Maryland is replacing the busiest helmet in college football with a throwback look for the 2023 season and beyond. Out is the custom-painted billowing flag design that has adorned the Terrapins’ lids since 2013. In is the script “Terps” design former coach Bobby Ross introduced in 1982 and Ralph Friedgen brought back for one of the most successful decades in program history beginning in 2001.
“I’m very excited to announce that we are moving back to an iconic uniform, a classic look, something that our fans have been clamoring for for quite some time,” Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans said in a news release. “When I think about our illustrious past as it relates to Maryland football, you think about Bobby Ross and Ralph Friedgen and the championship years wearing the Script Terps uniform. This Script Terps uniform embodies who we are; it symbolizes what it means to be a Maryland football player.”
Following a team vote on the design, Ross, who was hired to replace Jerry Claiborne in 1982, ditched the white helmets with a gold block “M” Maryland had worn since 1972 and replaced them with red helmets with script “Terps” in white.
Advertisement
“They had been wearing the same thing for about 10 years,” Ross told reporters ahead of the Terrapins’ opener. “But you don’t win with uniforms; you win by running, blocking and tackling.”
The Terps went 39-19-1 and appeared in four bowl games during Ross’s five-year tenure, and they looked good doing it. The team wore the script “Terps” red helmets until 1992, when it switched to black helmets with a red block “M” under coach Mark Duffner. From 1997 to 2000, Maryland wore black helmets with an italicized red “M” and the state flag.
When Friedgen was hired in 2001, the team revived the script “Terps” design but with white helmets and red writing. Maryland kept that look until 2011, when Under Armour, founded by former Maryland football player Kevin Plank, began experimenting with more and more outlandish designs. Maryland debuted state flag-themed uniforms and helmets in 2011; two years later, it introduced the billowing flag design that has served as its primary helmet ever since.
Since Maryland hired D.C. native Michael Locksley as coach in 2019, the team has worn the script “Terps” throwback design at least once each season, going 4-2 in those games.
“I was raised on the Terps script,” Locksley said in 2019. “I fell in love with the teams that donned those uniforms. I remember watching guys like Boomer [Esiason] and Frank Reich guiding the Terps in those uniforms.”
“Now it’s time for us to pay that homage and push forward, so I’m happy to bring back this iconic look,” Evans said.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGeAcHyTaGhxZ52Wv7q4wKebZp6fpMGjrculZKybop69tXnTnqmpq12qu6qyzqukrGc%3D