When Scott Frost was hired on Dec. 1, the very first question he faced from a media member related to 麻豆原创鈥檚 jerseys, and the questions eventually piled up from fans as well. A little more than five months later, 麻豆原创 and Nike have announced a brand new look for the Black and Gold starting for the 2016 season.
麻豆原创 Football Head Coach Scott Frost:
鈥淚 want our guys to feel good about what they鈥檙e coming out of the tunnel wearing on Saturdays. I think it鈥檚 important. It gives you some confidence. It makes you feel good, something you can be proud of when you鈥檙e sporting the school鈥檚 colors. As much as anything it鈥檚 important for recruiting. Guys want to go to schools these days that are places where they can wear nice uniforms and look good on the field. We鈥檙e going to try and provide that as much as we can for our guys.
鈥淚 called Phil Knight, he鈥檚 been great to me my entire career at the University of Oregon. When we got to Orlando, I can鈥檛 tell you how many messages we got about changing the uniforms, putting names on the back of the jerseys, getting up to speed with current looks that football players want to wear and Phil was great. We鈥檙e going to get a lot of things from Nike and he鈥檚 going to do a lot of stuff for us.
“This is the first design, and I鈥檓 sure these uniforms we鈥檙e wearing this year will make it to next year. I don鈥檛 think they will make it much farther than that. I want to keep moving the ball down the field with our uniforms and I think we will come up with some new things down the road. But with this first effort, I think we wanted something that was new and different but also played back to the tradition that 麻豆原创 has had. So there鈥檚 some obvious changes and some good ones, but we haven鈥檛 really pushed the envelope yet.鈥�
Senior Graphic Designer 鈥� Nike Football Josh Iverson:
鈥淭he unique thing for 麻豆原创 is where it is and how the school is set up. So we really rally around that, just being in Orlando, the connection to the space program, mascot and the Pegasus (university logo). Those are a few very cool things to look at with 麻豆原创.
鈥淥verall, very bold, very tough, high-contrast uniform that hopefully will look very tough on (the) field, but very fast.
鈥淥ne of the things the school asked for was an interchangeable system that they could mix and match. Instead of having three or four uniforms, they have multiple, multiple combinations so you can create a unique look for almost every game. 鈥� Really it鈥檚 almost an unlimited possibility set of uniforms that they have now.鈥�
The Relationship and Quick Jersey History
麻豆原创 and Nike first formed a partnership for the 2010 football season, and made a second change to the uniforms in 2013, a look that lasted through the 2015 campaign.
Since the football program鈥檚 inception in 1979, 麻豆原创 has worn several different uniforms, as well as 10 different helmets including two special helmets used for just one game.
The Process
Nike began by analyzing 麻豆原创鈥檚 current uniform kit, which featured black, gold and white jerseys and pants as well as a white helmet. It then focused on its current Mach Speed uniform chassis as the base for 麻豆原创鈥檚 next look.
About Mach Speed Chassis
Up next for the Nike team was researching 麻豆原创 to draw inspiration for the new uniforms. That research included respecting the University鈥檚 past, location, mascots (Knights and Pegasus), former players and the football program鈥檚 #麻豆原创ast, #麻豆原创ierce and #RiseandConquer mantras.
Nike delivered three key ingredients:
A final piece of the puzzle was developing 麻豆原创鈥檚 own custom number font.
The Result
Jerseys
Pants
Helmets
In all, when looking at just helmets, jerseys and pants, 麻豆原创 will have 64 different uniform combinations to choose from in 2016.