{"id":231989,"date":"2025-09-16T18:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/231989\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T18:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:58:16","slug":"smu-is-killing-its-pony-up-catchphrase-and-leadership-is-surprised-by-the-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/231989\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU is killing its \u2018Pony up!\u2019 catchphrase, and leadership is surprised by the reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNIVERSITY PARK \u2014 SMU<\/a> has quietly been conducting a rebrand, and nobody realized it until Board of Trustees Chair David Miller made a bold statement to an arena full of SMU fans Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Pony Up\u2019 has died a natural death,\u201d Miller said at a private screening at Moody Coliseum of Thunder On: Resurgence of the SMU Mustangs, the new ESPN documentary airing Sunday that highlights the story of SMU\u2019s athletic program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For months, SMU had been phasing out the \u201cPony Up\u201d slogan on its social media platforms. The SMU athletics flagship X account hasn\u2019t tweeted #PonyUp since May. New athletic director Damon Evans used the hashtag frequently in his first few weeks on the job but hasn\u2019t since April 13.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until Miller made the bold statement Friday that SMU fans caught wind, and when they did, it led to an outpouring of frustration on social media.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m surprised by the negative reaction to it,\u201d Miller told The Dallas Morning News Tuesday. \u201cI didn\u2019t anticipate that. But regardless, it\u2019s fair to say that sometimes change is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Peruna<\/p>\n

The \u201cPony Up\u201d catchphrase has been synonymous with SMU\u2019s programs since 2007. It was born from a marketing campaign but was soon embraced by the fan base and nationally. On SMU\u2019s admissions website<\/a>, it says: \u201c\u2018Pony Up\u2019 is SMU\u2019s shared rallying cry and greeting, often accompanied by the \u2018pony ears\u2019 gesture: a modified peace sign where you relax your fingers to look like pony ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many on social media blamed the new leadership for the rebranding. SMU brought in a new president, Jay Hartzell<\/a>, and athletic director<\/a> in the last few months. Fans accused the new leadership of losing sight of longstanding traditions.<\/p>\n

But Miller told The News it was a decision made by head football coach Rhett Lashlee, head basketball coach Andy Enfield, who was hired in April 2024, and Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to take some responsibility for it, but Rhett and Andy and Damon, frankly, the image that they want to project from a recruiting standpoint is not that of a pony. It\u2019s of wild mustangs, charging mustangs,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Miller said SMU\u2019s mascot Peruna<\/a>, a Shetland pony, will remain the same. The live mascot has been a part of SMU tradition since 1932. But he doesn\u2019t believe the same history surrounds the \u201cPony Up\u201d catchphrase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had to say it all over again, I don\u2019t know that I would say that \u2018Pony Up has died a natural death,\u2019\u201d Miller said. \u201cThere may still be opportunities for us to use that theme. But fundamentally, I\u2019m not going to hide the ball. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re SMU Mustangs. We\u2019re not SMU Ponies.\u201d<\/p>\n

SMU is the only power conference team with the Mustang mascot. Cal Poly, which plays in the Big Sky Conference at the FBS level, is the only other Division I football team that uses the Mustang.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a big deal, so I think our school, our program, is going to promote us as the Mustangs because that\u2019s who we are,\u201d Lashlee said Tuesday. \u201cThere\u2019s nobody trying to hurt traditions that people like. But I think the biggest thing is we are the Mustangs, and we\u2019re on the national stage now. The branding needs to be SMU and the Mustangs, and there needs to be no gray area in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

SMU isn\u2019t replacing \u201cPony Up\u201d with a single catchphrase. #GoMustangs and #MustangsRun have been used as replacement hashtags on its social media. SMU players also wore shirts that said \u201cKick \u2018Em Stangs\u201d<\/a> on their road trip to Missouri State last weekend. The university is also embracing \u201cThunder On,\u201d the title of the new documentary.<\/p>\n

Miller and Lashlee said director Chip Rives proposed the title, and while it didn\u2019t have much meaning to SMU before, they felt it tied into the new marketing strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means we\u2019re moving towards the future,\u201d Lashlee said. \u201cLike I said after the Penn State game last year, maybe we can finally close the chapter on the exhausted talking points people like to use about us and talk about us for who we are currently and who we want to be.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love our fans, and we love passionate fans, and if you say, \u2018Pony Up\u2019 to me, I\u2019m going to freaking say, \u2018Pony Up\u2019 back. And if you say, \u2018Go Mustangs,\u2019 I\u2019m gonna say, \u2018Go Mustangs.\u2019 And if you say, \u2018Kick \u2018Em, Stangs,\u2019 I\u2019m going to kick something.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Twitter\/X: <\/b>@Lassimak<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n