McMurry University

McMurry University has been without a nickname and mascot since 2006 when the NCAA forced them to drop their Indians moniker. Five years later the Abilene, Texas school is in the final stages of picking a new nickname and voting for the name is currently underway here. Your choices: Bison, War Hawks and Circuit Riders.

Despite having no stake in the name (though I did say I was a friend of the university when I voted), I personally have submitted my vote for Circuit Riders, which is described by the McMurry search committee as “preachers who traveled from church to church during the founding of the Methodist church.”

Though I think Bison is too common and boring, I can easily get behind War Hawks because I think McMurry is more likely to produce a decent War Hawks logo. Circuit Riders would be a unique name but would be pretty difficult to illustrate in a satisfactory way. I fear they would just go with the McM logo shown above – a serviceable letter mark - and just tack the Circuit Riders name onto their athletic teams.

But the possibility of a great Circuit Riders logo is just too strong to pass up. I’m probably getting my hopes up for nothing, but I’m a sucker for the chance at the ridiculous. Vote Riders!