Let me set the record straight about Corner Canyon as I was part of the group suggested that “Cougars” was offensive. The group consisted of both Utah and BYU fans and effectively changed things that eventually got picked up by Anderson Cooper on CNN.
Basically the process was flawed where the board sent home survey to elementary-aged kids asking what their favorite color scheme and mascot. They ended up on the current scheme which was the same as BYU at the time. The mascots had 5-6 options that included Cougars and other professional sports franchises like Diamondbacks, Chargers, etc. Votes for all of the mascots were split pretty equally between all of the options with Cougars barely leading.
We tried to get the board to understand that Cougars was polarizing (especially given the color scheme,) and that their process was ill-conceived and would alienate a fair number of the student body, just like a crimson/Ute scheme would.
The one board member that was leading the process was not relent. So, to prevent my kids from having to attend BYU High School we suggested that Cougars could provide a negative connotation for certain fans.
No one ever thought Cougars was insensitive, we hijacked the conversation so that Corner Canyon would not be BYU-Draper. I figured that this forum would appreciate the story of what actually happened.
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