There aren't as many Ladies in college athletics as there used to be.

Let me emphasize a crucial clarification. That upper-case "L" makes all the difference.

There's a push for women's college teams to drop the Lady from their nicknames. Arkansas made news last week when the erstwhile Lady Razorbacks became simply the Razorbacks.

This trend, however, will bypass the University of Tennessee, for now and likely forevermore.

Tennessee's women will remain the Lady Vols, despite disdain from national media or women's advocacy groups.

"My answer is, would McDonald's give up its arches?'' asked Joan Cronan, UT women's athletic director.

Of course not.

Nor should UT's women give up a name and logo known far and wide to stand for excellence.

The basketball program Pat Summitt has built and maintained is a brand, just like McDonald's or Starbucks or New York Yankee pinstripes. Soccer, softball, track, all the other sports profit by association with that brand.

When I spoke to Cronan this week she was in Atlanta at a national sports merchandising affair. It's an annual trip to promote the Lady Vol logo.

"I wear a lot of shirts with the Power T (the UT men's logo) and the Lady Vol logo and I'm proud of both,'' Cronan said.

With the decision by Arkansas to combine its men's and women's athletic departments, only Tennessee and Texas operate separate programs.

A merger to eliminate redundant operating expenses makes sense to many, myself included. But that's a debate for another day. Whether UT funds one athletic department or two, the Lady Vols should retain their distinction from the men Vols.

One offshoot of being a brand name also is being a target for the political-correctness agenda.

At the 2007 Final Four in Cleveland, columnist Christine Brennan of USA Today took Tennessee to task:

Brennan wrote that UT could make a "powerful statement," adding, "If Tennessee eliminated 'Lady' from its 'Vols,' it's likely the dominoes would begin to fall and the other schools will follow suit.''

Brennan isn't alone in her opinion. She quoted Aimee Mullins, president of the Women's Sports Foundation, as saying the Lady usage "demeans the seriousness of the women's programs" and is "a sneaky, insidious patronization.''

That all sounds good from afar. But when you attend a Lady Vols game at Thompson-Boling Arena, there isn't even a whiff of patronization.

Cronan and Summitt are sensitive to being a role-model program for their gender. However, they view their brand recognition as a positive rather than a negative.

"I would invite them (any critic) to come see what we've established at the University of Tennessee,'' Cronan said.

Still, the dominoes are falling.

The Arkansas defection tips the SEC balance in favor of non-Lady, 7-5.

The five "Lady" holdovers are Tennessee, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU.

But that's only basketball. The other four don't use "Lady" for softball, soccer or some other sports.

In other words, Tennessee stands alone in the SEC as Ladies for all seasons.

Nationally, the holdouts are primarily Southern. Louisiana Tech, Baylor, Texas Tech, Clemson and Western Kentucky maintain the "Lady" distinction.

In Tennessee, Chattanooga, ETSU and Memphis use "Lady," while MTSU, Tennessee Tech and Vanderbilt do not.

Penn State's Lady Lions are the lone exception in the Big Ten and I didn't find any others in a BCS conference outside the South. When basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer got to Rutgers in the mid-1990s, she made a point of jettisoning "Lady" from the Scarlet Knights.

Oklahoma State's women enjoy their own identity as "Cowgirls," rather than the inappropriate Cowboys or, worse, Lady Cowboys.

Southern California lists Trojans along with the traditional "Women of Troy" as official nicknames. Both are widely used.

Meanwhile, at UT, there's only one usage. The women of Tennessee will remain the Lady Vols. And proudly so.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.