The University of Mississippi athletics department has chosen to settle the school's mascot controversy with two options to replace Colonel Rebel, and alumni and fans around Greenwood aren't impressed with either.
"At this moment, I'm not sure what to think of it," says Bill Malouf, who quarterbacked the 1971-1975 Ole Miss football teams. "I'm a little surprised at how the administration has handled it."
University officials decided in the spring there would be a mascot change. After banning Colonel Rebel, the 19th-century plantation gentleman, from football games, the administration opened a contest for new mascot designs.
The contest winners are apparently the two choices the athletic department unveiled Tuesday. One is "Rowdy Rebel," a muscular bald-headed man wearing a football uniform and carrying a ball in his right arm. The other is "Rebel Bruiser," a beefed up version of the ousted mascot waring football pants and a muscle shirt.
That option still carries the image of Colonel Rebel in Greenwood attorney Willie Perkins' eyes. Perkins, who graduated form Ole Miss Law School in 1978, says neither one embodies the change the university is seeking.
"Both proposed mascots still project an image of a white male, and I'd like to see a mascot that would be fair and neutral and is at least inclusive," he said. "Ole Miss is a little bit more than just about white males."
Malouf said he believes the administration is doing the best it can in handling the transition. He applauds the decision by UM Chancellor Robert Khayat and the athletic department to move the university forward.
"My opinion is always to put the university first, and it appears that he's looking for a nationwide university, not just a Deep South one," Malouf said.
He would like to see a modification of the Colonel Rebel character. "I kind of liked the old man. I thought he was pretty cute, and an updated version of him is fine with me."
The updated versions released Tuesday aren't what alum and longtime fan Dottie Cole had in mind either. Cole says she and her family haven't missed Colonel Rebel on the sidelines at football games this fall.
"It's just not a priority with us right now," she said. "We're more interested in a good football team and a good academic environment up there."
Cole, too, puts faith in Khayat to make the right decision, but the change doesn't seem necessary to her, she said.
"There's such a small percentage of people whom Colonel Rebel has offended," she explained. "If people are offended by it, let them go to school somewhere else. This is a free country. They don't have to go up there."
Another alum, Bobo Champion, who says he isn't excited about the propositions set forth this week, has an idea that might put the controversy to rest once and for all: Go for an animal.
"If they make a change nothing etched in stone says it has to be tied to the name of the athletic team," Champion said. "Not caring for either one of options that have been given, I would opt for the idea of a dog by the name of Rebel, whether it's a Collie or some other type."
