Arguably the hottest debate among virtually any group of college football fans is the choice of uniform that their team is wearing. For the University of Washington football program this debate has grown intense in recent years as to whether or not the uniforms have gone too far away from being traditional.
The growing use of black helmets, white helmets and black uniforms is something that has caused consternation among some long-time supporters of the program. On the other hand, the increase of black in the uniforms and the white helmet has gone over well with the most important people the players.
The ability to keep the players happy and taking the field looking like a champion was a principle that I held to very much as equipment manager. Whether I was a student manager at Washington, when I worked at Virginia, UCLA, and a small division III school Castleton State where I helped start a football program from scratch.
I always had a mindset of having the most innovative look that best told the story of the program. Fast forward to 2014 and the new look unveiled uniform wise for the Husky football program and they in partnership with Nike in combining modern technology but incorporating the history of the program.
For example, the jaws that were inserted into the new uniforms to represent Husky Stadium. That is something that is innovative and tells the story within the uniform that makes the Washington football program so unique and special.
Next, the Northwest Numerals that are topped off in the corner with gold. This is innovative because at the end of the day the goal is to restore in the Northwest by making the Huskies the top team in the region. It also sends the right message about the Washington football brand meaning business with its look under Chris Petersen.
Another outside the box innovation that respects the Husky tradition is along the interior of the neck on the jersey. There is now a graphic that represents sled dogs moving as one unit. This epitomizes the Washington football program in that at its all about team with the right mix of superstar players and those guys that develop in to great players.
Finally, has the Husky program lost its way with its football uniforms in regard to tradition. They have not lost their way whatsoever. If anything they have raised the bar for other schools for their own future uniform redesigns in the future.