In 2002, Martin Methodist College changed its mascot from the Indians to the RedHawks.
Nearly 20 years later, the 151-year-old college will welcome another new mascot to Pulaski, Tennessee: the FireHawks.
The change takes effect July 1, when the college becomes the University of Tennessee's fifth undergraduate institution and is renamed the University of Tennessee Southern.
A committee chose the mascot after a process of polling, illustration and conversation with the school's alumni, athletes and marketing team. More than 1,000 individuals responded to a survey about a new mascot and branding.
Logo:How illustrator Danny Wilson hatched the UT Southern FireHawks logo
Developing a new brand for UT Southern wasn't an easy task: It required combining the school's years of tradition with a desire to embrace change.
"A lot of people were torn with the name," Athletic Director Brandie Paul told Knox News. "Yes, we want to keep our past. However, we want to move forward, and you can't do that if you have the same colors and the same mascot."
The UT board of trustees unanimously approved the merger June 25 after collaborating with Martin Methodist for nearly a year. The school has almost 700 students enrolled and is located about 75 miles southwest of Nashville, near the Alabama border.
It's the first new campus to join the UT System since 1969, when UT Chattanooga joined.
More:University of Tennessee adds fifth campus with Martin Methodist College merger
"We did some wonderful surveys of community students, staff and faculty to get a broad understanding of what people wanted to see," said Martin Methodist College President Mark La Branche. "We wanted to know what were some of the pieces that were most important to them."
One of the elements survey respondents agreed on was the historical significance of Martin Methodist's three pillars, which will be preserved in the college's new seal.
Respondents also valued the color red as part of the college's brand, which led to the idea of incorporating fire into the new identity. Adding a familiar shade of orange to that red would well represent fire, the committee decided.
"We began to think about how we could combine the two elements of red and Tennessee orange," said La Branche. "We wanted to embrace the orange because we really think it's symbolic of strength and reputation, so we wanted to make sure we identified ourselves closely with the UT brand."
In that same survey, respondents voted on 15 different name options: the Fighting Catfish, Fighting Ducks, Fighting Elk, FireHawks, Firestorm, Heat, Mighty Elks, Navigators, Raging Elks, Rapids, Rays, RedHawks, Storm, Trailblazers and Vibes.
The FireHawks were the top choice — which nods to the old RedHawks mascot while leaning into the future.
Once the mascot name and colors were chosen, UT System Vice President for Communications and Marketing Tiffany Carpenter reached out to illustrator Danny Wilson, who she'd worked with previously in her time with University of Tennessee Athletics.
After a process of sketches and conversations, Wilson and Carpenter settled on a wordmark and mascot logo.
The launch of the new brand also signifies a new start for the school's athletic program and its athletes, an integral part of the school's tradition and a staple in Pulaski's community.
Paul said the new name is something positive for the school, as is the affiliation with the University of Tennessee. She came up with the FireHawks moniker and added it to the survey options.
She said a lot of the athletes weren't on board during the renaming discussion and getting people to adapt to change was harder than she'd hoped.
After throwing around the FireHawks name and discussing it with athletes over time, more of them started to buy into her vision.
In addition to the name change, Paul said the new connection with UT will help with recruiting and make the school more affordable.
When it joins the UT System, the college's tuition and fees will decrease by about 60% for current students. UT System President Randy Boyd previously said tuition will fall from $26,000 to $10,200.
"Having that UT brand is going to really bolster what we can get," Paul said." We want to stay smaller, having something like one faculty member to 15 student-athletes. That's what we sell: small class sizes, and the personal experience. We'd like to keep that, but grow the type of caliber of student athlete we can get."
One of the few things that won't change is the school will remain part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Though a change was debated at one point, Paul said the school's size and competition level are well-suited for NAIA rather than the NCAA.
Although the college is going through a significant amount of change and rebranding, La Branche said UT Southern will pursue the same mission.
"We want our students and student-athletes to succeed," La Branche said. "We're all very excited about the sustainability UT brings. In partnership with them we can expand our opportunity and capacity to fulfill our mission to educate people in southern and middle Tennessee."
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