Marshall football players will be stylin' and profilin' next season.
A group of Thundering Herd supporters from Charleston have been working behind the scenes for over a year to fund and provide four authentic, custom-made, nickel- and gold-plated wrestling championship belts to the school's football program. This puts Marshall in a class by itself, said championship belt designer Rico Mann.
"This is absolutely the first full set we've done for a college," said Mann, who works with Reggie Parks and Dave Millican to provide belts for the WWE, UFC and NFL teams like the Bears, 49ers, Cardinals, Chargers and Titans.
The belts are the real deal.
There are four 8-pound belts: offense, defense, special teams and weight room. The offense, defense and special teams belts are modeled after the WWE Intercontinental championship belts, and feature Marshall's script block M logo below the alternative buffalo logo in the middle. There are five gold stars on each side of the buffalo.
The large center plate is flanked by two additional plates on each side. One plate features the traditional white Marshall football helmet, while the other has a helmet with the "75" logo on it. The final plates on each end feature objectives, like "toughness" for defense, "protect the ball" for offense and "flip the field" for special teams.
The belts have been a long time coming.
The idea came from Charleston's Geoff Perry, who was listening to a radio interview with professional wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. It was then that Perry heard Austin reveal that he had his belts custom-made, and mentioned Mann by name.
Perry remembered the time former Marshall football star Vinny Curry, who recently signed a five-year, $47.25 million extension with the Philadelphia Eagles, dressed up as wrestling icon Ric Flair for Halloween. So, Perry reached out to Mann and the wheels were in motion.
Perry solicited the help of Marshall supporters Randy Dunfee, Steve Ellis, David Haden and Gregg Happe to come together and cover the costs, which totaled approximately $7,000.
"We thought it would be something that would be unique, that only Marshall has done, and that the kids would have fun with it," Perry said. "Remember when Vinny dressed up like Ric Flair? Once I heard this interview and realized you can have the belts made and give them out, we did it."
Mann said, typically, one belt would take two weeks to make, but the Herd belts were delayed. The biggest setback came when WWE changed its logo, so the company's backlog of orders stalled while new belts were made for the professional wrestling giant.
Now, however, the belts are in Marshall's hands. They were delivered before the final weekend of official visits prior to this month's National Signing Day. There's little doubt they'll be a hit with current players and future recruits.
"Everyone is raising the bar in recruiting and we have to help raise it somehow," Perry said.
The idea is Herd coaches can use the belts as an incentive. Maybe during Sunday film sessions after games, the offensive player with the highest grade is awarded the offensive champion belt that week. Maybe the folks inside the Shewey Building can get ambitious and create a wall of champions for the players, where they can have a photo of them posing with the belt displayed.
Either way, the belts are a plus for the Herd program.
Mann, who has designed belts for 15 years, said he could only recall one collegiate program with a belt. He believed Michigan's strength and conditioning program had a belt made more than a decade ago, but the rest of the orders he receives are from pro wrestling, ultimate fighting or professional sports franchises.
Surely, more college football programs will follow Marshall's lead.
"We're always throwing ideas back and forth about what we think would be something positive for Marshall," Haden said. "We're die-hards, so we want to support and get Marshall's name out there as much as possible."