Saturday, Southeast Missouri State unveiled their new school mascot just before game time of the SEMO men’s basketball game.

SEMO, who had previously been nicknamed the Indians for men’s sports and Otahkians for women’s, welcomed Rowdy the Redhawk to the season-high 6,607 fans attending.

SEMO lost their last 11 games against Austin Peay as the Indians, but in its first meeting with the Govs as the Redhawks, SEMO walked away with a 65-52 win.

Maybe Eastern should follow suit and change its nickname. I’m sure the Panthers and head coach Rick Samuels would try anything to change their fortunes since going 1-5 in the OVC.

Since “Panthers” and any member of the big cat family seems to be such a popular nickname for teams, maybe Eastern should go for something a bit more offbeat.

Texas Christian is nicknamed the Horned Frogs – a name attracting more attention than their teams.

Eastern could change their name to the Spider Monkeys or the Komodo Dragons.

And even if Eastern wanted to stay with the feline persuasion, but add its own ripple to it, the Panthers could become the Ligers, a cross between a lion and a tiger bred for its powers in magic.

Maybe something reflecting the Eastern community would be better. Since it seems like every time you turn around the state is holding back money from Eastern, we could become the Budget Cutters. Or since Doudna Fine Arts Center is being worked on, along with others on campus, we could be the Eastern Construction Workers.

With all the obese squirrels running around campus hoping to be fed by students, we could be the Eastern Hungry Squirrels.

OK, maybe none of those are good ideas for a nickname change, and maybe the Panthers is an OK nickname. But, at very least, Eastern should consider a redesign.

The logo at center court of Lantz Arena doesn’t look quite right. It looks like the face of a panther on the side of a clenched fist.

I’ve seen an Eastern logo that looks like a take-off of the Wisconsin Badger, which I prefer to the current Panther-fist.

If a change worked for SEMO, maybe it’ll work for Eastern.