The other Cowboys. Wyoming’s underrated aesthetic

Building a unique team identity in college wrestling is a challenging task.  Wrestling programs don’t have the volume of exposure of a football or basketball team, so they have less opportunity to build their identity. They have to operate within a core visual identity controlled by the University’s brand guidelines and apparel contracts, so their degree of creativity can be limited.  They have to serve a community that strongly honors tradition, so anything “new” is often met with resistance from loud parts of the fanbase.

And if you are Wyoming wrestling, you have one additional challenge - you have the same mascot as the most historically significant program in wrestling, Oklahoma State.  If you refer to “Cowboys” in wrestling, most will assume you are talking about Oklahoma State.

Still, I think Wyoming has done an excellent job building their team’s visual identity.  They’ve established their own Cowboy brand - a rugged, mountainous version.  And you see this brand reflected across their entire visual identity, from the mountain range as a leg strip in their singlet, to the old west style typeface in the social graphics, to reels with Coach Branch on a horse.  This clear and consistent brand has definitely built the Wyoming Cowboy brand in the wrestling community.  

What elevates Wyoming beyond a strong brand concept is the execution across their apparel.  They aren’t just plugging their school colors into a manufacturer’s standard templates.  Their singlets look unique.  Instead of leg stripes, they have a mountain range.  Instead of just slapping the same design on the back of every singlet in a different colorway, each singlet has it’s own style - from their core logo to their old cowboy illustration that recalls their past, to a new logo + mountain range design that feels fresh but consistent with their identity. Their alternate red, white, and blue One Wyoming singlet based on the state flag showcases their unique cowboy identity.  They have also mastered the use of gold in their warm-ups, whether a primary color or a secondary color - accenting the cowboy wordmark and distinguishing themselves from other schools that have gold as a primary color.  This makes Wyoming wrestlers instantly recognizable on the podium.

That’s why I think Wyoming, the other Cowboys of college wrestling, have one of the most defined and best visual identities in college wrestling.