LADY Vols speak out

[northknoxvol]

Dave Hartless said that Nike and the majority of female athletes wanted the change.....well I think there are none of the female athletes that would support this and Nike has sent a letter to the ladies trying to get this overturned that they in no way shape or form dictate changing any logos. This needs to be changed and let all the women carry on the Lady Vol tradition.

 

[CannonVol80]

The fact is that Dave Hart initiated the effort to eliminate the Lady Vol logo only shortly after he took the position as the AD, and has been lying about it the whole time. First there was the conversation with Pat Summitt when she first heard of a plan to eliminate the logo during which Hart backed off and publicly stated that there would be no effort to eliminate the Lady Vol logo. We currently see how true that statement was!

Since a frontal assault wouldn't work at the time, a covert effort began. As soon as Angie Kelly left the soccer team almost all reference to Lady Vol Soccer was eliminated. Even before the announcement that Lady Vol would be removed from all sports except basketball the sign on the field was changed from "Lady Vol Soccer" to "Tennessee Soccer". I'm not aware of any reference to the Lady Vols that has existed in reference to the soccer team in the past three years, except in the hearts of the fans.

Despite the public statement that the Lady Vol logo would remain in use with the basketball team, if you look at the areas, for example, the game posters, where the logo used to be proudly displayed, you will see that the logo has been virtually eliminated quietly over the last two years.

I was told, by an individual in the Lady Vol program shortly after it was announced that Tennessee was switching to Nike that the change was going to be used as the basis of eliminating the Lady Vol logo. And this was well before the public announcement by the AD to that effect!

Have no doubt about it folks, Dave Hart intends to totally eliminate the Lady Vol logo from the University of Tennessee. He is just smart enough to know that he can't do it immediately and in face of opposition while Pat Summit is still able to be involved in the program, but he is doing it piecemeal and his ultimate goal has been obvious for some time now. And, unfortunately the sentiment expressed by members of the softball team - that they were sorry to no longer be Lady Vols, but there was nothing that they could do about it - is the overall attitude that is going to allow Dave Hart to succeed in his plan.

Jim

 

[VollyParton]

At the same time, I believe that "Lady Vols" is a unique brand in college sports. Very few, and I cannot think of another school, has immediate name recognition as the Lady Vols.

Actuallly, when I read this, I immediately thought of the TSU Tigerbelles, the track team made nationally famous when Wilma Rudolph ran for them. Which made me wonder if TSU has messed with that brand, so I checked out the TSU website. Sure enough they still use it.

Of the women's teams, only Track & Field and Cross Country still use the name Tigerbelles. One team uses Lady Tigers (Basketball), and then Softball, Golf, Tennis and Volleyball use Tigers (as well as "the women's tennis team" and "the women's golf team", etc).

Interestingly, the Track & Field and Cross Country teams - both men and women - have the same coach, a former Tigerbelle. The men are called Tigers and the women are called Tigerbelles. I think it's cool they still keep that name. I don't know if it was ever used for the other women's teams they have, but it's interesting they use 3 different names among their women's teams. I'm sure just "Tiger" works universally, too.

 

[Sandvol]

The fact is that Dave Hart initiated the effort to eliminate the Lady Vol logo only shortly after he took the position as the AD, and has been lying about it the whole time. First there was the conversation with Pat Summitt when she first heard of a plan to eliminate the logo during which Hart backed off and publicly stated that there would be no effort to eliminate the Lady Vol logo. We currently see how true that statement was!

Since a frontal assault wouldn't work at the time, a covert effort began. As soon as Angie Kelly left the soccer team almost all reference to Lady Vol Soccer was eliminated. Even before the announcement that Lady Vol would be removed from all sports except basketball the sign on the field was changed from "Lady Vol Soccer" to "Tennessee Soccer". I'm not aware of any reference to the Lady Vols that has existed in reference to the soccer team in the past three years, except in the hearts of the fans.

Despite the public statement that the Lady Vol logo would remain in use with the basketball team, if you look at the areas, for example, the game posters, where the logo used to be proudly displayed, you will see that the logo has been virtually eliminated quietly over the last two years.

I was told, by an individual in the Lady Vol program shortly after it was announced that Tennessee was switching to Nike that the change was going to be used as the basis of eliminating the Lady Vol logo. And this was well before the public announcement by the AD to that effect!

Have no doubt about it folks, Dave Hart intends to totally eliminate the Lady Vol logo from the University of Tennessee. He is just smart enough to know that he can't do it immediately and in face of opposition while Pat Summit is still able to be involved in the program, but he is doing it piecemeal and his ultimate goal has been obvious for some time now. And, unfortunately the sentiment expressed by members of the softball team - that they were sorry to no longer be Lady Vols, but there was nothing that they could do about it - is the overall attitude that is going to allow Dave Hart to succeed in his plan.

Jim

I suspect it is not just Hart but Cheek is behind this too.