Instead, Board of Trustees Chair David Miller wants to ride with something like “Kick ‘Em Stangs,” which must be compatible with the other Texas Power 4 clique members: Hook ‘Em, Gig ‘Em, Wreck ‘Em, and Sic ‘Em.
“We’re SMU Mustangs,” Miller informed the Dallas Morning News. “We’re not SMU Ponies.”
According to the school’s website, the ‘Pony Up,’ rally cry is sometimes followed by the “pony ears” gesture, a modified peace sign in which you relax your finger to resemble pony ears. The term has been part of SMU’s culture since 2007.
Miller’s explanation becomes ambiguous when you consider that SMU is descended from both the Pony and Mustang.
Peruna, the SMU mascot since 1932, is a black Shetland pony noted for her fierce stallion demeanor. According to SMU’s The Daily Campus newspaper, Peruna I was presented by a local racetrack owner who believed the powerful pony embodied SMU.
From there, the kids decided that the school’s official mascot would be the “Mustangs,” because the wild horse resembled a “petite pony.”
Shetland ponies are a unique Scottish breed of pony with short legs and a robust build. In the past, they were particularly useful for riding, driving, and packing.
However, they are now more commonly seen as cute little horses ridden by small children or as a ‘Lil Sebastian’ at the petting zoo. (If you haven’t seen Parks and Recreation, look it up.)
Peruna is petite, strong, wild, and, frankly, adorable. But it is not what football players (or athletes) want to be remembered for.
According to Miller, head football coach Rhett Lashlee and head basketball coach Andy Enfield agreed that the image they want to project to recruits is “not that of a pony, but of wild charging mustangs.”
It’s simply a technicality, but since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, SMU has been the only Power 4 conference team to use the Mustang mascot.
The shift comes as an hour-long documentary on SMU football’s program rebuilding from the NCAA’s “death penalty,” “Thunder On: Resurgence of the SMU Mustangs,” premieres on ESPN at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Damon Evans, SMU Athletic Director, even used the hashtag #ThunderOn to market yet another new word. Meanwhile, the football team dressed in ‘Kick ‘Em, Stangs’ shirts for Saturday’s game versus Missouri State.
Nevertheless, it appears like SMU is experiencing an identity crisis.
But Lashlee may have miscalculated the kind of opposition the program would face for attempting to phase out ‘Pony Up.’
“We love our fans, and we love passionate fans, and if you say ‘Pony Up’ to me, I’m going to absolutely say ‘Pony Up’ in return. And if you say ‘Go Mustangs,’ I’ll say ‘Go Mustangs.’ And if you yell, ‘Kick ‘Em, Stangs,’ I will kick something.
