Hillsdale Collegian Column: A Recipe for Charger Spirit

COLUMN: A Recipe for Charger Spirit
By: Dr. Anthony Swinehart, Professor of Biology, Hillsdale College

Posted: 2/28/08 HillsdaleCollegian.com

I've always said Hillsdale College is the Notre Dame of Division II athletics: small, outstanding academics, battling against universities 10 times its size, facing recruiting challenges due to its standards, but darn good at competing in athletics anyway.

One thing making Hillsdale different from Notre Dame is that Notre Dame has strong fan support at its athletic events and Hillsdale does not.

With the exception of a few academic contests, athletics is the primary "ambassador" of the college. Regardless of our personal interests, we should all rejoice when Hillsdale athletes bring home a victory. We can all take ownership of that victory as members of a collegiate family.

So what can be done to improve fan participation at athletic events? I can only speak for football and basketball, because I think, in terms of arm-chair fan: interest and numbers. These are the marquis sports, and they are the sports I know best.

I know most of the 65,000 fans in Purdue's Ross-Ade stadium on Saturdays in the fall are not serious students of the game of football. The lady sitting next to me doesn't even understand what's going on half the time, but she is having a ball nonetheless.

Why?

Because 1.) she loves her school, and 2.) the game day atmosphere is such that you don't have to be a sports analyst to enjoy the game. So what can be done to bring people to football games, for example? Here are my ideas, for what they're worth.

It all hinges largely on crowd engagement and making the atmosphere fun during time-outs, etc. Commission someone to write a fight song that is as classy and easy to sing by the masses as our Alma Mater. Surely there is a gifted music alumnus or alumna who would be happy to draft something for consideration.

Currently, we have "Charge On" for the football team. It is hideous and hard to sing. We have another fight song played at basketball games that sounds like a TV jingle, and no one knows the words. Adopt a great fight song passing out the words at the game and in the programs. Make it part of student orientation as many schools do.

Cancel the high school mercenary bands and field a small Hillsdale marching band. I'm sure there are 30 to 40 students at Hillsdale College who were members of a high school band or play an instrument. Incentives? How about one or two credit hours in the same curriculum category as social dance? I'll bet a donor would be elated to provide some uniforms in the spirit of the continental freedom fighters of the American Revolution.

Establish a routine pregame and halftime protocol with tradition, so everybody knows when the fight song will be sung, and when the band will form a block letter H on the field, etc., etc. Use cheerleaders to engage the crowd in chants and third-down support by holding signs. Get the students involved in establishing game day traditions, perhaps even some intellectual jingles and chants, or Greek chants. Encourage and market community attendance by giving free admission to anyone wearing blue and white.

Some of these ideas can be adapted to other sports, and there are many other ideas too long to list. But, this is a start. When one considers the condition of school spirit and atmosphere on game days, any improvement is a major improvement.

Hillsdale Collegian: Dash of red in works for redesign

Two months after the administration issued a style guide for Hillsdale College staff, the athletic department began discussing changes to logo, color scheme

By: Cody Ewers, Hillsdale Collegian
Posted: 2/28/08

Fueled by recent Hillsdale College marketing changes, coaches discussed new jersey colors and a revamped Charger logo this week.

Possible plans, discussed this week, could result in adding a third color, red, to the Charger blue and white, and a move to redesign the Charger's H-bolt logo.

Two months after the external affairs office created a campus wide style guide, which unifies the college's identity, discussions in the athletic department hint at the widespread impact of the trend, which could overhaul its department identity by next year.

Chris Bachelder, associate vice president of strategic marketing, said the college will take inventory of areas on campus needing standardization, such as scoreboards, publications and the football field logo. Once the guidelines are finalized, he said, they will begin revamping.

"Nothing we have done or will do changes the mission of the college," Bachelder said. "But what will change are the images and words that communicate that timeless mission."

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Wayback Machine: 1991 Scott Schulte Video

Thanks to YouTube user Hillsdale88 for all of the great video he has been posting lately. The 1980's hair was insane, almost as insane as the giant Kappa sweatshirts with the letters sewn across the stomach.

