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Post by alpharaider on Mar 21, 2015 0:08:40 GMT -5
Talking to a few college students a couple of days ago and they said that Wright State has an identity crisis. One question they asked was why does the University have a logo of the Wright Flyer, but the athletic mascot has nothing to do with the Wright Brothers or Aviation. Secondly, they said if your team is called the Raiders, why is there a picture of a dog. I could not answer either question. In conclusion, they said that Wright State should start over with how they want to market themselves, at the very least the mascot and the logo should be one. I was at Wright State when the nickname was voted on in the early 70s. The feeling then was that UD had already seized the aviation angle. I recall that the name "Wings" was kicked around some,, but that probably had as much to do with Paul McCartney as our heritage. "Brothers" was brought up, but that was considered sexist. "Kittyhawks" and "Kill Devils" were considered too obscure. "Guppies" was also very big, which was sort of where the student body was in terms of athletics. With the war going on, and most of the male student body worried about their draft lottery number and status, the selection of a nickname seemed silly to a large segment of the population. It was a different time, and a different university in those days. Four buildings and the student union. Anyway, from what I understand, one of the guys counting the votes was a big Oakland Raider fan, and put the fix in. I could be wrong, and if there is anyone else in the forum who was around in those days, please correct me if I am. I always thought that the best way to change the perception of the university would be to change the name to Wright Brothers State University. I lived many years outside of Ohio, and not everybody "gets" the "Wright" part. And in the South, if they did associate Wright State with the Wright Brothers, they thought the school was located in North Carolina.
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Post by kinvara on Mar 21, 2015 1:42:01 GMT -5
Talking to a few college students a couple of days ago and they said that Wright State has an identity crisis. One question they asked was why does the University have a logo of the Wright Flyer, but the athletic mascot has nothing to do with the Wright Brothers or Aviation. Secondly, they said if your team is called the Raiders, why is there a picture of a dog. I could not answer either question. In conclusion, they said that Wright State should start over with how they want to market themselves, at the very least the mascot and the logo should be one. I was at Wright State when the nickname was voted on in the early 70s. The feeling then was that UD had already seized the aviation angle. I recall that the name "Wings" was kicked around some,, but that probably had as much to do with Paul McCartney as our heritage. "Brothers" was brought up, but that was considered sexist. "Kittyhawks" and "Kill Devils" were considered too obscure. "Guppies" was also very big, which was sort of where the student body was in terms of athletics. With the war going on, and most of the male student body worried about their draft lottery number and status, the selection of a nickname seemed silly to a large segment of the population. It was a different time, and a different university in those days. Four buildings and the student union. Anyway, from what I understand, one of the guys counting the votes was a big Oakland Raider fan, and put the fix in. I could be wrong, and if there is anyone else in the forum who was around in those days, please correct me if I am. I always thought that the best way to change the perception of the university would be to change the name to Wright Brothers State University. I lived many years outside of Ohio, and not everybody "gets" the "Wright" part. And in the South, if they did associate Wright State with the Wright Brothers, they thought the school was located in North Carolina. alpharaider, thanks for the history lesson. If the name of the school is Wright State University, it should be identified with the Wright Brothers, who cares that U.D. beat us to the punch with frickin' Rudy Flyer. I say we own Wright State and make it clear what it stands for, first in aviation, not a neutered dog. Change the name to Wright Brothers University.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2015 3:19:59 GMT -5
Was the nickname "Pilots" ever given a thought?
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Post by gerb on Mar 21, 2015 5:50:03 GMT -5
I refer you to a post I made a while back referencing an article I wrote for the Guardian. wrightstate.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&post=69493Also of note and perhaps even more infuriating: we have no freaking fight song. We can't decide what constitutes "gold." We have a cookie cutter identity built in the backs of blandness. We are to collegiate branding as taupe is to the color wheel: Bland and unable to make an impression
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Post by wsutommygun on Mar 21, 2015 8:27:08 GMT -5
Actually there was a 50/50 drawing during the season to benefit the golf team's trip to Florida.
I heard in the past a problem ordering uniforms in Hunter Green but obviously gold has been a problem matching too. I used to help order vehicles for a public utility...we tried white and we tried silver but that seemed to change from year to year in what that meant to manufacturers.
I remember reading an article about different names that were considered before WRIGHT STATE was chosen. That was interesting as well.
Don't think much of my time is spent on the mascot. Don't have a problem with the nickname.
By the way, I believe Wilbur Wright High School was the Pilots...Vandalia is the Aviators ( I think that was taken into consideration but, I wasn't living in the Dayton area ( so, what do I know ).
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Post by BasketBallJones on Mar 21, 2015 10:12:37 GMT -5
The original question in this thread is why not Wright State? Why can't we be like the other WSU or Northern Iowa or Gonzaga? The answer is quite simple. We can, but in my opinion it takes 2 things to happen. First, you need a coach that can recruit, and I mean a coach who can sell a dream about what Wright State can become. That's a rare commodity indeed, but without a serious upgrade in talent, nothing much will change. Secondly, the Administration, and primarily the University President, must make a decision to go all in on the Men's Basketball program and make hiring and spending decisions with the goal of making us a premier D1 program. Until those two things are done, I don't see much changing. We can talk about Branding, Mascots, Halftime shows, parking, etc but winning will cure all of those ills.
