Michigan State ‘Fighting Farmers’ and Other Old Michigan Mascots

We don't see too many mascot name changes these days. But about a century ago when organized sports were becoming a thing, mascots changed a lot.

Some of the names these teams chose are hilarious because what made for a good mascot wasn't widespread knowledge - nor did the academics care to have one in the first place.

For example, one of the colleges I spent some time at was Troy University in Southeast Alabama. Troy is properly the Trojans now, as many college athletics fans know. You'd think Troy would have always been the Trojans because it is such an obvious mascot for the school.

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And you'd be wrong. Troy was first known as the Bulldogs. They quickly changed to the Teachers (because education is and always has been the primary study at the school) before becoming the Trojans in 1920 - for 11 years. Troy was known as the Red Wave from 1931-1973. But they're Trojans now.

But imagine if Troy kept that Teachers mascot name. Wouldn't that be the pinnacle of bizarre sports trivia?

But the same could be said for many Michigan schools. While the Michigan Wolverines have always been the Wolverines, most other notable athletic programs in the state have gone through some type of change.

And to be clear, a lot of these names are weird.

For example, Michigan State went by the Fighting Farmers as an unofficial nickname a little more than 100 years ago when MSU's mascot was the Aggies.

Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan all went through their own changes too. Check out the mascots each of these schools used to have in the gallery below, with AI-generated mascots for the fun of it.