Hillsdale88 posted in 3 parts the 1992 Hillsdale College admissions video. I took this clip of HC football's all-time leading rusher Scott Schulte from it. Here is a tiny glimpse of the magic this guy brought to Muddy Waters Stadium.

Mark Nicolet's Pro Stock Continues to Rise

Hillsdale senior quarterback's stock as a pro prospect continues to rise. Draftdaddy.com now has the Charger ranked as their #3 small school QB.

3. Mark Nicolet, Hillsdale, 6'1, 220lbs, 4.73 40:

Nicolet has been a late riser after his offensive M.V.P. performance at the Cactus Bowl where he passed for 103 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was no surprise since he has been named a 2nd team All-America selection by the AP, Daktronics, and D2football.com after earning the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year award. He finished his senior campaign with 31 touchdown passes and 3,335 yards passing. The big knock on him will be his level of competition, pure quickness, and the fact that he has only been highly productive for one season. He has adequate arm strength to make the throws needed at the next level and reads defenses well. One intangible he has shown is leadership over his career. He has immensely improved each of the last two years. His late rise has moved him into the priority free agent category with an outside of chance of a 7th round selection, with a good pro day performance.

Look for a one-on-one interview with Nicolet later in the week.

Branding Study Equals New Opportunity for Hillsdale Athletics

So Hillsdale is looking closely at defining its image and branding while studying the logos used by Hillsdale's athletic teams.

Here is my take on the issue: FINALLY! THANK YOU!

Hillsdale desperately needs a new athletic logo. The upside down lightning bolt in back of the H is not only boring, it is UPSIDE DOWN! Although a simple block letter can work well like Michigan's M, this one is just confusing.



There is a ton of potential for Hillsdale College to really crank up some excitement with this study. But, there are some key issues to remember from Hillsdale's history.

What I want to see emerge is a fun, strong, highly recognizable logo. In 1999, the University of Iowa told Hamilton Community Schools here in Michigan that we could no longer use their "Tiger Hawk" as our Hawkeye logo. A community contest ensued to design the new logo and what emerged has been a huge boon for the school district. People instantly fell in love with the new Hawk and just about anything it can be printed on is still in high demand 9 years later. I have joked that you could put that hawk on a cat turd and someone would buy it.



Is a Charger a horse or a lightning bolt?
A study of other teams around the world using "Chargers" as a nickname seem to often combine both ideas into their logos. The original San Diego Chargers logo did just that.



I am no historian but what I have found is that the term "charger" often refers to trained warhorses, especially from medieval times. Many organizations use a knight on a horse. Notice the shield that reinforces this theme. San Diego also threw in the lightning bolt as an accent and that portion has since become their dominant signature nearly 50 years later but has been on the helmets since their inception.

Hillsdale's En-lightning History
In 1969 Hillsdale students voted to adopt the nickname Chargers in place of Dales. The old joke was "What's a Dale?". An important Hillsdale tradition to understand is that the lightning bolt actually preceeded the name Chargers. As early as the 1930's Hillsdale athletic teams used a blue circle with a blue and white lightning bolt extending across the name Hillsdale. This was long before helmet decals became available but in the 1960's Muddy Waters began using a jagged style bolt that was replaced by a "San Diego" style bolt in the early 80's by Dick Lowry.

Lessons Learned
In the late 1970's head coach Ron Lynch took the bolts off the helmets in favor of the Ford Mustang, also used by Southern Methodist. He also tried a script "Chargers" decal on the helmet as well. The navy blue became powder blue and red appeared as an accent color. None of the changes were embraced by alumni and many lobbied intensely to have the more historic uniforms returned. Speaking of red, Hillsdale made the color an official part of the college's scheme several years ago and appears on various letterheads. It has gained zero traction amongst athletic teams and frankly can stay in Central Hall for all I care. If it is included in a Hillsdale athletic logo, keep it minimal.

