With San Jose State University's football tradition under attack, Michael Harold sincerely suggests the solution may rest in a name.

Nothing requiring the school to make a formal name change -- that would be too upsetting for some alumni. More along the lines of informally leveraging its status as California's first public university and building on the power of the state's identity.

His idea: Call the place STATE! Although the notion of multiple identities may sound a little wacky, Harold insists it wouldn't diminish the San Jose State name.

``Most major state universities have dual identities,'' Harold said. The University of California-Berkeley, for instance, is known as Berkeley and California, or Cal. CSU Long Beach has caught fire by marketing itself as The Beach.

If it isn't clear yet, Harold's field is marketing. And marketing California's oldest public university with a more prestigious, regional hook might kick football spirit and fundraising into gear, according to Harold's Web site, GoState.org.

Going public

Harold had been thinking for more than a year about how to broaden San Jose State's appeal, but didn't go public until some of the university's professors started pushing to eliminate Division I-A football.

``If San Jose State is ever going to evolve into the major state university is was intended to be when it was founded,'' he said, ``it needs to have Division I-A football. Most major state universities nationwide have athletics as a major part of their identity.''

Earlier this year, Spartans for State, which Harold started, submitted a proposal asking the university and its athletics department to consider expanding the school's identity for marketing purposes. He suggested using the abbreviated STATE as the ``core brand'' for Spartan athletics, especially football, to broaden the appeal.

``San Jose State is a city-college identity, a provincial identity,'' said Harold, 45, a San Jose State graduate and marketing manager with ForMove.com, a Web-based relocation services provider. ``As such, it attracts locals, community college transfers and re-entry students who aren't in a life state to bond with the university. To be a destination school, you need a destination name.''

Harold is convinced that California is a more prestigious destination than San Jose. Plus, he argues, the ``state'' part of the university's name has a long history.

In Harold's ideal world, San Jose State would be known as California State University. End of discussion. It's a name befitting a flagship campus, he said, and would be instantly recognized nationally and internationally. Still, there are 22 other California State University campuses.

``California State University-San Jose'' is a popular alternative with some of today's students, he said. But that name -- which was official for a couple of years in the 1970s -- alarms a certain generation of alumni who fought to get rid of it.

Multiple identities

So Harold has retreated from his original name-change idea and is preaching multiple identities for fear of ruffling too many important boosters.

His STATE idea, interesting to some, is puzzling to others.

``Just call it State?'' said San Jose businessman Ed Mosher, a former alumni association president who helped drive a stake through the CSU-San Jose name. ``People are so confused around the country about the Cal State system anyway. Most of them think the University of Southern California is a state school.''