Talk:UMass Minutemen and Minutewomen

Hello, About using "UMass" or "Massachusetts"
I'm not affiliated to the University of Massachusetts in any way. I'm only a college football fan. But recently I noticed that the articles pertaining to University of Massachusetts athletics is one of a selective few college athletics program in the nation which does not use the formal name of the school in wikipedia. What I mean is that instead of using the accepted "Massachusetts Minutmen" as any other state flagship university athletics article does it instead uses "UMass Minutemen". I was looking around wikipedia and also noticed that neighbor UConn huskies use Connecticut Huskies to name articles. Has this been talked about in any other talk page? Has anyone reached consensus on the correct name? Just wondering...

Also WP:ABBR includes the statement: "Always consider whether it is better to simply write a word or phrase out in full, thus avoiding potential confusion for those not familiar with its abbreviation. Remember that Wikipedia does not have the same space constraints as paper." EdwinCasadoBaez (talk) 13:47, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

"UMass" and its derivatives "U-Mass", "U of Mass.", etc. have been used frequently in both colloquial and formal contexts. As of date (2018) the current athletics administration has been increasingly pushing "Massachusetts" in formal/official contexts (referring to themselves as "Massachusetts Athletics") and "UMass" in colloquial contexts or where space is constrained. Examples of this can be seen here: I believe "UMass" should be used in the same regard as, for example, "U-M" would be used for "Michigan". Massman96 (talk) 17:51, 25 September 2018 (EST)

Notable Alumni
I read somewhere that Jack Welch played college hockey here. Can anyone confirm this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.193.177.65 (talk) 03:45, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Of the sources I could track down, it is confirmed that he attended UMass (Class of 1957) and played high school hockey. Nothing I've found confirms he played hockey at Umass, though, sorry.  Perhaps contact the alumni relations office? Kithira  (talk) 04:36, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
 * That doesn't seem to be accurate. UMass used to publish large media guides with names of all their historical players.  The last guide they published, for the 2008-09 season, makes no mention of a player named Welch.  See page 14 of this file: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/umas/sports/m-hockey/auto_pdf/08-History.pdf  --MikeUMA (talk) 18:34, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Requested move I

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. Request withdrawn by nominator and no one else supporting this particular move. Dpmuk (talk) 12:38, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

UMass Minutemen → UMass Minutemen men's ice hockey — Propose to rename this article to the standard article naming format as used for other college ice hockey teams. “Category:UMass Minutemen men's ice hockey players” already exists. Onthegogo (talk) 15:38, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * comment shouldn't that be "University of Massachusetts, Amherst"? 65.93.13.129 (talk) 04:38, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * comment I can't cite any specific piece of protocol, bur as far as I know one omits anything like "University of" or "College" when naming the athletic team pages. I've always thought this page should be "Massachusetts Minutemen" anyway, in following with Connecticut Huskies in not using the abbreviation. Kithira  (talk) 11:36, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * That's horrible. Consider Minnesota, where regular non-collegiate teams are called "Minnesota" (ie. Minnesota Twins), or New York, where you have CUNY, SUNY, NYU, and leaving out the name is just wrong. Aside from that, this is UMass Amherst, not UMass somewhere else, so, as with other university systems, that also leads to bad naming. 184.144.163.245 (talk) 05:09, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
 * comment I'm not trying to pass judgment on it, but Minnesota Golden Gophers, California Golden Bears, Florida Gators, etc. Kithira (talk) 11:15, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Withdraw Move Request - I don't know what I was thinking. UMass Minutemen is the general article for UMass Athletics, and the UMass Minutemen men's ice hockey team specific article does exists. Onthegogo (talk) 16:15, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Requested move II

 * The following discussion is an archived 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. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. Overwhelming consensus that the current title is the WP:COMMONNAME. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 08:27, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

UMass Minutemen and Minutewomen → Massachusetts Minutemen and Minutewomen — Pvmoutside (talk) 03:04, 28 February 2014 (UTC) For the record, I support'' moving all pages of the UMass Minutemen and Minutewomen to the Massachusetts Minutemen and Minutewomen. All flagship campuses use the full name of the state. The closest comparison id UConn. They use the Connecticut Huskies for title pages, but use UConn quite frequently in alternate text.....Pvmoutside (talk) 03:06, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose article is not about Paul Revere's group. If you want to name it this way, it should be Massachusetts Minutemen and Minutewomen (sports) or somesuch. -- 70.50.151.11 (talk) 04:56, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. What matters here is how they're known in an athletics context, which is UMass. Flagship naming convention takes a backseat to athletics nicknaming convention when the articles and categories in question are specifically about athletics. Jrcla2 (talk) 14:13, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose also per WP:COMMONNAME. The school refers to its athletics as UMass, as does the media (though there are references to "Massachusetts Minutemen" mixed in). Also, not all flagship campuses use the full state name - see Ole Miss Rebels, Penn State Nittany Lions and LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers. Mosmof (talk) 14:50, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose - Also per COMMONNAME. UMass definitely self identifies their sports teams this way AND they are identified this way by major news outlets.  Take a look at the CBS Sports college basketball standings page, Notice that it is "UMass" under the Atlantic 10 and "Connecticut" under the American Athletic Conference.  Connecticut is different because it is treated differently in the press. Rikster2 (talk) 14:56, 28 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Comment: I have mixed feelings here, but I do think the comparison to Connecticut/UConn is apt. UConn and UMass have always seemed like two peas in a pod to me because of their analogous form, and perhaps also their geographic proximity.  So its seems strange that here on Wikipedia we use "Connecticut" and "UMass".  On college sports naming issues like this I have argued for some time that usage on Wikipedia should be informed first and foremost by the way teams are named in structural listings like standings and team home pages on definitive third-party sites.  And the most definitive of those third-party sites is probably ESPN.  If you look at their college basketball standings and college football standings, they list "Connecticut" and "Massachusetts", not "UConn" and "UMass".  In contrast we do see "Penn State", "LSU", and "Ole Miss".  If you click through to team homepages, you will find the naming there is consistent with that found in the standings.  Jweiss11 (talk) 19:20, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * A part of the issue is that the real world is inconsistent about this, and you'll see a difference between mentions in article bodies and where space is at a premium, like headlines, standings and tickers. Or just look at Connecticut's visual identity.
 * Your point about UConn and UMass is a good one, though I can anecdotally say that I hear "Connecticut" more than I hear "Massachusetts" in reference to their sports teams (though that could be because the former has fewer syllables), and UConn has used the full state name in its uniforms and logs as recently as 2012 while UMass hasn't done so since 1992. Mosmof (talk) 19:49, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * For full disclosure, UMass does refer to itself as both UMass and Massachusetts in various web articles on its official sports website. In addition, the hockey team had "Massachusetts" sewn on its playing jerseys for the entire 2013-14 season and was the only descriptor for the school on the jersey.  Not saying that's enough to reconsider.....Pvmoutside (talk) 12:15, 8 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Oppose. UMass is the common name.  Hot Stop   19:45, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose UMass is the common name, as demonstrated by, well, this: Umass textlogo.png--GrapedApe (talk) 05:53, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose Oh hell no. Sorry, but as an alum, we never called it by that proposed name, especially during my time at UMass. It's the common name, and there is no need to move it from where it is right now. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 21:03, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose While normally we move pages to more standard names to make searches easy (such as Texas-Arlington Mavericks-and even that gets argued over and over), we also want to make sure that it isn't confusing. IMHO moving to Massachusetts Minutemen and Minutewomen would be more confusing and not helpful in this case.--Paul McDonald (talk) 13:17, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.