The sun is setting on the Faulkner State Sun Chiefs. The Alabama Southern Eagles soon will fly no more. For the Jefferson Davis Warhawks, the final battle approaches.

Meet the Coyote, the new mascot for Coastal Alabama Community College’s athletic teams. The school announced its new brand Wednesday at a gathering in Bay Minette, with the reveal shared online with the school’s other campuses throughout the region.

Coastal Alabama President Craig Pouncey and other officials introduced cheering students to their new cheer, “Go Yotes,” (rhymes with boats), their angular new logo and their new mascot – who doesn’t actually have a name yet. Director of Marketing Lloyd Wing told students that the school is opening an online contest to name the Coyote. “We’re going to take nominations for about a week,” he said. The winning name will be announced before graduation, Wing said.

It’s another step in a consolidation process that goes back to 2015, when the state began the process of consolidating Faulkner State, Alabama Southern and Jefferson Davis into a single regional institution. As of fall 2021, CACC claimed just over 7,000 students at nine campuses in Baldwin, Monroe, Clarke, Choctaw and Escambia Counties.

Speaking to AL.com in 2016, early in the merger process, then-Faulkner State President Gary Branch said he expected the three schools’ separate branding for their athletic and musical programs would continue, at least for a while. And that was the case until changes that will take effect for the 2023-24 season.

In a video introducing the new concept, Pouncey said that a common identity had been something the Coastal community had needed, but that it hadn’t necessarily been obvious because Coastal’s territory stretched “from pine trees to palm trees.”

“A lot of people don’t really know what has gone on behind this whole consolidation issue,” Pouncey said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of people behind the scenes that have worked for a long time to make us one Coastal Alabama, and I want to thank them for everything they’ve done.”

“In the past we were known as Warhawks, we were known as Eagles, we were known as Sun Chiefs,” said Pouncey. “After today we will be known all as the same mascot. “That mascot resides in the 10 counties that we service. That mascot is very coy. That mascot is very intelligent. That mascot is a masterful adapter.”

Since the merger, the legacy athletic programs have included Coastal Alabama Eagles (“North,” based in Monroeville) baseball, softball and cheerleading, Sun Chiefs (“South,” based in Bay Minette) baseball, basketball, golf, softball, volleyball, tennis and cheerleading and Warhawks (“East,” based in Brewton) baseball, softball and volleyball.

In December, CACC announced some restructuring for the 2023-24 academic year. A consolidation in Brewton and Monroeville means that Brewton will gain men’s and women’s golf, replacing softball, while Monroeville adds men’s and women’s tennis, replacing baseball. Brewton also gains new men’s and women’s cross-country programs.

The rearrangement also consolidates most of the Brewton and Monroeville-based programs in Division II of the National Junior College Athletic Association, while most Bay Minette-based programs will remain in Division I.

According to CACC, the new branding was created “through a partnership with the national firm RARE Design, which has produced some of the most recognizable sports identities in the world — including several NBA, MLB and NFL teams.”

According to www.coastalalabama.edu, CACC serves Bay Minette, Atmore, Brewton, Fairhope, Gulf Shores, Monroeville, Thomasville, Gilbertown and Jackson, and “also operates locations at the Academy at the Fairhope Airport, the Alabama Aviation Center at Brookley Field, the Foley Career and Technical Facility, the North Baldwin Center for Technology, the South Baldwin Center for Technology, and Fountain Correctional Facility.”