what is ole miss mascot

The official mascot of the Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi, has changed over the years. The first official sideline mascot was Colonel Reb, who was designed in 1936 and served as the teams official sideline mascot from 1979 until 2003. In 2003, Colonel Reb was removed from the sidelines at Ole Miss athletic events as the on-the-field mascot after facing criticism that the character was offensive and racially insensitive. A contest was held to design a replacement, but the limited fan response prompted the administration to cancel the poll. In 2010, the anthropomorphic black bear, Rebel, The Black Bear, replaced Colonel Reb as the official mascot. However, in 2018, the University came up with Tony the Landshark, an anthropomorphic shark that has been the mascot ever since.