By Trudy Tynan, Associated Press, 5/7/2003

AMHERST, Mass. -- In a shot at tradition heard 'round the state, the University of Massachusetts is considering mustering out its Minuteman mascot in favor of a gray wolf.

"It stinks," protested Ed Struzziero of Wilbraham, a 1950 graduate whose class raised $100,000 and presented the school with a statue of a Minuteman last fall.

More than 900 of the 1,100 men and women in Struzziero's class were World War II veterans, and he said many felt the Minuteman was a uniquely appropriate symbol for the state university in the place where the American Revolution began. "Times change, but some things shouldn't be touched," he said.

Besides, Struzziero said, a gray wolf bears a suspicious resemblance to a husky, the mascot of the rival University of Connecticut. "And we hate those sons of guns."

The central problem, said Ian McCaw, who took over as athletic director last fall, is the Minuteman hasn't been selling many sweat shirts and hats for the cash-strapped school, which eliminated seven varsity teams last year. "We've verified with focus groups that people don't buy items with Minutemen on them," McCaw said.

The Minuteman is the depiction of the colonial soldiers who faced the British at Lexington and Concord in the opening battle of the Revolution.

There are also, McCaw said, "gender, firearms and ethnicity issues." And Phoenix Design, the firm hired by the university to spruce up its logos, found "it's difficult to illustrate a Minuteman." Still, McCaw called reaction to the proposed change "mixed."

"It is clearly a white, male logo, because that's who the historical Minutemen were, and if we are not making reference to the historical Minutemen then the name has no meaning at all," reasoned Chancellor John Lombardi.

Real Minutemen carried guns, although the student who dresses up in homespun uniform and a tri-corner hat at home games was disarmed years ago.

McCaw and Lombardi said they planned to issue their decision on the Minuteman's future by the end of the month, but there were no items bearing a Minuteman logo in the school bookstore Wednesday.

A decade ago, one of Lombardi's predecessors also considered dumping the Minuteman, which has been the school's mascot since it dropped the Redmen in 1972, but retreated in the face of an outpouring of outrage.

However, since the early 1990s when the school's basketball and football teams were nationally ranked, revenues from souvenir sales have dropped from about $400,000 annually to $100,000, McCaw said.

The basketball team was 11-18 this season. The football team improved to 8-4 from 3-8 the year before.

Ticket sales have slumped and the state is considering slashing its support for the university by 20 percent. McCaw said it's too soon to say what cuts will have to be made in the athletic program, which has an $18 million budget. But he called the $10,000 spent so far on re-examining the logo a good investment.

"The success of our teams plays a part, but with the state cutbacks it's become even more critical that we maximize our revenues," McCaw said. "And without an attractive identifier that is very difficult to do."

UMass would become the second Atlantic 10 Conference school with a wolf mascot. St. Bonaventure adopted the wolf after the Franciscan school dropped its Brown Indian mascot, but McCaw said he didn't expect branding confusion, because St. Bonaventure is still better known by its Bonnies nickname.

Some women athletes said they wouldn't mind a more gender-neutral moniker. Others, including junior field hockey player Kristen Hopwood, from Lexington, who was a Minuteman in high school, supported the embattled symbol.

"I feel we don't have enough pride in what we are and where we came from," Hopwood said.

"The Minuteman is our most recognizable state symbol. Look at our quarter," said Pete Trovato, a sophomore hockey player from North Attleboro. The design for the state's quarter features a musket-toting Minuteman.

"If you want something fresh, just take the Minuteman and spice it up a bit," Trovato said. "If you have problems with the gun, put a hockey stick in his hand, or a basketball, or a football."

Elsewhere in Massachusetts the Minuteman is holding his own.

Sales of Minuteman pins and patches haven't fallen off at the Minute Man National Historic Park in Lexington and Concord, according to Nancy Nelson, park superintendent.

"Certainly we think it is a relevant symbol, especially today," said Capt. Winfield Danielson III, a spokesman for the Massachusetts National Guard, which traces its origins back to the colonial militia of 1636. About 2,500 members of the guard, including more than 200 women are currently serving either in Afghanistan or the Persian Gulf.

"We are today's Minutemen, ready at a moment's notice to defend our country overseas or at home," Danielson said.