjoy,
Susan T. Evans

William & Mary has signed a contract with a Dallas-based company called Torch Creative. Soon, the firm will prepare pen and ink drawings of a few mascot concepts.

Torch Creative specializes in team branding and corporate identity. The company’s client list includes several colleges and universities including George Washington University and Vanderbilt University.

Follow Torch Creative on Facebook.

- Susan T. Evans

“Could we get something just a little bit different?”

The Mascot Search Committee met again last week for more consideration of W&M Tribe mascot ideas. One theme that surfaced (and resurfaced) is that William & Mary deserves something different. There was a lot of discussion about how important it is for the W&M mascot be be unique and distinctive.

Sounds obvious, right? Not so easy - take a look at this incomplete list of U.S. College Mascots!

We’re taking our task pretty seriously and looking at ideas and suggestions from all sides, keeping in mind that William & Mary, second oldest college in the U.S., needs an extraordinary mascot.

- Susan T. Evans

Flat Hat reporter Matt Poms caught up with W&M Athletic Director Terry Driscoll. They talked about the coming football season and the mascot search.

Read what Terry had to say when asked for “…a sneak preview of any potential finalists”

http://flathatnews.com/blog/39/press-box/71242

- Susan T. Evans

A while back we wrote about engaging a design firm to help us with the mascot “creation” process. After a successful RFP (request for proposals), the final selection of a design firm is nearly complete.

The next step will be working with the selected design firm to offer pen and ink drawings of a few mascot concepts. We’ll know more soon, but the plan is to post these concepts in the fall. And, yep, we’re going to want your feedback and comments.

Stay tuned.

- Susan T. Evans