Our team is not a contender in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, but Slippery Rock fans have pushed the school to the final showdown in a national contest to find the best U.S. college name. You can vote below.
We have reached the end of the Best College Names Tournament. The final shodown: SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY vs. MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE. Voting is now open!
— Steve Kolowich (@stevekolowich) March 22, 2018
The contest started as a lark in the Chronicle of Higher Education when staff writer Steve Kolowich decided to mount an online contest during March Madness in conjunction with this year’s NCAA championship.
Kolowich writes he found a number of noble contenders and eventually selected 64 — including Slippery Rock — with a goal of narrowing it down to a winner based on votes via Twitter.
Slippery Rock, a state-owned university 50 miles north of Pittsburgh in Butler County, was a natural for the tournament. The school’s unusual name long ago created a national market for university branded apparel.
Slippery Rock fans learned of the contest by accident and support just mushroomed as Kolowich marked down the brackets.
“We weren’t aware of it until we were in the Elite Eight,” said Slippery Rock Athletic Communications Director Jon Holtz. “We saw a tweet and we jumped. The first tweet I posted was for the Elite Eight. It kind of took off during the Final Four.”
To get that far, Slippery Rock fans had to best fans of schools like Craven Community College, Leech Lake Tribal College, Defiance College and most recently, Dordt College.
Now, Slippery Rock faces off in the national championship against Moody’s Bible College.
Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo, a university graduate student elected to office last fall, has become one of the school’s most vocal online supporters.
Early Friday, he sent out a special tweet, reminding his followers to weigh in and vote.
“This is the final round. The ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny. Good guys vs. bad guys. @slipperyrockU must prevail,” Longo tweeted.
Holz said the community is rallying online for Slippery Rock.
“It’s a fun little way to generate some school spirit,” Holz said. “It doesn’t cost the university anything but a few minutes of my time. It’s a fun time on campus.“
Slippery Rock’s performance in the tweet-off comes on the heels of the appointment of new university President William J. Behr.
