Irene Boehm, Sports Editor
Building on a rich tradition of school pride, the Sewanee Athletics Department recently introduced a new visual identity that reflects the Tigers’ “home, history, supporters and student-athletes.” At the end of last semester, Sewanee partnered with “SKYE,” a leader in sports branding, to evaluate and enhance the Sewanee athletics visual identity.
Athletic Director John Shackleford – known to Sewanee as “Coach Shack,”- was a driving force behind this idea. “In athletics, you are constantly evaluating your own performance and you are constantly looking for how you can improve,” he said. “And so I felt like, after over 100 years with some of our old logos, we at least could do an evaluation.”
And so Sewanee partnered with SKYE Design, a New Jersey firm specializing in sports branding, logo and uniform design, to evaluate and enhance Sewanee athletics’ visual identity. The company’s website features its logo and brand design work for professional teams and athletic events ranging from the Orlando Magic NBA team to the Kansas City Royals baseball team, the Denver Broncos, and even Major League Baseball’s 2025 All-Star Game.
Beginning last spring, SKYE and Sewanee athletics sought input from over 500 student-athletes, alumni, families, faculty and staff. In August, they introduced a dynamic set of new logos and custom fonts in time for the fall sports season.
During the design process, the Sewanee-SKYE team thought it would be ideal to create a font exclusive to the University of the South’s Department of Athletics. Coach Shack said the resulting font is called “Mountain Gothic.” Coach Shack called that a crucial step toward creating a stronger, more distinctive identity for the Tigers. He noted that subtleties in “Mountain Gothic” capture Sewanee’s rich athletic history. Circular aspects to the interior part of the letters are reminiscent of Sewanee’s historic 1899 football team’s jerseys. Another thoughtful aspect of the logo design is its new versatility.
“Now the Tiger comes in several different forms- we have the Tiger head itself, but now the same Tiger head is used on the full body Tiger, which is the first time we’ve really been able to do that,” Coach Shack said.
The new logo unveiling drew mixed reactions from students, coaches and even some faculty. At a recent joint faculty meeting, one professor questioned how the project was funded, given recent funding cuts across the University, “In the summer, I saw the rollout of the new logo on social media and this was at the same time that faculty learned our retirement contributions were being reduced along with a 10% budget cut across the board,” the professor told The Sewanee Purple “So I was trying to figure out how we had the money for it.”
She said Provost Scott Wilson told faculty members that Sewanee athletics operates under its own budget and he didn’t know the exact source of the funds.
Coach Shack said the faculty’s concerns about tightening budgets were valid. “I share those,” he told the Purple, adding that the project’s price was fully covered by alumni donations. “It’s part of my job as an administrator not to waste money on things. Most everything that we do in Sewanee athletics that is extra, like this, comes from fundraising opportunities. So this was a gift that was given to us by alumni who wanted to make this possible for us.”
Hopefully, as future changes in the University budget arise, communication will be at the forefront of the movement to ensure continued success among all University departments.
Students began hearing about the new logo and branding package when it was rolled out on August 5, accompanied by a hype video and announcement. The video featured intense music, smoke and other dramatic AI-generated graphics. The Tigers’ new slogan, “Defend the Domain,” appeared onscreen like an action movie title, showing off what replaced the old athletics slogan, “Pound the Rock.”
Before long, students began posting on the well-loved and equally well-hated app “YikYak,” where users anonymously post comments visible to others within a limited geographic radius. “AI” was the buzzword as critics of the logo and video noted how artificial the new branding package felt. “Pretty sure even the logos are AI-generated,” one post declared. “Looks like they had ChatGPT generate two images with style details in the prompt, then had it merge those same two into a single one. Disappointing.”
AI and similar animation styles have become an eye irritant for many people, largely due to their emergence on social media platforms, making it difficult for users to distinguish real images from AI-generated ones.
Sewanee’s AI-fueled anger, aired with YikYak’s open forum format, generated a wave of negative comments following the reveal. But there were also many fans of new designs on YikYak posting their excitement for the new logos. “This one logo is kinda lit, I can’t even lie,” one fan wrote, posting the fierce new Tiger head and exclusive S font with his comment. Another declared: “Great work with the new tiger yall YSR.”
Coach Shack told the Purple that numerous considerations were made during the design process, with the student athletes and school history at the forefront of the decisions made. Countless hours were spent on this logo collection and you can already see the designs displayed on athletic gear and fan apparel across campus. It’s also impressive that Sewanee’s roaring Tiger logo is prominently displayed on the design firm’s website, right beside logos for last year’s World Series and the University of Oregon. That’s a feat for a Division III school and a cause for praise from Sewanee athletes..
“I love the new logos and enjoy the new tiger logo for the helmets,” a Sewanee football team member said. “It’s cool to have the old 1899 team look on merch, too.”