Tennessee Lady Vols name controversy

All University of Tennessee women's athletics teams were referred to as the "Lady Volunteers" from 1976 until 2015. From 2015 through 2017, only the women's basketball team used the Lady Vols name and logo (pictured above).

The University of Tennessee athletics department removed the Lady Volunteers (Lady Vols) name in 2015 and branding from all women's sports in 2015 except for women's basketball. After former athletics director Dave Hart announced this change in 2014, the Lady Vols name change generated controversy, with local media, national outlets, former Lady Vols players and others coming out in support and against the change.

The athletics department removed the branding as part of its partnership with Nike, who became its exclusive official apparel provider on July 1, 2015. Nike had led other, similar rebranding efforts at other universities where they consolidated logo.

Background

"Lady Vols" and other separate nicknames for women's collegiate nicknames

See also: List of college nickname changes in the United States

Origin of the Lady Vols name

Tennessee men's athletics teams take their nickname, "Volunteers," from the state's Volunteer armies in 19th Century American wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. The school's Power T logo, which features prominently in men's athletics, was adopted in 1964 by the football team.

Women's sport teams prior to the formation of the women's athletic department were referred to as "The Volettes." In 1976, Pat Summitt discussed changing the name with her team. The players voted to become the "Lady Volunteers" or "Lady Vols."

Other colleges and universities with different nicknames for women's athletics

A lady dog is a bitch. — Former Louisiana Tech women's basketball coach Sonja Hogg, on why she rejected the name "Lady Bulldogs.

Like Tennessee, other colleges and universities created distinct nicknames and brand identities for their women's athletics programs. Louisiana Tech women's basketball, for example, competes as the Lady Techsters and uses its own color scheme.

Twenty-eight of the 65 Power Five conference schools had once used separate nicknames for all men's and women's sports in their institutions. By the time of the Nike rebrand in 2015, Tennessee and Oklahoma State were the only schools who continued that practices across the board. Others, such as the Baylor Lady Bears and the LSU Lady Tigers have only adopted that practice for specific sports or use the traditional women's nickname interchangeably with their school's primary nickname.

By 2015, other Division I schools in Tennessee had either forgone the practice or had never used it. Middle Tennessee State University women's programs were known exclusively until Lady Raiders until the 2007-08 school year, though the teams are still known colloquially as Lady Raiders.

• University of Tennessee Martin never used separate nicknames for men's and women's sports, competing as the Pacers until 1995 when they became the Skyhawks.

Merging Tennessee Women's Athletics Department with the Men's Athletics Department

Tennessee maintained separate men's and women's athletics departments until 2011.

Nike Partnership and "One Tennessee" Rebrand

Tennessee signed an eight-year sponsorship and apparel partnership deal with Nike in 2014, with the agreement going into effect for the 2015-16 school year.

To prepare for the upcoming apparel change, Nike's Graphics Identity Group conducted an internal audit of the school's brand. The brand audit comprised five phases. Prior to the audit, Nike highlighted Duke, Arizona State and Oregon State as examples of how it had reduced the number logos and wordmarks of other schools' athletics departments. In a later stage of the audit, Nike wrote that, "continued use of Lady Volunteers further segments an athletic institution that is striving to be united as 'One Tennessee.'"

Independent of the athletics department rebrand, the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus rebranded with the athletic "Power T" as the sole logo of the university. The athletics rebrand followed this effort.

Unveiling of the Rebrand

Nike and the Tennessee athletics department publicly announced the reband on July 1, 2015. The Lady Volunteers name was noticeably absent from all women's uniforms. The Lady Vols logo was only included on basketball uniforms at the bottom of the shorts and as a vent on the back of basketball jersey. Nike's announcement emphasised the logo consolidation. "In an effort to create consistency across all applications that honors the past while attracting new audiences in an authentic and meaningful way," the announcement reads, "there will be a new primary logo that pays tribute to what Volunteer Athletics stands for."

Legacy

In 2020, the name change controversy was revisted by AP college basketball columnist Paul Newberry, who writes, "Well, it's time for this sexist practice to take its rightful place in the waste bin of history, though we'll acknowledge there might be a few exceptions that require more vigorous debate." He cites Tennessee as such a potential exception, provided that the NCAA institutes a process for schools "to demonstrate how their nicknames have actually helped to grow women's sports and are worthy of a historical pass."

References

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