The Golden Eagles are coming off of an 0-12 season under first-year Head Coach Ellis Johnson, a year after winning a Conference USA championship in 2011. Johnson was fired after one year, but to pay off his exit clause, the Eagles had to cut some costs. That included switching from Nike to Russell Athletic, which meant switching from these uniforms:
To these-
Uniform critics have called the new Russell uniforms the worst in college football, a complete 180 from the throwback uniforms worn last year, which some critics called the best in college football:
So, what's wrong with the new uniforms? The two-toned pants with the gold back and the black front are the worst part. The piping and the lines in the numbers don't help. Russell sucks at modern uniforms, as made evident by Georgia Tech last year and now Southern Miss. I understand the reason (cost) for the switch, but just a generic template would be much better than this.
The best part of the new uniforms is the helmet, which is the same as before. An alternate gold helmet was added, and the design was decided by fan vote, with option 2 winning. The gold helmet will be worn "at least once this year".
So for the 2013 Season, the Golden Eagles will play under new Head Coach Tom Monken, former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator. They will compete in the new look C-USA, as most team have bolted for the American Conference and a few more will leave after this year. Southern Miss has not participated in any conference realignment, and if they don't move up to the American soon, they may be left behind. But right now, they have to focus on actually winning a game this year.
Here's my 2d mockups of the 8 possible combinations for this year:
