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Browse by City/ StateSpokeswoman: BYU-Utah split leads board to nix mascot choice
If there's a dividing line in the state of Utah between where University of Utah fans predominate and Brigham Young fans are the majority, it is the city of Draper, on the southern edge of Salt Lake County.
Twenty miles north of Draper is Salt Lake City, home of the Utah Utes. South of Draper by 29 miles is Provo, home of BYU.
When the Canyons School District polled residents and decided on a name for a high school opening in 2013 on the site of a former cornfield in Draper, Corner Canyon was adopted without too much concern. By themselves, the adopted colors of navy, white and silver — though similar to BYU's dark blue, white and tan — didn't cause a problem. But when the students were polled to determine a nickname and the largest group (23%) opted for Cougars, that did cause a problem.
When KTSU-TV in Salt Lake City reported the Canyons school board rejected Cougars because the name is also a double entendre considered offensive to middle-age women, the story soon surged on the Internet.
But, according to Canyons School District spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook, the nickname was really rejected because it was divisive between fan groups that call the universities' annual football meeting "The Holy War."
"People were saying, with the colors and the nickname, is this BYU north," Toomer-Cook said. "There were a lot of reasons against having Cougars as the nickname, but if you boiled them all down, the reason the board went with something else is if there was a mascot that could potentially divide a community, why go there? The board chose Chargers because there are horses in the community and it is unique. There are three other schools in the state with the Cougar mascot."
