For many years there has been a steady debate if California Lutheran University should change its school mascots, the Kingsmen and the Regals.

Christie Harper, assistant vice president of university marketing for Cal Lutheran, said there is no  mascot change for right now.

“We did a research study that involved students, alumni, faculty and staff and basically asking them about their attachment to Kingsmen and Regals,” Harper said.

Once the research study was analyzed, the marketing department found out that there wasn’t enough enthusiasm about the mascot change, particularly on the part of students.

Ben McEnroe, head football coach, said that as far as he knew there is no discussion at any level to change the team mascots.

“The university recently underwent a branding initiative, and I’m sure an athletic mark will follow at some point soon,” McEnroe said.

Cal Lutheran male athletes are known as Kingsmen while the female athletes are called Regals. The discussions that have been brought up were regarding changing the school mascot to a gender-neutral mascot that applied for both genders.

“So the logos, those knights heads, kind of brought up the question, ‘How do we handle all the whole athletics thing? Should we have two should we just have one?’” Harper said.

Daniel Kuntz, athletic director and head coach of the men’s soccer team, said in an email interview that there needs to be a lot of study and input to know what would be best for the university.

“No matter what the university decides to do, whether it is to keep things exactly as they are or otherwise, I’m confident the decision will be positive for all involved,” Kuntz said.

McEnroe said in an email interview that he had served on a focus group and looked at various ideas, both with the current mascots as well as discussions about potential changes.

“In my opinion, this is a high-level decision within the university, and I support the administration in keeping the existing mascots,” McEnroe said.

Another topic that has also been part of these discussions is the logo change, which is currently just  the text California Lutheran University in purple and gold.

Junior Ben Quantock, football player for Cal Lutheran, said that having one mascot and logo would be better as it would help build school spirit.

“I think we should have one definitive logo that we can put on a sweatshirt, T-shirts or merchandise for the school,” Quantock said.

Harper said Cal Lutheran wanted a gender-neutral logo for both teams but that they never found a design that worked.

“I think the only way frankly the teams’ names would change is if it came up through the student body,” Harper said.

There seems to be a stronger attachment to the Kingsmen, especially with the male athletes.

“I don’t think I mind the Kingsmen if the female population here was cool with that,” Quantock said. “I think it’s something we can stick with. That way we’re still staying with our old traditions.”

Wais Naizi
Staff Writer
Published February 18th, 2015