A Definitive Guide to the Pitt Logo through the Years

The University of Pittsburgh prides itself on being a progressive, trailblazing institution. Fortunately, this is an easy goal to achieve given that our main rivals include a backwoods hick-town college and a state school known for its *shudder* agriculture program. Suffice it to say, Pitt has changed a lot over the years, and so too has its logo. There have been ups, there have been downs, and much like our football coaching staff, there have been dozens of changes in just the last decade alone. Here The Black Sheep has collected the ultimate Pitt logo guide.

For an early school logo, we can’t lie, this thing is not too bad. Sure it looks like it was drawn as part of a fourth grade art project, but we bet the kid who drew it got a bunch of high fives at recess for drawing something this bad ass. Look at that aggressive stance. Gaze into those soulless eyes. We think we’re in love.

Okay Pitt, we get it. One of your first logos was a little sloppy, so this time around you wanted to be damn sure that people knew it was a panther. There’s not much to say about this one outside of the fact that it could probably pass as a nature shot from a National Geographic… if you squint, tilt your head, and stand back about 30 feet.

Alma mater, wise and motherfuckin’ glorious. This was the logo that made your dad wish that he was Dan “the Man” Marino and your mom wish that she was Mrs. “The Man” Marino. As far as we’re concerned the guide should stop here. You cannot go wrong with a logo this classic, but if you love something, let it go…

This logo is officially called “the steel cut panther,” which is a bad ass name if there ever was one. While it’s not absolutely terrible, it kind of looks like if a panther had a love child with that thing that popped out of that dude’s stomach in alien. Sure it’s intimidating, but maybe not for the right reasons.

Fuck you. Fuck me. Fuck everything about this logo. We’re assuming that Pitt was looking to “clean up” or “streamline” Mr. Steel Cut up there, but this turned something frightening into a downright joke. This thing looks less like a panther and more like a pissed off otter, or dog, or some kind of otter-dog hybrid. When Steve Pederson dies, he should have to put this monstrosity on his tombstone.

Pitt, realizing that they should cool it with the abominations of art, decided to make their next logo just the word Pitt. We like it. It’s simple, practical, and isn’t something that will haunt your nightmares. Yeah, it’s a little on the boring side, but when your greatest athletic achievement during this era was winning the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl after a 6-6 season, you can’t expect to be thrilled.

Remember how earlier we said if you love something you should let it go? Well guess what’s about to come back to papa?! That’s right fellow panthers, Pitt announced earlier this semester that the script logo would be making a full return to Pitt athletics. Now when we look at our logo we can think of Pitt greats such as Heisman winner Tony Dorsett, instead of failures like pretty much anyone who played under Todd Graham. What a time to be alive and a Pitt Panther!