The redesigned University of St. Thomas mascot Tommie debuted at the first football game of the Fall 2024 season on Aug. 29.
Differing from the old tomcat, which had been the face of the university for 22 years, this cat’s look was complete with bigger cartoon-like eyes, a wider mouth and purple stripes on the top of its head.
The following day, the mascot’s Instagram page, @tommiemascot, posted a video welcoming the “newest and best.”
The post received 30 comments about its changed look.
The reactions to the new mascot suit varied, but the comment section beneath the post was mainly negative, with only two of the comments applauding the revamped Tommie.
One of the most popular comments, posted by Kate Ostaffe, was “Bring back the old Tommie!”
Ostaffe, who graduated in 2023 and her friends are upset with the new Tommie.
“We think the eyes look creepy and that it feels more cartoonish than the old Tommie,” Ostaffe said. “It doesn’t really feel like what a mascot should look like. What a mascot is representing is a school, and you want it to be something that people, not necessarily are afraid of, but take seriously.”
The old Tommie mascot was seemingly popular among students and alumni, which left some people questioning the decision to change its appearance.
“The reason we needed to update or modernize the mascot was because of the safety of our student performers who are in the costume,” Ben Fraser, deputy athletic director of external operations and development said. “The old suit was tearing. It was ripping. It was 22 years old.”
Additionally, the new suit has improved ventilation and visibility for performers.
“It’s way more lightweight, so it allows for much more flexibility for who can be in the suit and how we use the suit,” Fraser said. “And, if you look at the old head versus the new head, you’ll see the smile is a little bigger, and that’s for visibility. The old head, you could barely see out of it.”
While the new mascot has improved safety features, some students are still upset by its cartoonish look.
One Instagram comment went as far as comparing it to Furby, a popular 2000s toy with owl- and rodent-like features.
Fraser hopes the mascot’s new performance abilities will, hopefully, combat these complaints.
“We would love to have a skating Tommie here, having the ice rink on campus coming next year,” Fraser said. “(The suit) allows for those types of things, in terms of skating on the rink and all the fun things we want to do in the arena when we have the full light show and video board. It’ll be really great.”
Cecilia Wallace can be contacted at wall1238@stthomas.edu.