Someone in this thread mentioned how Athletics is the one area that gives a University an identity and name recognition. It's the tail that wags the dog. And its true. I remember when Michael Vick took Virginia Tech to the national title game in football in 1999. The following year, student applications to VT tripled from the previous year. So not only did the football team perform well, but the University was able to raise entrance standards and enhance the overall academic quality of the University. We can only hope that President Hopkins makes this type of decision and commitment to the program.
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Post by alpharaider on Mar 21, 2015 13:50:12 GMT -5
Regarding the nickname "Pilots", in the early 70s, when Dayton still had eleven public high schools, one, Wilbur Wright, was nicknamed the "Pilots", so people were opposed to that. Also, Rudy the Flyer is a pilot. Fairborn High School was the "Aviators". There weren't many "birthplace of aviation" symbols left by the time Wright State went independent. I've often thought that one way to embrace "Raiders" is to use "Doolittle's Raiders" from WWII as an inspiration. Jimmy Doolittle was the Lt. Colonel who lead the first retaliatory raid on the Japan mainland after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in April of 1942. We could use a WWII era B-25 as our symbol. There were 16 in the attack, and I believe all successfully completed their mission.
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Post by keithfromxenia on Mar 21, 2015 14:13:43 GMT -5
i mean no disrespect to anyone who values halftime shows, raffles or mascots, but frankly I could not care less about any of that. playing high quality basketball against high quality opponents, winning with regularity and getting into the real post season on a regular basis. to do that we need two things. first, a coach that can recruit talented players who could go to a higher level program if they chose, and second players. our coach needs to up the ante considerably in the talent level we recruit. no more div ii players. no more players who have virtually zero offers from any other div I programs. we need to compete with and occasionally win the battle with a bcs program for a player. if we truly intend to compete at a higher level those are the things we must do. what I never want to see again are bcs teams viewing us as a "laugher", a sure win buy game. and I never want to see us lose a game to a team with a 339 rpi.
all of that said, i am not convinced that this program wants to move to the next level, become a quality mid major. in the past couple of weeks they told their fans that they were satisfied with where we have been the past five years. they can live with, be satisfied with, where we are. I am not certain if anything fans say will change their minds.k
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eyappo
Senior Analyst
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Post by eyappo on Mar 21, 2015 16:41:45 GMT -5
Regarding the nickname "Pilots", in the early 70s, when Dayton still had eleven public high schools, one, Wilbur Wright, was nicknamed the "Pilots", so people were opposed to that. Also, Rudy the Flyer is a pilot. Fairborn High School was the "Aviators". There weren't many "birthplace of aviation" symbols left by the time Wright State went independent. I've often thought that one way to embrace "Raiders" is to use "Doolittle's Raiders" from WWII as an inspiration. Jimmy Doolittle was the Lt. Colonel who lead the first retaliatory raid on the Japan mainland after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in April of 1942. We could use a WWII era B-25 as our symbol. There were 16 in the attack, and I believe all successfully completed their mission.
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eyappo
Senior Analyst
Posts: 138
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Post by eyappo on Mar 21, 2015 16:47:03 GMT -5
alpharaider: The original Fairborn High School were the Flyers, Vandalia Butler are the Aviators.
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Post by Dr J on Mar 21, 2015 21:44:01 GMT -5
To get to a level a high rated recruit will chose to come to WSU, we need a coach that can take the players he has and push and mold them into an offensive, defensive team that rebounds and wins. Butler, Wichita State, Northern Iowa etc. we're boosted by coaches who did this and moved on but the new coaches continued the journey. We might have started in that way with BB but we have taken a detour on the path with BD. I know we had injuries last year. But in 2014-15 season with four players who signed pro contracts but couldn't win the HL league or tournament. People say wait til next year and we will wait til next year. If things don't get changed around. I think we will lose some more fan base and make a return of fans further off. Bad is in a pivotal year but so is this program.
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Post by riceownz2 on Mar 22, 2015 9:30:22 GMT -5
Why not Wright State? IMO it's because we say "wait till next year" almost every other year. I wish we could have high expectations every year
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Post by kinvara on Mar 22, 2015 11:20:41 GMT -5
We need to bring in a coach who has a son in high school that has NBA potential. Ron Hunter begged to be the coach at WSU and everyone thought he was a joke. Now he has put himself and his school in the national spotlight. I was impressed with his coaching ability after watching his team play a few games. His offense was so much crisper than WSU's. Lots of screens and pick and rolls, and his players tried to get offensive rebounds too. I think Hunter may leave for a new job if his son leaves school early to go to the NBA. Who knows if Hunter would of had similar success at Wright State, but once again it feels like we missed an opportunity when Donlon was hired so quickly.
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Post by kinvara on Mar 24, 2015 12:30:29 GMT -5
Why not Wright State? The answer is because talented players don't want to play in a boring system like Donlon's. I was just listening to Colin Cowherd on the radio and he said many of the same things that we see on this message board, such as: 55 to 51 games are boring, who wants to watch that crap? Why do all the schools that play tough "D" have boring offense? Where does it say that you can't play fast paced offense and play tough "D" at the same time. Great players are like artists, they want to play at a school where they can show off their talent, not be restricted by a boring system that focuses on defense and taking the shot clock down to 5 seconds before jacking up a three. (There was more, but you should get the point, boring basketball attracts boring players, and leads us to a boring product)
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Post by Dr J on Mar 25, 2015 11:39:29 GMT -5
Better watch out. I posted this message during the 2013-14 season and was criticized for it. This style of play also can affect scheduling. Many DI programs who have a faster paced more exciting game don't want to schedule coaches like BD.
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