The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is in the middle of a cultural renaissance. Las Vegas continues to add to its standing as the premier city for all things sports and entertainment, bringing with it its flagship university. UNLV saw record-breaking enrollment ahead of the fall 2024 semester, just six years after being named a top research university by the Carnegie Institute for Higher Education. It has seen its relevance further lifted by the best football team the school has ever had. The university has the most excitement around it since the early ’90s when the Runnin’ Rebels basketball team took UNLV from “Tumbleweed Tech” to a cultural phenomenon. Despite this, modern UNLV completely lacks an identity. What happened to a once iconic brand?
In 2021, UNLV once again ditched its mascot amid racist controversy. UNLV ditched Hey Reb! its most prominent cultural signifier of nearly 40 years in place of nothing. As Hey Reb! was retired, the university announced its intent to keep the Rebels moniker while remaining mascotless. This moment in history was a near-perfect repeat of when, in the early ’70s, UNLV was pressured to move away from its Confederate branding and, for a good reason, ditched “Beauregard,” a cartoon wolf named for a Confederate general that wore a gray Civil War uniform. The school spent the next decade mascotless. Hey Reb! was born in the early ’80s.
Whether or not the university should have ditched Hey Reb! is irrelevant; the toothpaste is out of the tube on that one. However, the decision to remain mascotless while keeping the Rebels nickname was wrong. Switching the official logo to a bland word mark and scraping Hey Reb! has the university in limbo. On paper, the university has retired Hey Reb! but without anything to fill the mustached void, many on and off campus have used the towering mountain man as if he never left. All the while, UNLV’s official branding, particularly for the school’s athletics, has little to pull from without a mascot and a glorified font of a logo. What is the school’s brand?
That very question is the problem the university faces. UNLV lacks branding or identity. The easiest fix is to have a mascot. Mascots do the heavy lifting to lend character and charm to brands. Mascots humanize inhuman things. Think of the Oregon Duck or the Texas Longhorn, instantly recognizable symbols that give pride to the university faithful. A mascot, however, isn’t the only solution. USC is an excellent example. Sure, they have a mascot, but their brand is lifted by tradition, culture and history, and it is not carried on the back of mascot Traveler.
How can UNLV fix its problem? The first change UNLV should make is to the moniker. Embrace the school’s unique history and adopt the Runnin’ Rebels moniker the UNLV basketball team uses. Officially, UNLV schoolwide is the Rebels, while the basketball team alone is the Runnin’ Rebels. Embracing the Runnin’ Rebels gives the school a more identifiable brand and showcases UNLV’s history while separating the school slightly from the rebel name’s unfortunate association.
UNLV’s logo needs an overhaul. UNLV uses a word mark as an official logo, but it is not an official logo. The official logo should be something in the vein of the “sunburst” throwback; it has a history at the school and is dripping with a ’70s vintage vibe that Las Vegas has long embraced.
UNLV could then replace the “curved spirit logo.” Once upon a time, this logo was perfect as the curve housed the hat of Hey Reb! With Hey Reb! gone, the curved logo looks somewhat empty. The imagery still reminds the public of the mascot the university shelved.
The school has a long history and could redesign an older logo or design something new. The school should lean into the ’70s and ’80s flash and sparkle of its city. A retro and Vegas-based brand would help the university remind everyone what makes UNLV so unique — it’s home in the shadow of the Strip.
The final step is choosing a new mascot. Embrace the runnin’ from Runnin’ Rebels and combine it with one of Nevada’s natural treasures. Use a wild horse as UNLV’s new mascot. Not only would the new mascot boost the UNLV brand, it would highlight one of Southern Nevada’s native species and embrace the university’s rebel spirit. At games, UNLV could get a real horse rather than using a person in a costume. Many major universities use real animals, including Texas, Georgia and, shockingly, the LSU Tigers. Using a real animal would also avoid any direct comparisons to Hey Reb!
UNLV has to strike while the iron is hot. The university has a lot going for it right now: The school’s enrollment is bigger than ever, the nation is watching UNLV football for the first time and Las Vegas feels like the center of the universe. UNLV has an opportunity to redefine itself and establish a brand as it seeks to become one of the nation’s premier universities. It needs to ditch the generic branding, have some fun with its image and do something different. UNLV needs to be a rebel.
Joshua Mathisen is a UNLV student and works for the City of Henderson in parks and recreation. Mathisen was born and raised in Southern Nevada.
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