Classic coach, classic uniforms?

[Dr Z]

South Carolina Silver Chrome

Washington Gold Chrome

Redhawks have new uniforms and it makes Sports Illustrated.

[mivid12]

color me old school, but i think this uniform stuff is outta control

[ZachTheZip]

It distracts from what's really important: playing the actual game of football.

[Lee Adams]

color me old school, but i think this uniform stuff is outta control

Dress is not going to help these guys. UR correct.

[GP1]

color me old school, but i think this uniform stuff is outta control

I don't think it is out of control. I think it is an interesting change probably brought forward by design technologies that allow manufacturers to do things like this now. Technology provide change and we are seeing that in uniforms now.

And everyone laughed at the Buffalo Bills years ago when they sported CFL type uniforms. Seems sort of tame now.

At the end of the day, I don't care if the Zips are dressed like the guards in the 1974 version of The Longest Yard as long as they win.

[legendofzippy]

color me old school, but i think this uniform stuff is outta control

I agree with you, but if you listen to recruits they talk about uniforms a lot. It's a big factor for them. That still seems very odd to me, but every school is getting in on it, so it shows how important it is. Did you see the Miami players react to their new uniforms? You'd have thought a nude Megan Fox just walked out or something.

I'm guessing the football team will do more. The basketball team hit a home run with the black unis/twitter mess, so obviously the university is open to stuff like that. Plus, still interesting that the basketball team is almost exclusively blue and silver now. Will we see that bleed over into football or other sports? Maybe football would do a blue/silver alternate?

[Zipmeister]

I agree with you, but if you listen to recruits they talk about uniforms a lot. It's a big factor for them. That still seems very odd to me, but every school is getting in on it, so it shows how important it is. Did you see the Miami players react to their new uniforms? You'd have thought a nude Megan Fox just walked out or something.

I'm guessing the football team will do more. The basketball team hit a home run with the black unis/twitter mess, so obviously the university is open to stuff like that. Plus, still interesting that the basketball team is almost exclusively blue and silver now. Will we see that bleed over into football or other sports? Maybe football would do a blue/silver alternate?

Have you seen the new Penn State uniforms?

[Dr Z]

Have you seen the new Penn State uniforms?

I like them, they put the logo on the collar! JoPa is rolling over...

[legendofzippy]

Add WMU to the frenzy. New unis announced for them too, though they seem kind of blah.

Penn State seems to be rolling in the changes slowly. I'd imagine something on the helmet eventually, but they have much bigger recruiting problems obviously.

[mivid12]

the chrome helmets are hideous on every level...often times the jerseys are too 'busy', i get that young kids find it attractive but there's something to be said for developing an identity and tradition

again, color me old school

[ziptrumpet87]

Here's something I'll throw out there.

A challenge for you or whoever wants it... incorporate polymer chains rather than or in addition to the tire tread. They look a bit like a zipper, or a chemical version of barbed wire.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...rthographic.png

[Dr Z]

the chrome helmets are hideous on every level...often times the jerseys are too 'busy', i get that young kids find it attractive but there's something to be said for developing an identity and tradition. Again, color me old school

The hottest thing in college football right now?

Only today, HGI, as a result of that fateful Friday trip, sits at the forefront of the booming football-helmet design industry. Thom's company, shrouded in secrecy because of the sensitive nature of its work, produces prints and designs that vary from $60 to $600 for some 70 high school, college and NFL teams, including the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks.

About 50 college programs this fall, in an extension of the latest arms race to look good and attract recruits, will wear helmets that feature HGI's work in collaboration with the schools and their apparel providers.

Thom's college clients include Oregon, which donned perhaps the most notable HGI look -- a silver carbon-fiber design for the BCS title game in January 2011 -- Ohio State, Georgia, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, TCU, Iowa and Virginia Tech.

The helmet Oregon wore for its BCS title game battle with Auburn is probably the most famous that the graphics firm HGI has put together.

"They're the hottest thing in college football," McCoy said. "You sit there and you look at a football helmet for 20 years and think, 'What can we do to make this different?'"

HGI found a way to do it.

Hydro Graphics Inc.

The Zips need to keep up. 2014 would seem to be the time for optimism. Go get em super AD!

Trendy uniforms a differentiator (full story)

Uniforms. They're a topic around college football offices these days almost as often as the words "up-tempo offense." Indiana, for example, assembled its team for a uniform unveiling that has more than 300,000 views on YouTube. One Big Ten assistant said it was produced "purely as a recruiting tool." New uniforms make coaches downright giddy as they hit the recruiting trail.

[ZachTheZip]

No. If there's a recruit out there who would choose Akron over a similar offer somewhere because the uniforms are better, then I don't want to waste a scholarship on that kid. I want players focused on actual football, not on the glitz and glamour of being a D-I football player. The kind of kids that a garish uniform attracts are the kind that get arrested at frat parties and that miss class and end up ineligible to play.

