Everyone knew changes were coming at Michigan the day Jim Harbaugh was hired. And it turns out that even the Wolverines' uniforms aren't immune.
From well-connected Michigan writer and professor John U. Bacon:
Michigan football: Legends jerseys are gone, helmet stickers are back. Imagine Bo and Canham would be pleased by both.
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) March 27, 2015
That report has since been corroborated by Wolverine247, which notes this would mark the first use of stickers at Michigan "since the end of the 1994 season, when then-coach Lloyd Carr wanted to focus on team rather than individual accomplishments."
But the association between the helmet stickers and the successes of the Bo Schembecler era -- of which Harbaugh himself played a not-insignificant role -- has led to widespread rumors they could return under the Wolverines' new coach. The Legends jerseys, however, endured the unfortunate fate of being inextricably linked with the Brady Hoke-slash-Dave Brandon era -- the unpopular since-deposed athletic director first unveiled the program in 2012, in which formerly retired Michigan numbers were allowed to be worn for a year by players selected by Hoke. In the most famous example, quarterback Devin Gardner was chosen to wear the No. 98 jersey of Heisman winner Tom Harmon near the beginning of the 2013 season.
Hoke's and Brandon's departures -- not to mention Gardner's struggles to live up to the expectations created, in part, by his iconic jersey -- mean there likely won't be many defenders of the Legends jersey program. The helmet stickers could prove somewhat more controversial, having not been seen on Michigan's iconic helmets for more than 20 years, but whatever Harbaugh wants at this point, Harbaugh will get.
The next question: what, exactly, will the stickers look like? Michigan history site MVictors noted in December that the decals themselves evolved substantially after being introduced by Schembecler in 1969:
What would the decals have looked like in more modern times? Here's MVictors again with a Denard Robinson photoshop:
Obligatory Decaled @DenardX pic.twitter.com/uQBFxB9Tbn
— MVictors (@MVictors) March 27, 2015
The personal reaction here: the Wolverines' winged helmet is too much of a stone-cold classic to let the stickers overwhelm it the way some teams' liberal application of helmet stickers sometimes does. To borrow a handy rivalry example, this works for Ohio State ... (via USATSI):
... but wings-plus-that number of maize footballs? That would not. Give them out stingily, Mr. Harbaugh, and you'll be fine.
