Baylor Women's Basketball Removes 'Lady' from Team Name

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Baylor women's basketball team will no longer be referred to as the "Lady Bears." 

Like the other teams in Baylor's athletic department, the women's basketball team will be known as the Bears, according to ESPN. 

Several women's sports were already referred to as just the Bears. First-year coach Nicki Collen, who replaced longtime Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, wanted her team to follow suit.  

"Baylor women's basketball has solidified itself as one of Baylor's most remarkable and celebrated programs," the school said in a statement. "While the use of Lady Bears is still very much a part of the program's decorated history, in an effort to be more consistent with the current nomenclature of the other 18 Baylor sport programs, the team will now be referred to as simply the Bears.

"This evolution is unique in that it creates consistency among Baylor teams while also highlighting the individual sport and contributions of its athletes and coaches."

Over the years, the use of "lady" with sports teams has been called into question. Many programs used the term during the beginning phases of women's college sports in the 1970s. However, by the 1980s, many programs dropped the lady portion of their nickname.