Central Connecticut State, Colgate, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Stonehill (2024)

The review of 2024 uniforms continues with six FCS teams — two from the Patriot League, two from the Northeast Conference and two independents. Before we start, a minor rant about the two independents ...

Before the season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart left the Northeast Conference for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Since the MAAC doesn't sponsor football, the schools played as independents on the gridiron. Someone at one of these two schools had the bright idea of having these lonely hearts face off late in the season for the "Yankee Conference championship," complete with a replica of the old Bean Pot trophy last seen residing in the Willam & Mary trophy case.

Of course, this is completely ridiculous, as these schools have zero connection to the beloved and long-gone Yankee Conference of Maine, UNH, UMass and other New England cow colleges. (As a Maine grad, I can call them that.) This reminds me of a story I once read — perhaps apocryphal — about an obscure 1970s band that announced that since no one else was using the name, they were going to call themselves "The Beatles." (It went nowhere.) What's next, Texas State and Texas-San Antonio playing for the "Southwest Conference" championship? 

That said, if hell freezes over and the America East finally decides to sponsor football, I would be more than happy to have Merrimack and Sacred Heart as members.

OK, on to the unis:

Central Connecticut State, the NEC champion, didn't change a thing from '23, with the exception of the NCAA patch worn in the FCS tournament, where it almost upset Rhode Island. (Anyone remember when Rhody almost joined the NEC in a money-saving effort?)

Colgate also changed nada from the previous season, which is a good thing, says I.

Holy Cross made a couple minor changes. The Crusaders made slight alterations to their road jerseys, with wider numbers and a narrower wordmark, and the purple helmets used the "shield" logo in place of the big "HC" that had been used for more than a decade. (I prefer the "HC", but that's just me.) Holy Cross also dusted off the black alternate jerseys, last worn in 2022. The shirts were first worn in 2019 and thus had the college football 150th anniversary patch almost everyone else wore that year. Five years later, the patch remains!

Merrimack replaced the "MC" helmet logo with the school seal, a quite Ivy-ish move, if I say so myself. The Warriors covered up the NEC logo with an American flag patch.

Sacred Heart made a couple very minor changes. The star-spangled helmet, which is usually worn around the anniversary of 9/11, replaced the "SHU" logo with a script "Pios," short for Pioneers. (Funny, I always thought of them as the "'Neers." 😎) Like their "Yankee Conference" rivals, the Pioneers covered the NEC logo with the American flag.

For the second straight year, Stonehill wins the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) award for the fewest uniform designs: The Skyhawks used the same three unis they wore last year.

Central Connecticut State, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Stonehill (2023)

The 2023 parade o' uniforms (slowly) continues with New England four Northeast Conference teams.

Central Connecticut State changed its helmet logo, ditching the blue devil next to the "CC" for a pitchfork. The logo also appears on both sides of the helmet, ditching the logo-on-one-side-uniform-number-on-the-other-side look that I can't stand. The jersey and pants remain unchanged from the last few years; I like the Blue Devils' commitment to consistency.

Merrimack made no real changes from last year, unless you count the return of yellow pants after a year's absence. Honestly, there's not much to complain about the Warriors' uniforms.

Sacred Heart's only real change was an update to the all-gray alternate, which now more closely matches the red and white uniforms. The "PIONEERS" down the side of the gray pants goes in the opposite direction of the red and white versions, which I'm sure will ruin a lot people's breakfast. 😎

Stonehill changed its jerseys and pants, adding a more contemporary number font while switching to more traditional sleeves. The helmets remained unchanged.

Bryant, Central Connecticut, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Stonehill

Let's continue our look back at the uniforms of 2022 with four Northeast Conference teams, plus one that departed the NEC.

Bryant is the oddball of the bunch, having ditched the NEC for the Big South (well, Bryant is in southern New England, at least); the remainder of its athletic teams left the NEC for the America East Conference. The move is reflected with the addition of the Big South patch on the jerseys. The Bulldogs replaced Adidas with New Balance as their uniform supplier, but as they still used some of the older Adidas gear, they had to cover up the logo. (Look closely at the graphic above, especially the pants; you'll see a faint square where the Adidas logo used to live.) Bryant added a nice-looking gold alternate jersey, but resisted the urge to wear them with the gold pants.

OK, onto the NEC ...

Central Connecticut kept everything very simple this year; I think the three uniform combos are the fewest of any team covered in this little ol' project. The Blue Devils even passed on the breast cancer awareness helmets from last year. When that's the biggest change, you know there's not much going on here. Ah, for a simpler time ...

Merrimack kept things on an even keel as well. The Warriors' white pants and jerseys continued the recent trend of traditional stripes, a welcome return if there ever was one. Sadly, they didn't continue the screaming yellow zonkers look from last year.

Sacred Heart's biggest change was the addition of new pants, which have "PIONEERS" running down the sides. Frankly, they kinda resemble pro wrestling pants to me. Old favorites such as the star-spangled helmet and the all-gray alternate uniform returned for another year.

Finally, we have the new kid on the Division I block, Stonehill. The Skyhawks played only nine games this year (I wonder if that had something to do with their move up from D-II?) and won four, pretty respectable for a first-year D-I program. Stonehill kept its uniform pretty simple, rotating between two jerseys and two sets of pants. The helmets have a logo on one side and a number on the other; I'm not a fan of that look, but let's face it — there are more important things to worry about, right?

Stonehill Skyhawks (1970, 2013)

Stonehill, you say? Stonehill? Isn't it that goofy stone formation in England? Or an even goofier song by Spinal Tap? 

OK, enough with the silly wordplay; Stonehill College is a school in Easton, Mass., about halfway between Boston and Cape Cod. It's also the home of New England's newest Division I program, as the Skyhawks (known as the Chieftains until 2005) moved from the D-II Northeast-10 to the D-I Northeast Conference during the summer. And you know what that means — another football team to chronicle on this site, which I believe raises the total to 22. 

Stonehill first fielded a club football team in 1970. While the school's varsity teams wore purples and were called the Chieftains, this rogue outfit, which raised money by doing everything from holding raffles to washing airplanes, wore light blue and brown uniforms, bought secondhand from a defunct Long Island team, and dubbed themselves the Knights (the coach's name was David Knight). The team's lone win was against another club team, St. Michael's (Vt.), which had a varsity team on-and-off until the early 1950s.

I don't have any color images, so what you see above is a best guess based on the photo in the above link. The numbers vaguely resemble Clarendon font; Dartmouth's road jerseys used something similar in the early 1960s. The use of light blue, which contrast well with both dark and white jerseys, probably saved the team from holding a baker sale to buy a second set of shirts.

In 1988 the team graduated to varsity status and began playing in NCAA Division III that fall, moving up to D-II in 1997. The team has won three conference championships, most recently in 2013, when the Skyhawks shared the NE-10 regular season title with American International — only to lose to AIC in the league championship game. (Stonehill also lost to AIC in the regular season.)

The 2013 unis bear more than a passing resemblance to those of Holy Cross; that they both get their gear from Adidas probably is a factor.

Unfortunately, Stonehill has yet to put any old yearbooks online, so it may take a while for old uniforms to appear on this site. Although upon further review, I see some old media guides are online. ...