"Futuristic" College Jerseys

[02Rover]

The only way to stop travesties such as this is for people to STOP BUYING NIKE.

Dont buy their warmups, not their shoes, not their authentics, not their replicas. I have been boycotting Nike for years now, and I plan to continue. They are singlehandedly ruining sports uniforms.

I hate Nike, and I hate you for buying anything made by them.

Dude, your way off. Its the schools that decide on these changes. Nike introduces new things and its up the schools to accept or decline.

Why doenst Nike do ridiculous changes to USC, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A & M, Texas, etc..... Its cause these schools dont accept the sweeping changes.

You channeling your anger to Nike and not the school that decides that thier teams look like and what gear goes on sale is a little silly.

Dont blame Nike, blame your school.

Same with UGA, another school with big tradition. If Nike "Miami-ized" the UGA uni's there would have been severe riots in Athens. Instead all they did was just change the material and put a solid black collar and stripe on the sleves. Probably the most outlandish thing that Nike has done to their uniforms is issue the team gray pants instead of silver britches.

Similarly, UNC has de-Niked considerably. At its worst, we had navy drop shadows on the football jerseys and the interlocking "NC" monogram across the chests of the basketball jerseys instead of the school's name. After sufficient public outcry, Nike bent to the will of its most popular (by merchandise revenue, anywy) client, and has restored the older uniforms with modern materials and slight updates.

More evidence that Nike is not to blame, but the schools are to blame.

I laugh when I see these people outraged at Nike and vowing to boycott thier products, etc....

Its the stupid schools that want this look that OK it. Dont you think that the schools that stick with the traditional look get outlandish ideas thrown at them?? Of course they do, they all do.

They just dont have to accept them......

Georgia is a perfect example of a school that is with Nike, submitted to the new technology changes, but not the ridiculous design changes.

[VitaminD]

It also depends largely on the school's motive as well as Nike's.

Bigger schools - UGA, UNC, Kentucky, Texas, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, USC - have a look that is so ingrained into the public conscience that it would be stupid for Nike to roll in and tell these schools what to wear and how to wear it. These schools are doing Nike a favor by being outfitted by them, so Nike can turn to other schools and say, "Yeah. We're the guys who outfit Texas. You wanna be like Texas, doncha?" It's also good advertising - they get to slap the ubiquitous swoosh all over the uniforms of the teams playing in bowl games on New Year's Day and in Final Fours.

Then, there are other schools. They affiliate themselves with Nike because to them, being a "Nike school" gives them some cachet when recruiting. They want these kids to think highly of their program, and dressing in Nike's finest gear. These schools, though, are more likely to have Nike tell them what they're going to wear. Nike can use these schools more as a test studio for some of their designs - the lesser-known schools will sacrifice some dominion over uniform design if it means getting to be a "Nike school". Still, there are smaller schools that wear Nike who've kept traditional looks. The example that comes to mind for me is my wife's alma mater (William & Mary), which switched to Nike 2 years ago, and they wear very traditional, almost plain uniforms.

The 2 exceptions to my observations are Oregon and Miami. Oregon is an exception because Phil Knight dropped HUGE sums of money on the school, basically in exchange for allowing Nike to do whatever the hell they wanted to their uniforms. And Miami is an exception because they've become known for being a launching pad for Nike's most futuristic and garish looks.

[aykay]

The only way to stop travesties such as this is for people to STOP BUYING NIKE.

Dont buy their warmups, not their shoes, not their authentics, not their replicas. I have been boycotting Nike for years now, and I plan to continue. They are singlehandedly ruining sports uniforms.

I hate Nike, and I hate you for buying anything made by them.

Dude, your way off. Its the schools that decide on these changes. Nike introduces new things and its up the schools to accept or decline.

Why doenst Nike do ridiculous changes to USC, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A & M, Texas, etc..... Its cause these schools dont accept the sweeping changes.

You channeling your anger to Nike and not the school that decides that thier teams look like and what gear goes on sale is a little silly.

Dont blame Nike, blame your school.

Same with UGA, another school with big tradition. If Nike "Miami-ized" the UGA uni's there would have been severe riots in Athens. Instead all they did was just change the material and put a solid black collar and stripe on the sleves. Probably the most outlandish thing that Nike has done to their uniforms is issue the team gray pants instead of silver britches.

