Ever since University of Hartford athletics director Anton Goff was named to the position more than a year ago, change has been the big theme during his short tenure here.
It started at his introductory press conference on May 2, 2014, where fueled by high-octane passion and energy, he pumped out three simple words that would now be known as #HawkNationDomination.
The famous phrase came two days before Goff’s introduction when he was freely expressing his plan to not only win, but to dominate athletically, academically and in the community.
With the new Hartford Hawks brand soaring off on campus, Goff decided to take it even higher by refreshing the athletics logo that hasn’t been changed since 1989 when the Sports Center opened.
“One of the things I look at is branding and, ‘What’s cutting edge? What’s cool?’ and I said, ‘Let’s do something with the logo’,” Goff told The Informer news editor Spencer Honda.
Announced June 16, 2015 on the athletics website, the countdown began for the unveiling of the new logo. Looking for something fierce, sleek, cool and hot, the new identity was unveiled to a crowd of about 250 at the logo launch party at NIXS Restaurant in downtown Hartford on July 28.
The new branding features a primary mark that shows a profile shot of a hawk soaring between two upright columns to create the letter ‘H.’ The secondary logos feature a full frontal view of a fierce red hawk with its talons up, and the profile hawk head just by itself without illustrating an ‘H.”
With the buzz of a new logo and press releases being sent around the country, Goff hopes that it would all bring attention to Hawk Nation.
“It gives us some visibility. Hopefully we get some excitement around it,” Goff said. “It brings a little bit of unity. We’re all Hawk Nation. I want Hawk Nation to come together.
“Hopefully it energizes our student-athletes,” he continued. “When they look good in their uniforms, they play good.”
The process took about seven months from when discussions first began earlier this year back in January, up until it was unveiled in July.
This marks the schools’ seventh version of an athletics logo and it’s third while the program has been in Division I.
In designing the logo, the athletics department collaborated with 160over90, a branding agency who also worked on the University’s re-branding campaign.
The logo was finished in May with a two-month planning period to figure out how they would launch it.Last week, the old logo was swapped out for the new one on the front of the Sports Center and renovations are currently taking place on the basketball court in the Chase Family Arena.
Now equipped with a new logo, Goff has his sights set on building upon #HawkNationDomination in year number two as athletics director.
After a year of success that included the likes of a fourth-straight America East Academic Cup, one regular season conference championship, three conference championship game appearances, numerous student-athlete honors and awards, and an abundance of community work, Goff is expecting improvement in all phases and for more championships to come.
“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. There’s no staying the same,” Goff said, reiterating what his college football coach had told him long ago.