Colorado State University-Pueblo uniforms

[roxfan00]

Gridiron dream now real

By Chris Dempsey

The Denver Post

In little more than one year, football at Colorado State-Pueblo has gone from nothing to everything.

On Sept. 6, a group of players will run onto the synthetic field at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl for the Thunderwolves' first game as the latest, best example of what happens when action brings a dream to reality.

Football is back. Finally.

There have been four U.S. presidents and a name change in the 23 years since the school last fielded a football team. Southern Colorado became CSU-Pueblo in 2003, but on occasion, its new coach, a former quarterback there, John Wristen, still calls the Division II school by its previous name.

A group of motivated, enterprising individuals with a desire to restore the sport did just that. And fast. From May 2007 when the board of governors approved football's return, to the opener 16 months later, the program and facilities have sprung to life with the help of more than $11.6 million in fundraising.

A 6,500-seat stadium was built. A 27,000-square foot fieldhouse was built. An 11-man coaching staff was assembled. A 120-player team of mostly freshmen was recruited.

So it is fitting the name of the group responsible is the Friends of Football, because more than 1,000 members have been there for the university from the idea to the realization of the product. The group started its efforts in November 2006.

"We knew when we were able to bring back our football program, and the other two programs, that it would create some excitement," CSU-Pueblo athletic director Joe Folda said. "But it's gone beyond my expectations as far as how excited people are about what's going on up here."

[sigepraider]

That?s an awesome story, congrats. Coming from a school that has never had (nor will probably ever have) a football team, I am genuinely jealous.

Oh, and staying with the idea of the forum, not a bad looking uni set, I think that white helmet/jersey/pant combo is going to be sick.

[TruColor]

I really never understood the name change. How is "Colorado State University-Pueblo" an upgrade over "University of Southern Colorado"? I don't know - I liked the old name better.

[slapshot]

Maybe it's just a way to tie it into the state university system. UMass-Lowell did that years ago, changing from the U of Lowell, just like Southeastern Mass University to UMass-Dartmouth.

[officeglenn]

I really never understood the name change. How is "Colorado State University-Pueblo" an upgrade over "University of Southern Colorado"? I don't know - I liked the old name better.

Plus we don't need another "USC" gumming up the works and getting involved in litigation.

[iowahoo]

Looks like the U. Washington and Norhtern Illinois Huskie had a child.

[leggman01]

that is one huge wordmark on the jersey...no mistaking who they are, that's for sure...i'm wondering if the numbers will look abnormally low when the jersey is tucked in

[Honolulu Blue]

They look good.

Simple and clean.

On October 11th, they will look even better all torn up and dirty in defeat.

Go Mavs.

[STL FANATIC]

I really never understood the name change. How is "Colorado State University-Pueblo" an upgrade over "University of Southern Colorado"? I don't know - I liked the old name better.

It's really only better if they somehow establish themselves as "Pueblo" with the CSU just being known.

I dunno.

[Arts11]

Wow, the Thunderwolves?! Looking at the logo, I was thinking Huskies or just Wolves, but Thunderwolves? I mean, it's unique, but it also sounds like someone couldn't decide on a team name so they decided to combine 2 together. I don't know. It's different enough that I don't hate it, but I'd probably never root for a team called the Thunderwolves. Still, I like the Saturday morning cartoony logo. Maybe not as a sports team logo, but I like it nevertheless.

[Sc8b]

I really never understood the name change. How is "Colorado State University-Pueblo" an upgrade over "University of Southern Colorado"? I don't know - I liked the old name better.

Well, it benefited me at least. When I hear "University of Southern Colorado" I think of some little dump of a college, but when I hear "Colorado State University-Pueblo" I think well, they must be at least semi-legit.

[Sodboy13]

Surprised no one else has commented on this - will CSUP be sporting two different sets of white pants? The one on left has red piping, while the one on the right has black.

[jake22]

watch out for kyle lamar, he is starting on the line here, he is a good friend and coach of mine.

[STL FANATIC]

Surprised no one else has commented on this - will CSUP be sporting two different sets of white pants? The one on left has red piping, while the one on the right has black.

I think the one with the red uniform might just have the pants flipped. There's no logo on them, so that would make sense, and that would mean red/white/black on the stripes, matching the white jersey.

[ManCalledAmp]

I like the explanation of how CSUP sounds somehow more legitimite and...bigger, we'll say, than University of Southern Colorado. However, the instant football rivalry with the U of Northern Colorado is lost in the shuffle (though I'm pretty sure they're separated well by classifications).

I also agree that Pueblo needs to be stressed in the branding, and the uni tops establish that quite loudly. Not crazy about the Thunderwolves' name, but it is unique with vivid imagery associated with it. The logo is pretty good, and the color scheme is alright, though very, very done. However, red for Colorado is a bit of a switch.

I like the simplistic uniforms, and old-school stripes. I do wish they'd use red (or navy) pants on the home, however. And good pickup on the flipped-over pants; never would have caught that.

[STL FANATIC]

To me, while Colorado State seems more legit than Southern Colorado (see Southwest Missouri State becoming Missouri State), Colorado State - Pueblo (location being required) totally nullifies that and then some.

But as I said, if they can market themselves as Pueblo and often ignore the CSU (other than in official places), they may be able to make it work better.

[Jigga]

There isn't a single thing I like about these unis. I can't stand the white-from-head-to-toe look, the helmet should either be red or the logo should have had some red in there somewhere, the wordark is too damn big (plus, the CSU is completely unnecessary), the pants stripes should match the jersey stripes since the helmet has no striping, and I think red pants would be nice, too.

Fail.

[illwauk]

Maybe it's just a way to tie it into the state university system. UMass-Lowell did that years ago, changing from the U of Lowell, just like Southeastern Mass University to UMass-Dartmouth.

On the flip side, there's Wisconsin where all 13 of the 4-year state insitutions is a "University of Wisconsin-____________"

Personally, I think hyphens make every school in the system that's not the flagship look insignificant. Other than UCLA and UNLV, I can't think of any other hyphenated schools where that's not the case.

[Grish]

I think as a forum we should make CSU Pueblo our official college football team.

C = Creamer

S = Sports

U = Uniforms/Logos

Pueblo = Village of Common People

Just thought it was an interesting tie in.

As for the logo. I think I might have to get me a CSU Pueblo sweatshirt for school this year. Last year we adopted Slippery Rock to keep stats on for studying fractoins, decimals and %'s in my room. I wore a sweatshirt on Fridays to school, plus it lets the kids know there are more Universities out there then just the big ones.

[tommytimp]

It's a great story.

And I like the red jersey a lot.