MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis said in a statement Thursday the logo change is part of a “comprehensive brand and identity project” to be revealed in April. Although many students and alumni are upset about what they perceive to be an abrupt change, they should wait a few months before becoming too disgruntled. Before students storm the athletics offices with pitchforks, they should remember there are major elements from this project that have yet to be revealed.

With that being said, if the total package still doesn’t do justice to the Spartan identity when it’s unveiled in all its glory in April, Spartans should feel free to raise holy hell.

Judging by the reactions of the student body, it appears MSU athletics might have underestimated the bond the school has forged with the current Spartans helmet emblem. With this in mind, it might be unwarranted to assume the athletics department is going to extinguish our current logo completely.

Since the news of the new logo became public, it might have become more noticeable to observant students how ubiquitous the old logo really is. It would be an extremely daunting task to change every single logo to the “newer” version.

Take the Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe, 1601 W. Lake Lansing Road, for example. The restaurant has the Spartans emblem everywhere. To change every one of them would be ludicrous. There are Spartans logos across the country at bars and restaurants that create a universal community for Spartans.

There definitely is no perfect way to introduce a change in logos — especially one as symbolic of MSU as the Spartans helmet. But the way the news of the new logo came out — leaking to the public via the Internet — probably is not the way Hollis and Co. intended.

The current logo is more than likely to stick around in some form or another due to its notoriety and how widespread it has become. But who knows? MSU fans across the globe might end up liking this new identity better after the whole package has been presented.

As a community, we need to stay patient and not jump to any conclusions with only a single piece of a larger puzzle. The athletics department knows we expect something great. The project needs to be well thought out and properly executed.

The current uproar over the logo change may just be a small preview of what’s to come if the “identity overhaul” isn’t that impressive in April. But until then, we’ll have to wait and see.

MSU is a great academic and athletic institution and the final outcome needs to exemplify the greatness of our university.

And hey, if Tom Izzo likes it, there might be something to it after all.