Talk:Sam Houston Bearkats

Requested move 23 January 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: all targets moved per strong reasoning provided by Dale Arnett. (non-admin closure)   ❯❯❯  Raydann  (Talk)   06:47, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

– A couple months ago, Sam Houston State Bearkats men's basketball was moved to Sam Houston Bearkats men's basketball, citing the fact that the university had changed its athletic branding. This is true, but doesn't necessarily necessitate a move per WP:COMMONNAME. However, doing some looking into it, I think there's an argument to say that the COMMONNAME is without "State":
 * Sam Houston State Bearkats → Sam Houston Bearkats
 * Sam Houston State Bearkats baseball → Sam Houston Bearkats baseball
 * Sam Houston State Bearkats football → Sam Houston Bearkats football
 * Sam Houston State Bearkats women's basketball → Sam Houston Bearkats women's basketball
 * Sam Houston State Bearkats softball → Sam Houston Bearkats softball


 * Both the WAC and Conference USA referred to the school as "Sam Houston" in their press regarding the school's recent conference moves.
 * On their college teams page, ESPN.com lists the team as Sam Houston. The same is true on the corresponding page on CBSSports.com.
 * The AP has started referring to the team as Sam Houston in their recaps

(Side note, I don't have much of a dog in this fight, but if this move does not happen, if whoever closes it can move Sam Houston Bearkats men's basketball back to its old name, that would be wonderful.) fuzzy510 (talk) 01:28, 23 January 2023 (UTC) — Relisting. – robertsky (talk) 02:45, 31 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Weak oppose, a quick glance at the articles seems to indicate that State is used relatively often?--Ortizesp (talk) 07:25, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Leaning oppose per Ortizesp. BD2412  T 03:18, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Strong support. The NCAA maintains lists of classification histories (i.e., which schools were in each division) in annual record books for all of its sponsored sports. I'll use FCS football as an example, but you should be able to find the same if you mine the NCAA's institutional website (ncaa.org, as opposed to its results site of ncaa.com) for the record books of other sports. The 2020 FCS record book, whose scope ends with the 2019 season, lists SHSU as "Sam Houston St." (see page 88). By contrast, both the 2021 and 2022 record books list SHSU as "Sam Houston" (2021 — page 95 under "Active Team Members", 2022 — page 97 under "Former Members"). Since the NCAA tries to consistently use schools' preferred athletic brand names, this tells me that SHSU changed its athletic brand from "Sam Houston State" to "Sam Houston" in advance of the 2020–21 school year. — Dale Arnett (talk) 06:35, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

History of the "Bearkats" Name?
I came to the article because I was interested in the history of the "Bearkats" nickname, specifically wondering if it was relatively new compared to the history of the university. At https://www.shsu.edu/dept/student-activities/tradition.html, I found this:"Sam Houston State University's athletic teams have been nicknamed "The Bearkats" since 1923 when the University's name was changed by the Texas State Legislature from Sam Houston Normal Institute to Sam Houston State Teachers College. Prior to 1923, the varsity sports teams were nicknamed "The Normals"."

Would it be useful to add it (or something like it) to the article? 75.188.230.160 (talk) 14:18, 12 October 2023 (UTC)