Beginning July 1, all University of Hawaii men’s intercollegiate sports teams will be nicknamed Warriors and all women’s teams will be Rainbow Wahine, the school announced Wednesday.

UH made the decision official after athletic director Ben Jay told the Star-Advertiser on Tuesday that he was "leaning strongly" toward making the move.

Currently, four of the seven men’s teams are referred to as Warriors, and the basketball and swimming and diving teams are nicknamed Rainbow Warriors.

"I think it’s a good thing," UH basketball coach Gib Arnold said. "I think change is good. I think we can be more united as far as the branding and everything goes. I see it as a positive."

The baseball team is the only men’s squad to go strictly by Rainbows.

"My thing is that being a Rainbow is something of a tradition and being a part of so many guys that came and laid the foundation for what we have today that gave me an opportunity to go to school," said senior third baseman Pi‘ikea Kitamura, who graduated from Kamehameha. "Whether we’re the Rainbows or the Warriors, the tradition and everything that has happened with the program is still going to be there, regardless of the name."

Jay announced the decision at Les Murakami Stadium just as the baseball team took the field for practice Wednesday afternoon.

"We’re looking for the consistency of who we are and that’s the reason why we’ve settled on this," Jay said.

UH said the process of notifying internal and external entities will begin immediately.

It will continue to use the official "H" logo.