Wisconsin Badgers Switching To Under Armour

[Billy B]

Those are fine for a one time throwback, but I don't think the team would like having to replace the sticker on the front every single week.

[WSU151]

Those are fine for a one time throwback, but I don't think the team would like having to replace the sticker on the front every single week.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a burden on the equipment staff. This is college football...where new helmets, decals, facemasks, etc are just part of the job.

[OnWis97]

So, much has been made of the Hayden Fry coaching tree, but his influence likely spread to uniforms as well.

Legend has it that Fry adopted the Tigerhawk with Steelers uniforms for Iowa to make them feel like winners by looking like (NFL) winners. Bill Snyder did the same at Kansas State with the Powercat and the Cowboys' unis (in school colors), and Barry Alvarez adopted the Motion W and... Nebraska's uniforms?

True or no?

I would have liked to see UA do something different for the Badgers without going too crazy. There must be something local to draw from.

Wisconsin fans will tell you no. Nebraska fans will tell you yes.

What I DO know is this: Barry Alvarez played at NU for Bob Devaney, who was the architect of the NU Dynasty, winning titles in 70-71 and then obviously continuing through his offensive coordinator (and even more successful coach) Tom Osborne. When Alvarez took over the reigns at Wisconsin, he based a lot of his game - playbook, leadership style, emphasis of walk-on program, practice management, etc., on what he saw Devaney model. That's not a bad thing - any player would likely do the same - but it did mean that Wisconsin largely used a lot of what made Nebraska great in the late 60s, 70s and 80s.

Nebraska fans like to claim Wisconsin stole our uniforms, which is untrue, at least if you're following the Alvarez link. Barry took over the Badgers in 1990 and UW had been wearing the two-stripe look for quite a while by that point. They did, however, adopt the "Motion W" logo in 1991 so there was an opportunity for Barry to modify the uniforms but he kept them largely the same. One thing that he DID do, however, is use red pants on the road more often - especially for big games. Wisconsin historically had been an all-white road team (like many schools) but Alvarez would often wear red pants in bowls or rival games. You could possibly argue that he "brought that" from Nebraska, but it's splitting hairs, really.

If you think about it, there are plenty of teams that have evolved basically the same look as the Huskers and Badgers (Stanford, Alabama, Oklahoma, Indiana) and none of them really take the heat that UW does for "copying" someone else.

On a personal note, I'm not a big fan of monochromatic uniforms but I think it might be fun to have the NU-UW games as "all-reds" versus "all-whites." I'm sure it might help the teams on-field, too, since the games basically look like a scrimmage and the two teams are now in the same division of the Big Ten. A slight variation would be to allow the previous year's winner (whomever holds the Freedom Trophy) the rights to wear the all-red look to the current year's game, as sort of a "Big Red" bragging right.

Also, I wish Wisconsin would wear these more. Or maybe a modernized version. Such a great helmet and there are few teams who use the front space of a lid like that.

That's the point I've been making on here. The early 1980s Wisconsin jersey looked like red version of that NY Jets era. Two-stripe patterns are not really that unique; particularly in the era before manufacturers started putting their stamps all over uniforms.

As for the throwbacks, no. No red-electrical tape "W" on the front. I am all for that jersey (and that shade) but as divisive as the "W" is around here, it's beloved all around Madison and it is really the athletic department's (and particularly the football team's) signature. That helmet will not and should not change (save, potentially, the shade of red). That throwback helmet would grow stale within a year.

[WSU151]

Getting rid of the drop-shadow on the motion-W and just going with a black outline (or no outline) would be a huge improvement.

The drop-shadow is just too '90s.

[Guest]

Is that a new template?

[Clintau24]

Is that a new template?

The basketball unis? No, that's actually the old template

[Guest]

Is that a new template?

The basketball unis? No, that's actually the old template

Sorry for not clarifying but I was thinking of the football template.

[Clintau24]

Is that a new template?

The basketball unis? No, that's actually the old template

Sorry for not clarifying but I was thinking of the football template.

It's hard to tell, but I think it's the current template. They're just now rolling it out for all their teams.

[Guest]

Is that a new template?

The basketball unis? No, that's actually the old template

Sorry for not clarifying but I was thinking of the football template.

It's hard to tell, but I think it's the current template. They're just now rolling it out for all their teams.

The collar looks different to me, that's why I mentioned it.