[Zipmeister]

No. If there's a recruit out there who would choose Akron over a similar offer somewhere because the uniforms are better, then I don't want to waste a scholarship on that kid. I want players focused on actual football, not on the glitz and glamour of being a D-I football player. The kind of kids that a garish uniform attracts are the kind that get arrested at frat parties and that miss class and end up ineligible to play.

Geez Zach, you sound like me a couple of years ago. And wouldn't you know it, I have gone through about a 180 degree turnaround on this topic. I'm now pushing for us to be the first football team with fish net pants. I think this would really boost attendance primarily as the ladies interest in the game increases.

[Roo]

No. If there's a recruit out there who would choose Akron over a similar offer somewhere because the uniforms are better, then I don't want to waste a scholarship on that kid. I want players focused on actual football, not on the glitz and glamour of being a D-I football player. The kind of kids that a garish uniform attracts are the kind that get arrested at frat parties and that miss class and end up ineligible to play.

This happens all the time....and yes, you would gladly take him.

Get with the times...just a fact of life. A kid turned down Baylor a couple years ago because they had boring uniforms. Kids talk about look all the time.

[mivid12]

This happens all the time....and yes, you would gladly take him.

Get with the times...just a fact of life. A kid turned down Baylor a couple years ago because they had boring uniforms. Kids talk about look all the time.

If a kid turns down a free education at a University based on his dislike of their uniform you likely don't want that kid based on his values/character or lack thereof

that's just my opine

[legendofzippy]

If a kid turns down a free education at a University based on his dislike of their uniform you likely don't want that kid based on his values/character or lack thereof

that's just my opine

It's strange to all of us, but it is a big factor for them. Besides, if they commit to someone with better unis, they're still getting a free education. It might mean they're a little silly, but not sure it means they have bad character.

I don't think Akron is lagging here anyway - our look has been upgraded over the years. If we somehow make a bowl in the near future, please tell me we don't hire the people that designed what Can't wore last year.

[tpsjugglerdude]

I don't think Akron is lagging here anyway - our look has been upgraded over the years. If we somehow make a bowl in the near future, please tell me we don't hire the people that designed what Can't wore last year.

That was their coach's brilliant design.

[K92]

I am a person who loves the football uniforms of my youth. I liked jerseys that didn't tuck in. I liked sleeves.

I liked it when teams wore fishnet practice jerseys on game day.

These are the unis I long for.

Those days are gone forever. Now everybody wears skin tight jerseys that are basically a stretch tube with holes for your head and arms to stick through. I am just not into the looks of today's uniform at all.

That being said, I think the Zips should do whatever they need to do to the uniforms to create buzz for prospective recruits. Everyone who says that we don't want to attract the kind of athlete that would be influenced by something as insignificant as a flashy uniform is forgetting all the silly things that influenced them when they were 17.

[Dr Z]

I think the Zips should do whatever they need to do to the uniforms to create buzz for prospective recruits. Everyone who says that we don't want to attract the kind of athlete that would be influenced by something as insignificant as a flashy uniform is forgetting all the silly things that influenced them when they were 17.

Bullseye!

[a-zip]

Bullseye!

I agree. You can joke about uniforms, etc. The fact is kids are different now, things are changing, we need to CHANGE so we can catch up. Seems to be working for Oregon........check this out!!! WOW

Oregon Ducks $68 Million dollar facility

Insane

[GP1]

I agree. You can joke about uniforms, etc. The fact is kids are different now, things are changing, we need to CHANGE so we can catch up. Seems to be working for Oregon........check this out!!! WOW

Oregon Ducks $68 Million dollar facility

Insane

Insane is right. On just about every level....

[legendofzippy]

Recruits are apparently going to force Oklahoma to change too...

Oklahoma Uniforms

[akzipper]

I agree. You can joke about uniforms, etc. The fact is kids are different now, things are changing, we need to CHANGE so we can catch up. Seems to be working for Oregon........check this out!!! WOW

Oregon Ducks $68 Million dollar facility

Insane

The Powerball is at $290 million right now. I'll gladly give UA a big check to build that for our football team.

[a-zip]

The Powerball is at $290 million right now. I'll gladly give UA a big check to build that for our football team.

I am certainly not suggesting we build a facility like that (since we don't have Phil Knight as a benefactor), ours facilities are just fine. I am just pointing out that kids these days like the flash and glitter. Redesigning our uniforms to something a little more "2013" would not cost anything. We need to shake the old Akron football image that has won THREE games in the last three years. I look at it as an inexpensive shot in the arm. Honestly, I cannot believe it has not been done already.