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Post by calihanmole on Aug 17, 2019 13:09:34 GMT -5
I’m at the Woodward Cruise today wearing my vintage University of Detroit t-shirt. Guy comes up to me and says he wishes he could find U-D stuff to buy. We talk for ten minutes, he’s a retired FBI agent who attended grad school at 6 and Livernois in the ‘60’s. At the end of our conversation he says “I just want something that doesn’t have ‘Mercy’ on it!” Sad thing is, a lot of recent alumni and even current students would like to buy the sans Mercy shirts. |
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Post by Rogobob77 on Aug 17, 2019 13:51:03 GMT -5
I’m at the Woodward Cruise today wearing my vintage University of Detroit t-shirt. Guy comes up to me and says he wishes he could find U-D stuff to buy. We talk for ten minutes, he’s a retired FBI agent who attended grad school at 6 and Livernois in the ‘60’s. At the end of our conversation he says “I just want something that doesn’t have ‘Mercy’ on it!” Sad thing is, a lot of recent alumni and even current students would like to buy the sans Mercy shirts. Five minutes later I saw an OU guy wearing a Metro Series “NOMERCY” shirt. Another man came up to me initiating a conversation, he thought it was a UD Jesuit HS shirt. |
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Post by ptctitan on Aug 17, 2019 14:58:03 GMT -5
When Brad Calipari announced on Twitter his decision to play here as a grad transfer, one of the comments congratulated him on going to a Sisters of Mercy institution. Looks like the new branding is working really well. The Jesuit heritage of our university is really coming through loud and clear to the public.   |
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Post by calihanmole on Aug 17, 2019 14:59:01 GMT -5
Sad thing is, a lot of recent alumni and even current students would like to buy the sans Mercy shirts. Five minutes later I saw an OU guy wearing a Metro Series “NOMERCY” shirt. Another man came up to me initiating a conversation, he thought it was a UD Jesuit HS shirt. It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. I wish Garibaldi and the trustees would have at least offered a public event where alumni and students could have voiced opinions. Instead of that online survey that I’m now convinced was completely ignored. I think the rebrand fail holds us back more than any other challenge we face. Hard to be great your own alumni/students don’t embrace the new name and everyone is just plain confused. |
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Post by Rogobob77 on Aug 17, 2019 15:17:19 GMT -5
Five minutes later I saw an OU guy wearing a Metro Series “NOMERCY” shirt. Another man came up to me initiating a conversation, he thought it was a UD Jesuit HS shirt. It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. I wish Garibaldi and the trustees would have at least offered a public event where alumni and students could have voiced opinions. Instead of that online survey that I’m now convinced was completely ignored. I think the rebrand fail holds us back more than any other challenge we face. Hard to be great your own alumni/students don’t embrace the new name and everyone is just plain confused. I was invited to be part of a focus group for the rebrand initiative. There were maybe ten alumni in the group including me and Titan Mike, with the conversation guided by one of the consultants. The clear consensus of the group was that the University of Detroit Mercy name was confusing and participants advocated a change back to University of Detroit since that is what most people called it anyway. I’m convinced that this was a somewhat disingenuous process designed to get the University what they wanted from the very start. That said, I don’t know what transpired in the other focus groups for students, staff, prospective students and the general public. |
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Post by calihanmole on Aug 17, 2019 15:35:10 GMT -5
Focus groups are fine but they could have also had open forum events for any alumni interested to show up. I agree, it seems it was disingenuous. The confusion is so frustrating as a fan, but I see no end in sight. I’m at a point now where I dread meeting someone new and having them ask which sports teams I like. Tired of having a conversation about what Detroit Mercy is, whether it’s the same school as Detroit, etc. I now just say I follow a bunch of college hoops teams even though that really isn’t true. Same goes for when people ask where I went to school. “In Michigan.”
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Post by Rogobob77 on Aug 17, 2019 19:01:45 GMT -5
Focus groups are fine but they could have also had open forum events for any alumni interested to show up. I agree, it seems it was disingenuous. The confusion is so frustrating as a fan, but I see no end in sight. I’m at a point now where I dread meeting someone new and having them ask which sports teams I like. Tired of having a conversation about what Detroit Mercy is, whether it’s the same school as Detroit, etc. I now just say I follow a bunch of college hoops teams even though that really isn’t true. Same goes for when people ask where I went to school. “In Michigan.” Even worse is when someone asks me to explain the branding decision, something that has happened on numerous occasions. I’ll get comments and questions from people who have no real connection to the University, but know that I went to the school. Goes sort of like this: “Why did they change the name to the University of Detroit Mercy? That sounds so dumb! U of D Mercy? They should change it back to U of D.” |
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Post by nctitan on Aug 17, 2019 19:48:14 GMT -5
I also was part of a rebranding interview group. It was actually quite a ranging conversation with a lot of varied input but no overwhelming consensus. I don't think the outcome was predetermined nor did it contradict the overall sentiment from all the interviewees.