Similarly, UNC has de-Niked considerably. At its worst, we had navy drop shadows on the football jerseys and the interlocking "NC" monogram across the chests of the basketball jerseys instead of the school's name. After sufficient public outcry, Nike bent to the will of its most popular (by merchandise revenue, anywy) client, and has restored the older uniforms with modern materials and slight updates.

I had a professor who was a UNC grad and he would go off on those "UNC" bball uni's from 99-00 on a daily basis.

[VitaminD]

I had a professor who was a UNC grad and he would go off on those "UNC" bball uni's from 99-00 on a daily basis.

And with good reason. Keep in mind that the Heels went to a Final Four with those atrocities, so for Nike to scrap these was not for a lack of exposure; it's that they were despised that intensely by UNC fans, who allowed their wallets to do the talking for them. Nike listened.

[HurricaneDavid]

Seems like much ado about nothing - and it's pretty lame to boot.

A lame Miami jersey? STOP THE PRESSES!!!

[VandyDelphia Mike]

Still, there are smaller schools that wear Nike who've kept traditional looks.  The example that comes to mind for me is my wife's alma mater (William & Mary), which switched to Nike 2 years ago, and they wear very traditional, almost plain uniforms.

A possible rationale for Nike plainness on smaller schools is the fact that such schools provide less exposure for the swoosh.

Nike outfits Vanderbilt's football and basketball teams. The football design is more basic. The basketball design was a black and gold version of the Kansas template (which KU has since ditched since jumping to adidas).

Basically, for every Villanova (solid versions of the split numbers used on the basketball uni's, white on blue) Delaware (Texas Tech's FB numbers in yellow on blue) and UMass (Miami FL's template with block numbers, and maropn/white) on the small-school level, there are schools like W&M and Penn that can have basic designs with just the swoosh being added to the chest.

[Ry]

On the Eastbay website it has Florida listed as one of the teams.

[NickSixers]

Saw this on a Penn State board. Can't vouch for its authenticity, but I figured that folks here would be interested. It does come from the UF Athletic Dept. website.

[Survival79]

Saw this on a Penn State board. Can't vouch for its authenticity, but I figured that folks here would be interested. It does come from the UF Athletic Dept. website.

UF Football To Wear Special Nike Jersey Against Georgia

*Takes deep breath*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[andrewharrington]

So since this is a promotion of the tri-bolt two-color sleeve thinger, how does the hideous Oregon jersey with the square numbers and the diamond plate pattern on the sleeves fit in with that exactly? I doesn't have two different sleeves like all the others. I think an Oregon jersey with a yellow sleeve would look 12 times better than that monstrosity in the other thread.

[ebod39]

Still, there are smaller schools that wear Nike who've kept traditional looks.  The example that comes to mind for me is my wife's alma mater (William & Mary), which switched to Nike 2 years ago, and they wear very traditional, almost plain uniforms.

A possible rationale for Nike plainness on smaller schools is the fact that such schools provide less exposure for the swoosh.

Nike outfits Vanderbilt's football and basketball teams. The football design is more basic. The basketball design was a black and gold version of the Kansas template (which KU has since ditched since jumping to adidas).

Basically, for every Villanova (solid versions of the split numbers used on the basketball uni's, white on blue) Delaware (Texas Tech's FB numbers in yellow on blue) and UMass (Miami FL's template with block numbers, and maropn/white) on the small-school level, there are schools like W&M and Penn that can have basic designs with just the swoosh being added to the chest.

your pretty close in your assesment. Nike has fits the NCAA teams into three tiers, your Miami, Penn States and USC's in tier 1 (ie: big programs football schools), your Illinois and Vandies (decent football programs but known more for basketball) in tier 2 and then the William & Marys

in tier 3. The tier 1 programs get all the attention and more time is spent on their stuff and

making them happy. Tier 2 teams are after thoughts and any changes are strictly from the

college or coaches input usually. The tier 3 teams usually just order their stuff from the teams

sales division, picking a template (ie: Miami) and having it colored up the way they want or with

suggestions. They buy basic sideline apparel and training gear, Nike puts the school logo

on it, or not. Some apparel at this teir 3 level would just be blank nike branded stuff. So some lowere division schools you see wearing Nike may not have a contract with Nike, they just bought their stuff like they would going to the local sporting goods store.

