The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Richmond basketball welcomes tarantula mascot

<p>The new Tarantula mascot in its new home in the Spiders Football locker room</p>

The new Tarantula mascot in its new home in the Spiders Football locker room

The Richmond Spider basketball family has made an important addition this month: an actual spider.

The newly acquired, live tarantula mascot, named Tarrant, debuted on Jan. 17 against Davidson in the Robins Center and has been a fixture with the team ever since.

Since Tarrant’s first appearance two weeks ago, she has been seen on ESPN and NBC Sports and profiled in The Washington Post.

In July, associate head coach Jamal Brunt floated the idea of acquiring a real spider as a mascot. When the school year began, Kevin Smith, director of basketball operations, contacted the biology department and asked about buying the biggest, blue tarantula possible.

“It kind of started with, ‘Let’s get a spider,’ and we’re making it up as we go along,” said Will Bryan, associate director of public relations for Richmond athletics.

“You wouldn’t believe how many tarantula breeding websites there are,” said lab manager Jennifer McDonnell, Tarrant’s main caretaker. After deliberating on different species, they chose a female Venezuelan Greenbottle Blue Tarantula from a breeder in Utah, which cost $180 plus shipping.

Apparently, “buy one, get one free” applies to the tarantula market. Along with Tarrant, the breeder sent a baby spider that the biology department hopes is a male that could be used for breeding. If the male were to mate with Tarrant, it would be further proof of Richmond’s commitment to growing the Spider family.

Tarrant’s diet consists of crickets, roaches and VCU students. McDonnell insisted the tarantula’s venomous bite is no more harmful to people than a bee sting, but could neither confirm nor deny if Tarrant is radioactive.

Tarrant, whose name was chosen in a fan-voting contest, was named after the most successful coach in Richmond history, Dick Tarrant. Under Tarrant’s leadership, Richmond appeared in five NCAA tournaments, a Sweet Sixteen and in 1991 became the first 15-seed ever to defeat a 2-seed.

“He started this in the '80s when he came here,” Bryan said, gesturing to the banners hanging in the Robins Center. “You can look and see, he created an expectation here for what men’s basketball could be and should be. ... That expectation has lived and endured.”

Maybe Tarrant the spider will be as crucial to Richmond’s success as her namesake, as the team is 2-0 at home since her debut.

Before each home game, Tarrant is taken around the locker room in her cage, passing each player as a good luck charm. Then her cage is placed at midcourt, right next to the opposing ball rack during pregame warm-ups.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

“Opposing teams get real nervous about it,” Bryan said, recounting how multiple opposing players have asked team managers to bring them balls from the rack so they don’t have to go near the cage. But opponents aren’t the only ones wary of Tarrant.

“It’s kind of scary, honestly. I don’t like spiders,” Richmond guard Josh Jones said.

Some have questioned if the acquisition of Tarrant signals the end of the road for the current Richmond mascot, WebstUR.

“I think WebstUR is embracing the opportunity to have both a live spider and [a spider] who interacts with fans,” Bryan said, calling it an empowering partnership rather than a power struggle. He insisted the mascots were friends.

When Coach Tarrant learned of the mascot's name, he was both flattered and confused.

“At Chapel Hill, with Dean Smith they named the arena for him,” Tarrant told Richmond Athletics. “At Duke they named the court for Coach K. At the University of Richmond, the poisonous insect is named for [me].”

Contact reporter Danny Heifetz at danny.heifetz@richmond.edu

Support independent student media

You can make a tax-deductible donation by clicking the button below, which takes you to our secure PayPal account. The page is set up to receive contributions in whatever amount you designate. We look forward to using the money we raise to further our mission of providing honest and accurate information to students, faculty, staff, alumni and others in the general public.

Donate Now