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University of Minnesota Athletics
Helmet Bracket Thoughts from Brady Gagnon
4/13/2020 9:35:00 AM | Football
Gagnon is the Director of Football Equipment Operations
Gopher Football recently held an interactive social media bracket that featured the 12 different helmet looks used in the 2020 season. We used different brackets with fan votes on Instagram and Twitter. While the two social platforms differed on a few votes, they both landed on the same champion.
The chrome helmets with a maroon 'M' decal on both sides and a maroon face mask won both versions of the bracket.
We caught up with Director of Football Equipment Operations, Brady Gagnon to learn more about what goes into getting the helmets ready each week. We also gathered his thoughts on the bracket challenge and feedback from fans.
Gagnon wan equipment manager intern at Minnesota from 2016-18 and then spent the 2018 season at Florida International University as an equipment athletic facilities manager. He returned to Minnesota in January 2019 and then was named to his current role in April 2019.
GopherSports: What goes into what helmets will be used for the year?
Brady Gagnon: The process begins as soon as the season ends. Once we get into January and football is completely done, we enter reconditioning mode for he helmets. This is where we make sure the helmets are safe and that they look elite. This is also where we can make any changes, so I meet with Coach Fleck and decide if we want to change anything. We love the maroon paint we have been using the past couple of years and the chrome helmets have been very popular as well. The big decision is what to use for the third helmet. We have had white helmets and gold ones, but we need to make this decision in January if we want fans to be able to see them in September. After we decide what color we want, the company that we use has to paint all the shells to make sure they are ready to go. Coach has been awesome with letting our staff come up with different creative or new ideas for our helmets during the season. We also meet with University staff to discuss different options on what we are able to put on a helmet.
GS: How do you get inspiration for the looks we see on game day?
BG: In reality, we had 12 different looks in 13 games last season. We have six different face masks and numerous decals. We are always listening to feedback. This year some of our looks actually came from discussions with players from a few years ago. I know I'm not going to have all the answers, so we are always looking into fresh ideas. This past season, we had a lot of elite looks that fans seemed to appreciate. We also did some fun things incorporating Goldy.
GS: How long does it take to place new decals on the helmets?
BG: A run of decals is usually a four to five hour production with my staff, which is two full-time staff members, one full-time intern and a student staff of about 20. We usually turn helmets over in about two to three days. When we plan out our helmets for the year we also have to plan our practice helmets and decide when we are going to be working on the various helmet looks. It's a big project over the summer to know when we are going to break down a helmet.
GS: When you go into the season, do you already know all the way into week 12 what helmet and what decal you are going to use or is there some flexibility?
BG: We had all of last season planned out by June. When we get into the season, Coach Fleck and I meet every week and discuss what we had talked about in the summer. Some of it can depend on what the other team is going to wear and I'm always talking to the other team's equipment manager. We knew Penn State was going to be traditional and go all white, so we went with an all maroon uniform and brought out the chrome helmet. We liked how that uniform combination and helmet looked in person and on TV.
GS: Did you personally have a favorite look this year?
BG: Conveniently, my favorite look won the helmet bracket. In my time away from Gopher football (Brady was at Minnesota from 2016-18 and then spent the 2018 season at FIU before returning to Minnesota in 2019), I got to experience Gopher football through TV. I never got to work with the Chrome helmets until I came back so I got to install some ideas I had. We chromed out the 'M' and put in an outline with the 'M' to make it look a bit more prominent. The 'M' was also bigger on the helmet this season than it was in the past.
GS: Was there anything that surprised you with the helmet bracket fan vote?
BG: I think one of the bigger things was that the one-off looks struggled. The anthracite, the white or just the numbers on the helmets struggled. It was a mix of wanting to see the traditional look, but we gave it a modern touch. We had the gold helmet back in the day, but now it's chrome, which a lot of our fans enjoy. It was an awesome experience for me to see what the fans think. At the end of the day, it's me and my small staff who put in a lot of work into these uniforms each week and it's rewarding to see fans input. We were excited about the chrome helmet and it was cool to see fan appreciation as well. I've even seen some articles and fan designs of custom looks that they would like to see. I love seeing the ideas and hope people keep interacting. My goal is to provide an elite look on Saturdays.
