Indiana makes stunning mascot decision after 60-year hiatus
Indiana football turned into a College Football Playoff team without a mascot leading fan cheers. Hoosiers sports in general operated games without a mascot while many across the Big Ten featured one. Now the university is resurrecting an old relic.
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Revealed Monday by Brett McMurphy of On3/Rivals, Indiana is bringing back a famed past face from the school.
'Hoosier The Bison is back, baby. Indiana University's official mascot – Hoosier The Bison – has returned to the IU-Bloomington campus after a nearly 60-year hiatus. The Bison will make its public debut Aug. 30 when Indiana hosts ODU,' McMurphy shared on X (formerly Twitter).
Hoosier will now share the field with Herky the Hawkeye (Iowa), the Oregon Duck, Sparty (Michigan State) and the Penn State Nittany Lion this fall.
Hoosier's return fuels renewed enthusiasm for IU football, following its stunning CFP run under Curt Cignetti. Indiana is attempting to capitalize on its epic '25 run on the college football recruiting trail. Including adding edge rusher Ronelle Johnson over Missouri and Ole Miss from the Southeastern Conference on July 5. The Hoosiers even added former Tennessee tight end Holden Staes via the college football transfer portal.
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The legend of 'Hoosier' on the Indiana campus
Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
'Hoosier' debuted in 1965 when John Pont coached his first season in Bloomington. The Daily Hoosier dove into the original idea for the mascot.
'The original intent, though, wasn't to have a costumed character parading around IU. Instead, student leaders advocated for the university to purchase a live bison, to be housed in nearby Brown County State Park, when the animal wasn't on campus for gamedays and special events,' the Daily Hoosier wrote.
State and university officials scrapped the idea of a live bison, though. They eventually allowed a student to wear a Bison costume for gamedays.
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The mascot 'phased out' by 1969, according to the Indiana Daily Student. The campus then tried adopting Mr. Hoosier Pride in 1979, but that lasted one year.
The Daily Student then revealed that the Indiana School Government introduced a new act in Dec. 2024: The Bring Back the Bison act.
'The bill was passed in December and officially signaled the return of Hoosier the Bison to represent Indiana Athletics,' Conor Banks of the Indiana Daily Student wrote in May 2025, which became the first step in welcoming back 'Hoosier.'
'Hoosier' will now lead IU against Old Dominion on Aug. 30 in Bloomington.
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