We have used UNC paths without any problems, we have offices in
different locations and these use the logon server to bring down the
normal.dot file. I beleive you can do the same with the templates by
checking the default path for the templates folder in word and copying
down the templates from the server to the path on the workstation.

So we just use the command:

copy "%logonserver%\NETLOGON\Templates\normal.dot"
"%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\normal.dot"
to copy down the normal.dot every time a user logs in to make sure they
are using the correct settings. Instead of downloading all the
templates everytime though you could set a if statement to check for
any changes or new templates.

One question on the normal.dot file though is if you set the path to
where the templates are all stored will this setting be used when users
open new word documents? I have had a couple of people that I have had
to set it for so Im thinking that it might not. Then again they could
of over written their normal.dot file quiet easily without these
settings. Any ideas?