In 2004, Nicholls State University retired all depictions of its venerable colonel mascot amid concerns that they recalled a gray-uniformed Confederate officer and the pre-Reconstruction South. Of course, NSU’s namesake is Confederate Army Brigadier General and Louisiana Governor Francis Tillou Nicholls, but that’s beside the point.

The university hired the design firm Rickabaugh Graphics in June 2008 to develop a new look for the colonel mascot. Just over a year and several focus-group meetings later, the Ohio firm (damn Yankees!) revealed its creation.

University spokesman Graham Harvey called it a much fiercer-looking and more contemporary figure than the previous image. He added, “It is better for this day and age.”

We vehemently disagree. If anything, it looks like it belongs in the day and age of 1930s Europe.

While some say the new colonel resembles a Soviet propaganda poster from the Lenin/Stalin era, most detractors (including Red Shtick Magazine) think the stylized logo – which shows the new mascot wearing a peaked cap and drawing back a sword – is eerily reminiscent of an SS officer from Nazi Germany. Of course, there are a few who claim it reminds them of M. Bison, but those people probably played Street Fighter way more than they ever watched the History Channel.

Apparently, the folks involved in the creative process also never learned anything about Hitler’s Germany. Either that or they were too focused on the Civil War and forgot about a little incident we like to call World War II.

As a result, NSU’s mascot has gone from one that evoked images of the Old South and slavery to one that evokes images of fascism and the Holocaust. The old mascot was called Colonel Tillou. We suggest they call the new one Colonel Klink.

Additionally, NSU wanted to move away from a gray-uniformed image because it was associated with the Confederacy, so some overpaid graphic designer decided to make the mascot’s skin gray. Now, instead of a gray-clad, white-bearded colonel that resembled Uncle Jesse from The Dukes of Hazzard, they’ve got a sword-wielding zombie Nazi.

As the new season quickly approaches, maybe the NSU football team should adopt nicknames befitting the new mascot for various aspects of the game. For example, 30 years ago, the San Diego Chargers had “Air Coryell,” a pass-happy offense named after head coach Don Coryell.

Similarly, the Nicholls air attack could be called “The Luftwaffe,” while their ground game could be called their “Panzer Division.” On the other side of the ball, the defense could employ overwhelming “Blitzkrieg Packages.”

The old mascot was retired to allay concerns about imagery associated with slavery. We can only wonder if the Jewish community will raise new ones about imagery associated with the Third Reich. Granted, there aren’t that many Jews in South Louisiana to offend, but prominently displaying the new mascot is one way to help ensure it stays that way.