*Disclaimer: This article is part of the Ionian’s April Fool’s issue and is meant solely to be a joke * Happy April Fool’s!

The world of college athletics is more competitive than ever before. That said, it’s not just the athletes and the coaches that are feeling the stress, but the mascots as well.

For the Iona Gaels, this high level of competition is a familiar one. For Killian the Gael, the face of Iona Athletics, there is even more pressure to perform.

“We have a lot of responsibility to hype up the crowd,” Bernie “Saint” Bernard, the Siena University mascot, said. “I’ve been in the mascot game for years, and it takes a lot. Not everyone can handle it.”

Early in this year’s basketball season, Killian seemed to give in to the pressure of the industry. Gaels in the stands gasped as Killian stepped on to the paint with a drastically new and youthful look.

“I remember seeing him the day before the game,” senior Kit Katz said. “We talked about the upcoming season, and he said he was a bit nervous about it. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but he was probably talking about his new look.”

Gaels were blindsided by Killian’s transformation. Rumors of plastic surgery quickly began to circulate.

“His features definitely stand out more,” sophomore Laurie Lockitin said. “It looks like he has cheek fillers, and I think he looks a bit shorter too. It has to be plastic surgery – mascots don’t just change overnight.”

Other mascots in the league had a lot to say about Killian’s transformation, especially former fling Frankie the Fox, the mascot for Marist College.

“I just think the change is a little drastic,” Frankie said. “I thought Killian was cute before, but now he doesn’t look like the mascot that I used to know.”

Some mascots, like Bernie, understood why Killian might have made such a drastic change in his appearance.

“I think Killian did what he had to so he could stay at the top of his game,” Bernie said. “I don’t blame him for giving in to the pressure.”

The Iona Athletics Department denies any claim of Killian undergoing plastic surgery, attributing his new look to a strict health and fitness regimen.

“Killian’s been on a kale and grilled chicken diet for months,” Cesar Sportsman, spokesman for Iona Athletics, said. “And he never skips leg day. He looks this good because he puts in the work to look this good.”

The Fordham Rams’ mascot, known only as The Ram, thinks Killian’s makeover has been blown out of proportion.

“As long as he’s bringing that Big Gael Energy to the game, I don’t care what he looks like,” The Ram said. “A mascot’s gotta do what a mascot’s gotta do.”

Killian has never publicly commented on the plastic surgery rumors, but with a fourth consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory under his belt, he may not have to.

“It’s certainly surprising, but it doesn’t change who he is,” Katz said. “He’s still my mascot, even if he got a little work done.”