New Uniforms?

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These uniforms are probably the best ones featuring the Temple ‘][‘ on the helmet

In the grand scheme of things, uniforms rate somewhat behind coaching, talent, practice facilities, stadiums and fan bases in terms of importance.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t important at all because they are.

During one of the great Temple wins recently—an overtime win at UConn in 2012 that made the Owls 2-0 in a one-time BCS league—it was with great pride that I noted that the Owls did it wearing what I thought was their best uniform combination:

Cherry pants, white stripes, white jerseys, cherry helmets.slight

They played well and looked good.

It is against that backdrop that I cringed when I heard Temple was getting new uniforms by the end of this month.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

At Temple, it ain’t broke but fixing it could break it.

All over the NCAA, I see teams with awful-looking so-called “modern” uniforms—Maryland comes in the 2011 Temple game comes to mind here—getting their asses kicked by more traditional uniforms.

Temple’s uniforms have remained pretty much the same through the years.

When Al Golden got here, he eliminated the Temple ][ on the helmets for a very good reason because he felt the “football brand” at Temple when he played at Penn State represented toughness and that brand was having TEMPLE spelled out across the helmets.

NCAA FOOTBALL: OCT 31 Temple at Navy

That brand was created by Wayne Hardin in 1970.

“We want people to know who were are,” Hardin said. “We’re Temple. We’re spelling it on the helmets so they won’t forget who we are. There are plenty of schools that have T’s on the helmet but not many that spell the name.”

That brand continued until Jerry Berndt brought the T back because Penn, the Philadelphia team he formerly coached, had a P on it.

To me,  that wasn’t a very good reason.

Golden brought TEMPLE back on the helmet and that lasted until a bald-headed guy who shall remain nameless brought the T back. I’m OK with the ‘][‘ because it is the school brand but not OK with an entirely new look because it is supposed to be attractive to recruits.

Something tells me the new uniforms are going to be closer to a Maryland-type monstrosity—the Under Armour CEO is a Maryland grad—than a more traditional Temple look.

Whatever it is, if the word TEMPLE comes back on the helmet, that would be an acceptable step forward and a fitting tribute to the Hardin Era.

Monday: Spring Phenoms Old and New

Wednesday: The Scrimmage

Friday: 5 Things To Look For At Cherry and White

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13 thoughts on “New Uniforms?

  1. Lose the white helmets.

    Lose the black ensemble.

    Cherry helmet, cherry jersey (home), white (away), white pants (all).

    Same look works for Alabama. Establish the brand, emulate excellence.

  2. There may be “plenty of schools that have T’s on their helmet” (not that many really) but the Temple T is a unique design, and destinctive if you will, easily distinguishing it from other schools’ T’s (Tennessee, Tulane, Tulsa, Texas, TX Tech, etc.) both in design and most of the time in color. Personally, I like the simplicity of the white T on an all cherry helmet, but each to his own.

    And why would a Goeff Collins want to hark back to and be compared to Wayne Hardin who was Temple’s best all-time coach (with still the best season in Temple football history) – it’s just too much to live up to.

    All in all? To quote Wayne Hardin, winning is what counts, what we all have the most fun with, not the uniforms. Altho it seems that the players get all excited about the uniform changes. If uniforms have anything to do with winning, Temple should be like PSU and never change anything – blue and white, one stripe down the middle, no letter, name or mascot! Hmmmmm.

    • Definitely agree that Temple uniforms remain relatively the same, like PSU and Alabama, simply because the uniforms look good. Major changes like the ones at Maryland look too gimmickry and I have a fear this whole coaching staff is a gimmick waiting to happen and will try to ruin the brand before they exit stage door south.

  3. Like to see double-digits under the W column more than helmet T’s and names.

  4. two of the most enjoyable wins over the last several are PSU and USF in 2016. those are the best Temple Uniforms, Cherry helmets and jerseys….,

  5. George, not to worry…..every new coach can come in and change things, nothing, especially uniforms, is permanent. Personally I think they waste a lot of money having different uniforms sometimes several times in a season. Also don’t forget, design/art ,like beauty, is up to the beholder. Maryland I believe was the first to turn crazy uniform design on it’s head – I like all sorts of design but still like simplicity the most – Temple T on a cherry background and block stripes down the legs. Simple, tradition, distinctive, even unique.

  6. I call them nonuniforms.

  7. They are going to have TEMPLE spelled out on one side the helmets for some games next season in honor of Coach Hardin according to Coach Collins yesterday. In fact, the helmets yesterday had it spelled out on one side of them.

    • Was the other side blank? All the photos I’ve seen have Temple on both sides from yesterday’s practice. In fact, on the Temple football twitter page, they have a spinning helmet with Temple spelled out on both sides. Good graphic. Cannot copy and post it here.

  8. I’m all for honoring Wayne Hardin with the name spelled out. As far as tradition goes, and correct me if I’m wrong, the Temple T was designed in the early 70’s, shortly after I graduated by one of the design professors at Tyler School of Art. That’s long enough ago to be traditional. How it’s used may vary (especially on uniforms/helmets) but the T design itself should never be changed.

  9. I was focused on the spelled out Temple and didn’t really notice if it was on both sides of the helmet. It may have been on both sides. In the meeting room where they served lunch, they had helmets on each table each with different designs most of which had the T on them..
    One of the takes from the meeting was that TU Football is going to use as a brand the Temple Tuff meme in all of its promotions and recruiting. Interestingly, which I was unaware of, they started a Wayne Hardin fund for use exclusively for football which Collins can use to recruit. Collins explained that it will permit him to make more home visits because he will be able to fly more often during the recruiting season. He said that they are almost essential today. He was really excited about some of the kids who enrolled early and are now practicing and about some of the players coming in September including a 6’7″ defensive end.

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