I, too, wish the school were still UofD, and I wish the Athletics brand was Detroit Titans, but I also wish all these UofD stalwarts had been speaking with their wallets back when the school was unable to pay its bills and the alternative to closing was the merger of equals with Mercy College. With a little more $$$ in our pockets we might have swung a deal for Mercy College to become a component of UofD.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Aug 17, 2019 20:59:14 GMT -5
I also was part of a rebranding interview group. It was actually quite a ranging conversation with a lot of varied input but no overwhelming consensus. I don't think the outcome was predetermined nor did it contradict the overall sentiment from all the interviewees. I, too, wish the school were still UofD, and I wish the Athletics brand was Detroit Titans, but I also wish all these UofD stalwarts had been speaking with their wallets back when the school was unable to pay its bills and the alternative to closing was the merger of equals with Mercy College. With a little more $$$ in our pockets we might have swung a deal for Mercy College to become a component of UofD. I went on line and was looking at Jesuit University's. There are 27 Jesuit colleges and University's but U of D is not on the list. |
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Post by Rogobob77 on Aug 17, 2019 21:22:03 GMT -5
I also was part of a rebranding interview group. It was actually quite a ranging conversation with a lot of varied input but no overwhelming consensus. I don't think the outcome was predetermined nor did it contradict the overall sentiment from all the interviewees. I, too, wish the school were still UofD, and I wish the Athletics brand was Detroit Titans, but I also wish all these UofD stalwarts had been speaking with their wallets back when the school was unable to pay its bills and the alternative to closing was the merger of equals with Mercy College. With a little more $$$ in our pockets we might have swung a deal for Mercy College to become a component of UofD. I went on line and was looking at Jesuit University's. There are 27 Jesuit colleges and University's but U of D is not on the list. Detroit Mercy is listed as a Jesuit institution on this official site: www.ajcunet.edu/institutionsAlso shown as a Jesuit institution on Wikipedia: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jesuit_educational_institutionsThe Jesuit honor society has Detroit Mercy on their list: www.alphasigmanu.org/about/map-of-member-institutionsJesuit Basketball Spotlight includes Detroit Mercy as a member school: static1.squarespace.com/static/55d1dd88e4b0dee65a6594f0/t/5bf5812a4d7a9c127e76ea14/1542816043571/JBSPOSTERUPDATED_11-21-18.pdfWhat site were you looking at? |
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Post by nctitan on Aug 18, 2019 0:12:14 GMT -5
I believe UP was trying to be slyly funny looking for plain old U of Detroit, not Detroit Mercy.
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Post by calihanmole on Aug 18, 2019 8:33:11 GMT -5
I’m more concerned that one of our alumni thinks the plural of university is university’s.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Aug 18, 2019 9:18:50 GMT -5
I’m more concerned that one of our alumni thinks the plural of university is university’s. No need for concern, I am not one of your Alumni. My spelling skills seem to be fading with my retention skills The first article Rogo pointed out is the same article that I read. I guess I was looking for U of D. |
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Post by motorcitysam on Aug 18, 2019 9:57:17 GMT -5
I’m more concerned that one of our alumni thinks the plural of university is university’s. No need for concern, I am not one of your Alumni. My spelling skills seem to be fading with my retention skills The first article Rogo pointed out is the same article that I read. I guess I was looking for U of D. You may not be a Titan grad, UP, but I wish more of our alumni had your passion and commitment to the University and the basketball program. Thanks for all you do. |
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Post by upbasketballfan on Aug 18, 2019 10:15:34 GMT -5
No need for concern, I am not one of your Alumni. My spelling skills seem to be fading with my retention skills The first article Rogo pointed out is the same article that I read. I guess I was looking for U of D. You may not be a Titan grad, UP, but I wish more of our alumni had your passion and commitment to the University and the basketball program. Thanks for all you do. Thanks Sam. I wish we could get the Moose back in the fold. this could be a good year for the program. |
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Sept 2, 2015 17:18:54 GMT -5
Sept 2, 2015 17:18:54 GMT -5
