UW Adidas contract

[killerB]

Has Adidas crapped out any mock-ups for the jerseys yet? Lasers and fog machine reveal party?

Spring game reveal? Not to wear during the game most likely, but the mocks. I thought I read somewhere we'd get to see some mocks this spring. Gear avail for purchase July 1.

 

[LongforDodd]

I don't know who has a say in what, but the way the uniforms looked, design-wise, was the least of the problems with Russell. The main problems were image and branding. Many of our current players have expressed excitement about the change and recruits probably feel the same way. Russell is basically the antithesis of "cool".

Our image suffers not from our uniform supplier but mainly from the inconsistent results on the field and court. Get a national buzz going about the program through consistent winning and the athletes and recruits won't care if we wear Osh Kosh or Dickeys. Just win baby and the rest takes care of itself.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Our image suffers not from our uniform supplier but mainly from the inconsistent results on the field and court. Get a national buzz going about the program through consistent winning and the athletes and recruits won't care if we wear Osh Kosh or Dickeys. Just win baby and the rest takes care of itself.

18-22 year old athletes absolutely care about brand-name swag and none of them would be caught dead in Russell gear if they weren't obligated to wear it. It is what it is. Sure, if we were already winning at the level of Bama, maybe we could wear whatever and they wouldn't care. But we don't have the luxury to shoot ourselves in the foot, even on details that seem small. There's a reason we were the last power 5 school wearing Russell and there is a reason that they have left the uniform business.

 

[LongforDodd]

18-22 year old athletes absolutely care about brand-name swag and none of them would be caught dead in Russell gear if they weren't obligated to wear it. It is what it is. Sure, if we were already winning at the level of Bama, maybe we could wear whatever and they wouldn't care. But we don't have the luxury to shoot ourselves in the foot, even on details that seem small. There's a reason we were the last power 5 school wearing Russell and there is a reason that they have left the uniform business.

Go ahead and sweat the small stuff if you want to. Have at it. We don't have to win at the 'bama level but until we do better than what we're doing now (and what we're doing now, some say, is better than it has ever been to a degree) then apparel contracts, unfortunately, will maintain an out-of-place priority.

 

[Architorture23]

Its a chicken or egg thing... I've been persuaded that kids do care about brand, all things being equal. Yeah, if we were winning every game then it wouldn't matter, but how do you win every game? By convincing the best players to come play at your school.

 

[LongforDodd]

Its a chicken or egg thing... I've been persuaded that kids do care about brand, all things being equal. Yeah, if we were winning every game then it wouldn't matter, but how do you win every game? By convincing the best players to come play at your school.

I agree with the both of you to an extent but I guess I give young S/A's more maturity than to be distracted by shiny objects (the name on jerseys). It seems that everyone who is up in arms about our unis the last few years have been driven mostly by the look. Perhaps there are other factors that have gone into their displeasure but GT itself should have driven the bus with the looks and perhaps everything else that seemed to be so divisive to the fan base. For all the greatness that is GT, we sure don't handle stuff like this very well.

 

[smokey_wasp]

I agree with the both of you to an extent but I guess I give young S/A's more maturity than to be distracted by shiny objects (the name on jerseys). It seems that everyone who is up in arms about our unis the last few years have been driven mostly by the look. Perhaps there are other factors that have gone into their displeasure but GT itself should have driven the bus with the looks and perhaps everything else that seemed to be so divisive to the fan base. For all the greatness that is GT, we sure don't handle stuff like this very well.

I think for the fans, especially the older ones, it has been the look, shade of gold, etc. For the athletes, it has been the brand. I expect the fans to still complain, but I think the athletes will be happier with Adidas. On your last point, I think we all agree. We dont handle this stuff very well!

 

[andrew]

I find the topic of uniforms to be an eternal source of entertainment. We had ample fun bitching about Russell. Now we're getting to bitch about Adidas. And we'll get another opportunity to bitch once the design is actually unveiled. It's like the Jelly of the Month Club: the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.

Speaking of uniform designs, anyone see what Nike did for VPISU? Woof.

Those look really good, or at least as good as they can look given the ugly colors.

I think the general consensus is Russell has actually given us good looking unis the past couple years. Possibly because they've stopped trying to do crazy stuff since they knew they were getting out of the business.