Merrimack Warriors (1996-2001)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I suffered a massive brain cramp when Merrimack College moved up to Division I from D-II all sports, including football. It wasn’t until late in the season when I realized I needed to add a new team to the site (which primarily covers D-I institutions), and, of course, another uniform history. While Merrimack’s gridiron history goes back to only 1996, the Warriors have worn enough uniform styles to pack Duane Stadium (their home field).  

Merrimack had a club team for about a decade before its first varsity team hit the field in ’96. As a Catholic school whose colors were blue and gold, the Warriors elected to emulate a certain other Catholic school with blue and gold, right down to the Champion numbers (although Notre Dame’s were considerably smaller). While Merrimack didn’t exactly shake down much thunder while impersonating the Fighting Irish, the Warriors still went 5-4 in their first varsity season.

Merrimack's first varsity team in action, 1996.
The only thing missing is an "ND" on the sleeves.

The 1996 Merrimack Warriors. You've got to start somewhere,
even if it means shooting your first team photo in a basketball gym.

Over the next several years, Merrimack made some small changes to the uniform; while the Warriors kept the basic Notre Dame elements (plain gold helmet and pants, blue jersey), they drifted away in other areas, particularly a change to the ugly Machine font for the numbers and the addition of a Nike swoosh on the front. 

Upon moving to the Northeast-10 Conference from the Eastern Football Conference in 2001, Merrimack added an NE-10 patch to the jersey front, and the gold pants turned blue on the road. (And talk about mixed signals — the blue pants added an “M” in the form of Notre Dame arch-rival Michigan.) By the mid-aughties, the blue pants were worn on the road, as well, and by decade’s end, the Warriors ditched gold for yellow  (which their other teams already used — BTW, do message board users still get into childish “yellow vs. gold” debates?) and added the “MC” logo that’s worn to this day.

The '98 Warriors, with Machine font for numbers. 

By 2000, Merrimack was wearing numbers on the sleeves.

The '01 Warriors added a Northeast-10 logo to the jerseys.