Full interview with Oklahoma State equipment manager Wes Edwards

Last week, I interviewed Oklahoma State equipment manager Wes Edwards about his first season with 48 uniform combinations, what fans can expect this season and the possibility of adding an orange helmet.

But, as usual, I couldn’t fit everything into the newspaper.

Here’s the full Q&A.

How did the first season with so many different uniform combinations go for your staff?

“It was a little more work than we anticipated, I think, as far as making sure that everybody’s helmet was the same as their other helmet, whether it was white, gray or black, or even their practice helmet. The facemask, the chin strap, just getting into all those details was a little more time-consuming than we anticipated. But in the end, it was worth it. Being out there and people all over the country talking about our uniforms, what a neat deal for us. We take great pride in making sure that when the guys take the field, they look good. We may have been a little more tedious than we needed to be, but in the end, that’s where we instill our pride in our work.”

What was the response from the players like?

“The response was great. The players loved all the looks, and 18- to 20-year-old kids, anytime it’s something new, they’re pretty much going to love it. So as far as the players are concerned, they loved everything we did. And of course they were involved with helping them determining what we wore, at least some of them were.”

The gray jerseys will have black numbers this season instead of orange. Will there be other changes?

“The only uniform we tweaked was that gray one. After putting it out there that first game, we realized that we needed to do something. We put the black numbers out there on the field once we got some samples from Nike, and we think people are going to notice a difference and hopefully the feedback’s a little more positive than it was with last year’s gray. Other than that, no really wholesale changes as far as the uniforms are concerned.”

Were you surprised by some of the negative feedback about the gray jerseys?

“In our world and with so many fans and so many people, that’s what makes Oklahoma State special is everybody cares. We know we’re not going to please everybody. Our goal is, first of all, recruiting, and the guys wearing the uniforms are who we’re worried about. We love our fans and their support. And as long as it’s something the players want and they’re involved, that’s really what we’re here for is the student-athletes. I wasn’t surprised at positive feedback. I wasn’t surprised with negative feedback. With a fan base like ours, you’re going to get some of both and we kind of expect that. Even with anything we do going further, we expect negative and positive feedback. It’s just part of doing what we’re trying to do.”

Are there plans to add an orange helmet?

“We hope to. I’m not going to say it’s going to happen this year or next year or whenever. But I think it’s definitely something that our players deserve and our fans want to see and I think we should have it out there. We’ll do our best to see that we can get that done.”

I’m sure you saw the photo of a mysterious orange helmet floating around right before Bedlam.

“First of all, people have a lot of time on their hands with Photoshop. That’s my first thought. Because believe me, if we had an orange helmet, we probably would have broken it out for Homecoming first. I’ve got 12 student managers, two full-time assistants, a truck driver and all kinds of people that are in and out of this equipment room, so it’s real hard to keep a secret. But if we had orange helmets last year, we would have worn of them. It would have been a waste of money to get them and not wear them.”

What was your favorite look from last season?