I know for a fact that West Virginia and Indiana both go by WVU and IU in their respective regions. A few years ago Pitt was trying the same thing and was rebranding itself "Pittsburgh". They even changed their colors slightly from a yellow gold and bright blue to an old gold and darker blue. People still refer to them as "Pitt", although their uniforms say Pittsburgh. I grew up in Cleveland and we always said OU or Ohio U. They still do in that area.

Would Coke get upset if you didn't call it Coca Cola? I guess if that's what they want to call us, so be it. Embrace it. If people are confused by "Ohio" and not by Ohio U, from any marketing standpoint you would want your brand to create less confusion, not more. When I tell people I graduated from Ohio U or Ohio University, they know what I mean. If I say Ohio, more than half the time they do not. As Moe Green once said, "If we're going to talk business, then let's talk business."

My email address was/is @ohiou.edu.  I'm pretty sure when I was applying, our primary web address was www.ohiou.edu.  Both my wife and I are "used" to our institution being called Ohio U.

Out here (Kansas) if we say "OU" it's Oklahoma.  And if we say "the other OU" it's Oregon.  And if we went to "Ohio" then "well, that's an interesting place to go visit."  Only when we went to "Ohio University" or "Ohio U" does it click in their heads.  

And even then they're confused about the other schools... up until a few years ago it was "we're the ones that are not known for playing sports."

I say things are better now.  They at least know who Ohio U is.

SP

While I was there (last four years), they made a move to the primary being ohio.edu (though there are some things that still use the now old domain, like The Post).  It's the kind of thing that takes time to catch on, and like others, I'd rather they talk about us than not talk about us.

There's a difference between how we refer to the University using shorthand and among friends as opposed to how we ask to be addressed on the (national) media/sports level.

I'm not a big fan of 'branding.'  But this is one of the rare cases where I'm for it.  Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Washington, etc, and Ohio.  Not OU, not Ohio U.

Ohio U., OU, Ohio University, Ohio--don't really care, because the real name now is Winner.

Thanks Coach Solich and thank you John Groce for assembling outstanding talent and winning.

Also, when I was a student in Athens all the gear said Ohio University.
Hell, I'm an Alum and I still catch myself saying Ohio University........as we never referred to ourselves as Ohio back in the 80.......we were OU plain and simple.

But then again......I still refer to the idiots in Oxford as the Redskins.

To me there are three names that are acceptable:  Ohio University, OU (we are the first one after all), and of course Ohio.  If we're going to fight with A&M about the right to use Ohio and if people are going to throw a fit when A&M tries to use it themselves, then why shouldn't we be upset when people refer to us nationally as Ohio U and not Ohio?

Look...like all of you, I'm very happy that Ohio is in the national media and being discussed as much as we are at the moment.  I also know that from a branding standpoint, being in the Sweet 16 offers Ohio the opportunity to gain a distinction as OHIO and build national recognition as OHIO, especially with the juxtaposition of A&M still in the tournament and all the press the state of Ohio has received for being the first state to ever get four teams in the Sweet 16.  This is the perfect opportunity to build brand awareness as Ohio.

As others have noted, when you say you went to Ohio in other parts of the country, you often need to explain you didn't go to A&M.  The biggest part of that is because of their athletic success and the brand recognition they have nationally.  People won't know Ohio overnight, and I wouldn't expect them to.  As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.  It takes time to construct that brand, and you must take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.  This is our chance to throw down some building blocks for national brand recognition as Ohio.

I must have missed something.  Nowhere in those articles did I see South Carolina refered to as South Carolina U.  or Georgia as Georgia U.

Is it possible that we have actually reached a resolution on this?  That all are acceptable and should be used differently depending on the context such that there is no confusion in the conversation, confusion that can be brought about through a multitude of sources depending on the context?

Amazing

All except Ohio U.  There is never any reason to use that.

Ohio U = Ohio University

After all we are NOT Ohio Northern, Ohio Wesleyan or Ohio State so appending the "U" or University makes it clear which university we are.

The license plate (WV) on our van says "OHIO U".  OHIO was already taken in West Virginia, so I needed something else.  The plate on my car, however, is "OU 1804".  I try to stick to calling our school Ohio, but I have grown up calling it OU my entire life

Since I am not required to have a front license plate, I have really nice Attack Cat plates on the front of all our vehicles.  If you see us flying across I-70 this week, don't think we are not aware of the branding.  It was the best thing available.

Cutler and the Convo both noticed this early on TH during the broadcasts, and Dan Hauser immediately found CBS staff in Nashville and demanded the change to OHIO.  Too big of an opportunity, especially with the Michigan dust up, to make the point that the University wants us referred to by the media as just OHIO.

And also FYI, President McDavis sent a cordial letter to the President of a Michigan state university strongly suggesting that he educate his coaches that OHIO does take offense to tOSUcks being referred to as OHIO, and that we do feel it is derrogatory.  I really respect that.