Iowa State
Iowa State University is well known for their technology programs and research, producing some of the world’s leading theorists, writers, and even astronauts, but what of their sports programs? The Cyclones of Iowa State compete in the Big 12 Conference of the NCAA’s 1st Division, a conference generally recognized to be one of the weaker ones in the NCAA, and it’s safe to say their sports program doesn’t have quite the lustre that their academic pursuits do. In fact their men’s baseball and swimming teams recently got shelved due to budget constraints, leaving the school with just 6 men’s teams, while still fielding 10 women’s teams. Many other team sports do still exist at a club sport level, including men’s baseball, hockey, and swimming, though they don’t enjoy the benefit of NCAA Division 1 competition or exposure.
The Cyclones nickname first came about in 1895, after Iowa State routed Northwestern 36-0, to which a Chicago Tribune reporter remarked that Northwestern would’ve had more success playing against a tornado. Iowa State immediately adopted the name, which was also fitting given the area’s propensity for tornadoes, and created Cy the Cardinal to be their mascot. Their logo has undergone several revisions, with the most recent version of a graphically intensive and busy logo of a half-cardinal, half-tornado, a style of logo popular in the 1990’s, being scrapped in favour of a more distinguished logo featuring a capital I superimposed over the word State, in a new font type the school is calling cyclone.