[VitaminD]

your pretty close in your assesment. Nike has fits the NCAA teams into three tiers, your Miami, Penn States and USC's in tier 1 (ie: big programs football schools), your Illinois and Vandies (decent football programs but known more for basketball) in tier 2 and then the William & Marys

in tier 3. The tier 1 programs get all the attention and more time is spent on their stuff and

making them happy. Tier 2 teams are after thoughts and any changes are strictly from the

college or coaches input usually. The tier 3 teams usually just order their stuff from the teams

sales division, picking a template (ie: Miami) and having it colored up the way they want or with

suggestions. They buy basic sideline apparel and training gear, Nike puts the school logo

on it, or not. Some apparel at this teir 3 level would just be blank nike branded stuff. So some lowere division schools you see wearing Nike may not have a contract with Nike, they just bought their stuff like they would going to the local sporting goods store.

Thanks for the info. Good stuff - I was hoping I was on the right track, but this helped a lot. Is the same true for adidas and Russell as well?

[Mingjai]

Here's an article written by BYU's former AD about BYU recent uniform update illustrating how the Nike outfitting process works:

Val Hale: LaVell comes through for Cougars ? again

Basically, earlier this year BYU's new coach decided to order new uniforms for the '05 season, but since Nike requires an 18 month lead time to make changes, he was told to take a hike. As a result, the coach had to get LaVell Edwards to pull some strings at Nike to get the updated uniforms made.

[Michigan Dave]

Per the LA Times, Pete Carroll declined the offer for USC to wear the uniform, and Florida will wear them tomorrow against Georgia at the Cocktail Party.

[Michigan Dave]

[Survival79]

That's just a Photoshop of the Virginia Tech jersey:

[Michigan Dave]

That's just a Photoshop of the Virginia Tech jersey:

Yeah...I posted the wrong link. I meant to hit this one:

**EDIT** Even this one has been changed and is just showing as a replica with an orange sleeve. Oh well. I guess I'm destined to post nothing more than that small photo from Gatorzone. Meh.

[ebod39]

your pretty close in your assesment. Nike has fits the NCAA teams into three tiers, your Miami, Penn States and USC's in tier 1 (ie: big programs football schools), your Illinois and Vandies (decent football programs but known more for basketball) in tier 2 and then the William & Marys

in tier 3. The tier 1 programs get all the attention and more time is spent on their stuff and

making them happy. Tier 2 teams are after thoughts and any changes are strictly from the

college or coaches input usually. The tier 3 teams usually just order their stuff from the teams

sales division, picking a template (ie: Miami) and having it colored up the way they want or with

suggestions. They buy basic sideline apparel and training gear, Nike puts the school logo

on it, or not. Some apparel at this teir 3 level would just be blank nike branded stuff. So some lowere division schools you see wearing Nike may not have a contract with Nike, they just bought their stuff like they would going to the local sporting goods store.

Thanks for the info. Good stuff - I was hoping I was on the right track, but this helped a lot. Is the same true for adidas and Russell as well?

I'm not certain about their strategies, however if I was to guess abour Adidas, considering they

have smaller amount of teams to service, would expect that they do something similiar but are

probably more apt to give them all equal priority. I am not sure if they havea "team sales" division for football, so that would change things a bit. Russell I would imagine treats

all their school equally, knowing they're lucky to have them as clients and don't want to lose anymore to the big bad sportswear goliaths.

[sscrunner06]

Wow. As a Gator fan, I am really disappointed that Florida bought into this stupidity. Florida is one of the decreasingly few teams who have a respectable Nike jersey without all of the unnecessary piping/garbage. I'm not very happy about this at all.

[BaltimoreFan]

I saw the VT jerseys in action last Thursday. I had no idea about the promotion and was just confused. These are probably the stupidest things I've ever seen. All Nike did (except for the Oregon jersey which is just plain crap) is add a different colored sleeve to the current jersey. There is no creativity to it. They could have at least it up a little more than that.