We're Not Doing Logos? Ever?

When the University of North Dakota rebranded from the "Fighting Sioux" to the "Fighting Hawks", my thoughts were that the new logo would work nicely on various uniforms and merchandise as it's fairly well-designed. Yes, the "N" dips down a little lower as seen above, but it's not a huge deal when it comes to the overall aesthetics of the logo. What strikes me as odd, though, is how the North Dakota men's hockey team refuses to use the logo in its prominent place on the chest of the jersey.

UND unveiled their 2025-26 uniforms today, and there's a distinct lack of Fighting Hawks logos on these jerseys for some unknown reason.

I'm not here to criticize North Dakota's design choices as I already said my piece on the "Nodak" jerseys in 2021. I'm still not a fan of those jerseys, but the white and green "North Dakota" jerseys just feel generic whereas the Fighting Hawks logo could be used to give the jerseys a little identity. Give me something to like, "Nodak"!

It appears that North Dakota will use the Fighting Hawks logo seen above as shoulder logos for all four jerseys for this season, but that's where secondary logos go. Your primary logo is your brand, and it should be shown prominently. It's why Ferrari puts the Prancing Horse logo on the hood of the car. It's why McDonalds puts the golden arches out front of its restaurants. Your logo is what people recognize instantly for your brand when they see it, so having just a wordmark where a logo should be feels entirely incomplete. And boring.

That last sentence is how I feel, so how would the team look with the Fighting Hawks logo on their chests? Here's the comparison to decide.

Personally, give me the logo every day on those jerseys and twice on Sundays. The jersey on the right looks infinitely better than the wordmark jerseys, and the logo starts to become instantly recognizable as the University of North Dakota. That's the entire point of putting the logo on the jersey as the logo carries the name and the principles of both the hockey program and the university.

Next year will mark the ten-year anniversary of the University of North Dakota unveiling the new name and logo to the public, and I'm not suggesting that North Dakota should take steps backwards. They clearly spent money - apparently, $49,500 - on researching and on designing their new logo, so you'd think they'd be slapping it on everything and anything in order to get their money's worth out of the Fighting Hawks logo. With men's hockey being one of the most popular sports at the school, why aren't they using it on their jerseys?

What may muddy the waters somewhat is that Brianna Berry, former head coach Brad Berry's daughter, owned the trademark on "NODAK" through a Minnesota entity named NODAK LLC. That's the same "NODAK" that North Dakota uses, and North Dakota and Berry were trying to come to some sort of agreement for the university to own the "NODAK" trademark as of a 2022 report filed by The Rink Live's Rob Port. Late that evening when the story broke, the university and NODAK LLC agreed to transfer the "NODAK" name to the University of North Dakota in a non-financial acquisition for the university to own.

With North Dakota owning the "NODAK" name, it's understandable why that gets used on their jerseys, but it doesn't explain why the primary logo isn't used on the chest and is used only on the shoulders. UND football uses it on their helmets, UND women's volleyball uses the "Fighting Hawks" wordmark and the Fighting Hawks logo, the women's soccer team uses the logo, and their track-and-field teams use the logo as well. The only team who relegates the logo to secondary status on their uniforms is the men's hockey team.

This season won't be the first where the primary logo hasn't appeared on the chests of the North Dakota men's hockey team. They haven't worn a primary logo prominently on their chests since 2012 when the Fighting Sioux name was retired. In the four years it took to come up with a new logo, the hockey program used the state's name on their jerseys, but have continued to do so even after the university had acquired its new name and logo. For a university that needs an identity, none of this makes any sense when the University of North Dakota men's hockey program is known nationally for its success.

Whatever the reason for not wearing the logo is, it seems that no one is speaking publicly about it except me. Frankly, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but it just seems odd to me that the university has a number of other teams using the logo on its uniforms, but the nationally-recogized program isn't. If people don't like the logo, that's on them, but acceptance of the logo would come with seeing it used more often and on winning teams like the men's hockey program.

Maybe I'm the only person who believes this, but a hockey jersey needs a logo on the front. Whatever your feelings are on the Fighting Hawks logo, it should be on the front of their Hawk-ey jerseys.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!