Best of Both
If Hillsdale asked me to design a logo, and I am more than willing to help, I would start by including the horse. Heck we already have the costume. Louie the Laker (GVSU), Sparky the Sun Devil (Ariz. State), Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat (AZ), and yes the equally evil Brutus Buckeye, Sparty Spartan, and Bucky Badger all inspire crowds but more importantly SELL! A mascot instead of a letter can be animated and is frankly a lot more fun. A mascot is something people want to wear. I would also though work in a lightning bolt somewhere. Here is an idea:


I do also think it is very important to keep the bolts on the helmets. But, it might be time to explore some new bolts. People look at our helmets and think "San Diego". The old ones could be referred to as "Air Force" style. Maybe somebody needs to build a better lightning bolt. Let's have people look at our helmets and only think "Hillsdale".

Whatever Hillsdale decides needs to be fun, marketable, easily recognizable, yet still maintain the great traditions of Hillsdale College.

Fighting Reagans? Uh.......no! Harner Addresses Nickname Rumors.

I received a nice email this past week from former Charger Mike Harner who now serves as Hillsdale's Chief Staff Officer. He wanted to address some rumors circulating about possible changes coming to Hillsdale's logo, color, and nickname.

The discussion reached the most unreliable of all Division II football messageboards Mlive.com's GLIAC Forum. One "contributor" jokingly guessed the Chargers were changing to the Fighting Reagans. This was followed with quips about Hillsdale being easy to stop because they always RUSH to the RIGHT. Get it? Rush....right.

Harner stated, "Over the past six months we have been reviewing the college’s brand and identity. In that process we looked at every logo, font, color, symbol, etc… associated with Hillsdale College. What we found was a disparate hodge-podge of all of the above. Some rudimentary style changes have been made. We now use minion font, our colors are blue and white, with red as the accepted accent, and we adopted a new tagline: Hillsdale College: Pursuing Truth. Defending Liberty. Since 1844. We did all of this in consultation with one of the largest ad agencies in the world."

The focus now moves to the athletic department and the hodge-podge of logos being used by various teams. "Is a Charger a lightning bolt or a horse?" Harner cites as one key consideration. He reassures us all that when changes come, they will be "minimal".

Minion to Change College Brand Identity

Minion to change college brand identity

By: Chase Purdy, Hillsdale Collegian
Posted: 1/24/08

After years of slapdash college publication design, official letters riddled with unprofessional fonts and publication department headaches, Hillsdale College is working to create a cohesive brand identity.

The change is part of unprecedented internal re-organization, including shifting design authority to the office of external affairs and installing the Minion typeface on all campus computers as the new standard for college publications.

"I basically said that we need to focus on our image and verbal efforts in a more coherent way," said Chris Bachelder, associate vice president for strategic marketing. "The font works better with the architecture of the college and the long standing college principles."

The previous typeface in the college logo was Keeple, a strong serif font without clarity the college desired, Bachelder said. The letters also lacked the symmetry found in Central Hall, the school's main symbol, he said.

With help from Leo Burnett and Company, an ad agency, outgoing publications, the school's logo and the office for external affairs received facelifts.

"You never see a blue Coke can," he said. "Color matters to people, so there has to be certain restraints to how we present our brand and logo. I'm trying to empower the graphic artists so we can have some brand recognition."

More authority in the hands of college graphic designers for outgoing literature is good news, said Art Director Angela Lashaway. External affairs will have increased say in what goes out to the public, she said, hinting about past acceptance letters written with the unprofessional Comic Sans font.

"Those are the types of things that we hope to control," she said. "The transition right now is a nightmare because we have to convert all sorts of [existing] graphics."

One new item for administrators and faculty will be a style guide outlining the perimeter of outgoing college material design, Lashaway said. One section of the style guide includes the fonts used on college documentation, including Minion.

"That is the font that the Smithsonian uses," she said. "It's a pretty face. It's clean and easy to read."

The college spent $538 to purchase a five-user Minion license for testing in external affairs, Information Technology Services and the college postal center, she said. The only snag encountered so far is that, because Minion is wider than previous fonts used, less text will fill college documents, Lashaway said.

"[Implementing Minion] is not going to be that bad at all," said Greg Harms, systems administrator for ITS. "We just have to put the files in the right location."
The college hopes to complete its move toward a cohesive brand identity by spring 2009. © Copyright 2008 The Collegian