Texas' football team will have a new game-day helmet, featuring symbols closely associated with the Texas program, beginning in 2008.
Several weeks ago, the Longhorn Athletics Department asked for
uniform and helmet design concepts from its fans, students, and local police officers wandering Sixth Street in Austin who felt they had a vision of what the Horns should wear on game day. Many individuals submitted concepts and a committee of department and campus officials poured over the ideas, tweaked them and chose two “finalists” for consideration to be the new look for Texas football.
"We received lots of terrific concepts,” Director of Athletics DeLoss Dodds said. “Although no one design was chosen, our final options are a compilation or hybrid of several of those suggestions.”
Dodds noted that each option represents a distinct activity associated with the university – "Crime" and “Punishment”.
“It is our goal that the option chosen will allow us to more clearly associate our athletics program on a national level with the recent actions of our student-athletes” Dodds said. “These two concepts emerged after thorough discussions with a people on Sixth Street at 3 a.m. one Saturday morning and each of the ideas ties back to our summer of arrests in its own unique way.”
The Athletics Department will collect input, via online voting, until Friday, Sep 21. The vote of the fans is a factor that will be weighed in the final decision. The athletics department will announce its final choice later this fall so that production schedules can be met for the 2008 season.
“Asking for input from our fan base is an important part of the design process,” Head Coach Mack Brown said. “In a political year, you might compare this to a straw poll.”
When the design contest was announced, the folks on Sixth Street said that a return to the school’s symbols – handcuffs and doobies – was critical. In researching the history of Longhorn player brushes with the law the symbols have varied from year to year.
“The burnt orange helmet with Cheech and Chong carrying a joint is more representative of the program. Let's face it, how many of these kids have even seen a cow?” Brown said. “In looking at the arrests we've had since I've been here, I couldn’t help but notice how much variety there's been. We've had DUI, armed robbery, attempted burglary, and marijuana possession - to name a few. The darker colors are much classier and more dramatic.”
In addition, the white helmet maintains a legacy to the classy helmet of yesteryear. The handcuffs will represent the detainment phase of the criminal justice process.
“Making a conscious effort to review our historical roots in terms of criminal history is most appropriate during this unprecedented year of criminal activity by our players," Dodds said. “This initiative ties in nicely with these events."
Several weeks ago, the Longhorn Athletics Department asked for
uniform and helmet design concepts from its fans, students, and local police officers wandering Sixth Street in Austin who felt they had a vision of what the Horns should wear on game day. Many individuals submitted concepts and a committee of department and campus officials poured over the ideas, tweaked them and chose two “finalists” for consideration to be the new look for Texas football."We received lots of terrific concepts,” Director of Athletics DeLoss Dodds said. “Although no one design was chosen, our final options are a compilation or hybrid of several of those suggestions.”
Dodds noted that each option represents a distinct activity associated with the university – "Crime" and “Punishment”.
“It is our goal that the option chosen will allow us to more clearly associate our athletics program on a national level with the recent actions of our student-athletes” Dodds said. “These two concepts emerged after thorough discussions with a people on Sixth Street at 3 a.m. one Saturday morning and each of the ideas ties back to our summer of arrests in its own unique way.”
The Athletics Department will collect input, via online voting, until Friday, Sep 21. The vote of the fans is a factor that will be weighed in the final decision. The athletics department will announce its final choice later this fall so that production schedules can be met for the 2008 season.
“Asking for input from our fan base is an important part of the design process,” Head Coach Mack Brown said. “In a political year, you might compare this to a straw poll.”
When the design contest was announced, the folks on Sixth Street said that a return to the school’s symbols – handcuffs and doobies – was critical. In researching the history of Longhorn player brushes with the law the symbols have varied from year to year.
“The burnt orange helmet with Cheech and Chong carrying a joint is more representative of the program. Let's face it, how many of these kids have even seen a cow?” Brown said. “In looking at the arrests we've had since I've been here, I couldn’t help but notice how much variety there's been. We've had DUI, armed robbery, attempted burglary, and marijuana possession - to name a few. The darker colors are much classier and more dramatic.”
In addition, the white helmet maintains a legacy to the classy helmet of yesteryear. The handcuffs will represent the detainment phase of the criminal justice process.
“Making a conscious effort to review our historical roots in terms of criminal history is most appropriate during this unprecedented year of criminal activity by our players," Dodds said. “This initiative ties in nicely with these events."
The Longhorn Athletic Department asks you to remember to vote often and encourage others to vote. As final decision making time nears, we want your sincere feedback. If you would like to offer additional comments for our consideration, you can do so in our comment section.
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