The chrome helmets with a maroon 'M' decal on both sides and a maroon face mask won both versions of the bracket.
The people decided! Your favorite helmet look from last season was our Chrome helmet with the Maroon 'M' decal on both sides and a Maroon face mask.
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) April 3, 2020
We donned this look in a thrilling victory over Penn State in front of a sold out crowd at TCF Bank Stadium. #UMNProud pic.twitter.com/OGcPAmkAKe
We caught up with Director of Football Equipment Operations, Brady Gagnon to learn more about what goes into getting the helmets ready each week. We also gathered his thoughts on the bracket challenge and feedback from fans.
Gagnon wan equipment manager intern at Minnesota from 2016-18 and then spent the 2018 season at Florida International University as an equipment athletic facilities manager. He returned to Minnesota in January 2019 and then was named to his current role in April 2019.
GopherSports: What goes into what helmets will be used for the year?
Brady Gagnon: The process begins as soon as the season ends. Once we get into January and football is completely done, we enter reconditioning mode for he helmets. This is where we make sure the helmets are safe and that they look elite. This is also where we can make any changes, so I meet with Coach Fleck and decide if we want to change anything. We love the maroon paint we have been using the past couple of years and the chrome helmets have been very popular as well. The big decision is what to use for the third helmet. We have had white helmets and gold ones, but we need to make this decision in January if we want fans to be able to see them in September. After we decide what color we want, the company that we use has to paint all the shells to make sure they are ready to go. Coach has been awesome with letting our staff come up with different creative or new ideas for our helmets during the season. We also meet with University staff to discuss different options on what we are able to put on a helmet.
GS: How do you get inspiration for the looks we see on game day?
BG: In reality, we had 12 different looks in 13 games last season. We have six different face masks and numerous decals. We are always listening to feedback. This year some of our looks actually came from discussions with players from a few years ago. I know I'm not going to have all the answers, so we are always looking into fresh ideas. This past season, we had a lot of elite looks that fans seemed to appreciate. We also did some fun things incorporating Goldy.
GS: How long does it take to place new decals on the helmets?
BG: A run of decals is usually a four to five hour production with my staff, which is two full-time staff members, one full-time intern and a student staff of about 20. We usually turn helmets over in about two to three days. When we plan out our helmets for the year we also have to plan our practice helmets and decide when we are going to be working on the various helmet looks. It's a big project over the summer to know when we are going to break down a helmet.
GS: When you go into the season, do you already know all the way into week 12 what helmet and what decal you are going to use or is there some flexibility?
BG: We had all of last season planned out by June. When we get into the season, Coach Fleck and I meet every week and discuss what we had talked about in the summer. Some of it can depend on what the other team is going to wear and I'm always talking to the other team's equipment manager. We knew Penn State was going to be traditional and go all white, so we went with an all maroon uniform and brought out the chrome helmet. We liked how that uniform combination and helmet looked in person and on TV.
GS: Did you personally have a favorite look this year?
BG: Conveniently, my favorite look won the helmet bracket. In my time away from Gopher football (Brady was at Minnesota from 2016-18 and then spent the 2018 season at FIU before returning to Minnesota in 2019), I got to experience Gopher football through TV. I never got to work with the Chrome helmets until I came back so I got to install some ideas I had. We chromed out the 'M' and put in an outline with the 'M' to make it look a bit more prominent. The 'M' was also bigger on the helmet this season than it was in the past.
GS: Was there anything that surprised you with the helmet bracket fan vote?
BG: I think one of the bigger things was that the one-off looks struggled. The anthracite, the white or just the numbers on the helmets struggled. It was a mix of wanting to see the traditional look, but we gave it a modern touch. We had the gold helmet back in the day, but now it's chrome, which a lot of our fans enjoy. It was an awesome experience for me to see what the fans think. At the end of the day, it's me and my small staff who put in a lot of work into these uniforms each week and it's rewarding to see fans input. We were excited about the chrome helmet and it was cool to see fan appreciation as well. I've even seen some articles and fan designs of custom looks that they would like to see. I love seeing the ideas and hope people keep interacting. My goal is to provide an elite look on Saturdays.
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