Name-a-Day Calendar, November 6: West Georgia Wolves

Page 365 of 365

The University of West Georgia is moving up to Division I beginning in 2024-25.

Chosen in: 2006

Chosen by: A university task force

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The school that is now the University of West Georgia was founded in 1906, with intercollegiate athletics coming by 1927; that’s the earliest record I could find of their football team. Originally known as Fourth District A&M School, the school’s first teams were known as the Aggies. Then the school became West Georgia College in 1933 and students wanted a new identity, so they chose to call themselves the Braves.

This nickname was under no true threat of removal until the NCAA’s 2005 ruling against unsanctioned Native American nicknames, imagery, and mascots, at which point replacing it became a necessity because the university did not have the blessing of any local peoples or tribes. As university president Dr. Beheruz Sethna put it:

“I also called other universities that still had Native American mascots, and all of them had put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local Native American communities. When I came back to West Georgia, I totaled up the money that we put into the local Native American communities and I couldn’t find five cents. I could not find one thing we had done for any Native American cause.”

To decide on a new identity, Dr. Sethna commissioned a 12-member task force comprising student athletes, student government members, faculty, staff, alumni, and athletics boosters. The task force did their due diligence—taking suggestions, running polls and surveys and forums—to whittle endless possibilities down to three: Patriots, RedHawks, and Wolves.

From these, the task force recommended “Wolves” to Dr. Sethna, who accepted the recommendation. The new identity was announced on January 12, 2006, and took effect that fall.

Why “Wolves”? Several reasons: “West Georgia Wolves” is alliterative, the visual identity fit in with the university’s red/white/blue color scheme, red wolves are native to the Southeastern United States, and—most importantly—“Wolves” polled most favorably among current students and especially student athletes. It was a no brainer. Plus, Dr. Sethna had “a vision of a whole football stadium filled with 10,000 students and fans howling when we win a game”, which he described as “a powerful and unbeatable image”.

As an added bonus, West Georgia was no longer sharing an identity with the nearby and much more popular Atlanta Braves. Dr. Sethna noted the increased marketing opportunities as a reason for making the switch but it’s not like they had any say in the matter.

West Georgia’s wolf mascot is not a red wolf but a blue one: the costumed Wolfie.

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