Hawaii names all men’s teams ‘Rainbow Warriors’
Three months after newly named Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay declared all Hawaii men’s athletic teams would be the Warriors, he’s going back on that decision.
Jay announced Tuesday that Hawaii’s men’s teams would be the Rainbow Warriors as they were 13 years ago.
“The decision on February 13 to change the nickname of the men’s teams to Warriors has generated a lot of discussion and we have received both positive and negative feedback,” Jay said. “We listened to the public discussion and we went back to the original two questions we asked ourselves - who are we and what is representative of the islands?”
Since 2000, Hawaii men’s athletic teams have been named everything from Warriors to Rainbows to Rainbow Warriors. Jay said his initial decision to go with Warriors came from discussions with several coaches, but in the end, the university wanted to stay true to its heritage. All women’s teams are already called Rainbow Wahine.
"I've been asking since I was hired here (last December) who we are and what is most representative of the islands," Jay said back in February. "Those three words, Warriors, Rainbow and Wahine, are representative of who we are."
Now, let’s stop for a second and think of some of the ridiculous rainbow-themed uniforms Under Armour might concoct to celebrate the name change. Arizona just introduced a rainbow-esque uniform, but Hawaii could do an all-rainbow motif. Let’s be honest, after Under Armour went color crazy with Maryland, nothing is out of bounds.
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