Between The Eers: WVU Football Uniform Ideas
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00:03 In the world of the transfer portal, NIL, conference
00:13 realignment, all this crazy stuff going on at College
00:16 Sports, it just feels like so much has changed
00:20 in the last handful of years to the last decade.
00:24 West Virginia obviously playing in the Big 12 Conference
00:26 where virtually nobody in their footprint,
00:30 in their regional footprint, until this past year
00:33 was Cincinnati.
00:35 But one thing can change and will
00:39 change in the very near future, and that is the West Virginia
00:43 football uniforms.
00:45 Good morning, everybody.
00:47 Skylar Callin here on Between the Ears.
00:49 And today, I figured we'd touch on a little something,
00:54 something a little different, and that
00:56 is the uniform situation.
00:59 So WVU football got a rebrand or a refresh,
01:05 whatever you want to call it, new batch of uniforms in 2013
01:09 and 2019.
01:11 These are typically six-year deals
01:13 that they have with Nike, meaning
01:15 that this upcoming season in 2024
01:17 will be the last in which they sport the current look, which
01:22 most fans don't really seem to care for all that much.
01:26 It's too bland.
01:28 It's very-- it's almost too plain.
01:34 And it's a fine line to walk because with West Virginia
01:38 and the school and a program that is as storied as it is,
01:43 you don't want to go too crazy with it.
01:45 You don't want to stray too far away from the tradition
01:49 or the traditional look.
01:51 But this current look, it's not bad.
01:55 It looks good, but it's not, I think, maybe the best look.
02:02 So here's my thoughts on the current ones.
02:07 I think really the one that stands out
02:09 the most in terms of doesn't really fit West Virginia
02:14 is the away uniform.
02:16 I mean, the white and the blue, it is clean as hell.
02:21 Like, don't get me wrong, it is an icy look,
02:25 as the kids would call it.
02:26 But it's not-- it doesn't scream West Virginia.
02:31 Like, if you just happen to flip through the channels
02:33 and you're just a casual fan and you're going through
02:38 and all of a sudden that game pops up,
02:40 the first thing that probably pops across your head
02:42 is not West Virginia.
02:43 It's like Penn State or something like that.
02:47 It doesn't look like WVU.
02:50 It's too white and too blue.
02:53 There's not enough gold factored in,
02:55 especially when you go to the Stormtroopers
02:57 or you go white, white, blue, or you go blue, white, white.
03:02 There's virtually no gold in the uniform.
03:05 So that, to me, is what I would change with the road set,
03:11 is you got to bring the gold numbering--
03:13 or the gold outlining back.
03:16 Go back to the Geno Smith, Bruce Ervin, Tavon Austin,
03:21 Stedman Bailey days, where they had the gold right here.
03:25 They had the gold on the shoulder pads as well.
03:27 But they also had the gold lining on the numbers.
03:31 I don't know if I would go with the gold here or here.
03:34 But I think there's a way that you could probably
03:36 do it to where it looks more modern, looks still sleek.
03:42 But I think the gold outlining on the numbers has to return.
03:47 It just looks so good.
03:49 When you had that yellow around the blue,
03:53 it just really popped off the jersey.
03:56 The blue uniforms, again, really the blue and the gold,
04:01 all three jerseys are just very, very basic.
04:05 I mean, it doesn't look like there was much put into them.
04:10 From a design perspective, it was just,
04:12 let's just slap some unique numbers on there
04:16 and put the Flying WV very smally, very minuscule right
04:22 here on the neck, and there's your jersey.
04:26 So I don't really care for it.
04:29 It's too bland.
04:30 And I think the one thing that I really, really like the most
04:34 out of pretty much most West Virginia uniforms
04:38 over the years is the Flying WV on the side of the shoulder pad.
04:42 That's got to come back.
04:43 I mean, you had it during the major days.
04:46 You had it during Pop Weiss days.
04:48 Every era of good Mountaineer football
04:51 had the Flying WV on the side of the shoulder pad,
04:54 or the side of the jersey back then,
04:56 because I guess the shoulder pads, or the jerseys,
04:58 came past the shoulder pads back in the day.
05:00 But I think that's got to come back.
05:04 The Flying WV right here that's not even an inch tall
05:09 on the neck is not enough for me.
05:11 I mean, I think you've got to really sport that thing.
05:14 It's one of the best looking logos in college sports,
05:17 arguably in all sports, and you've
05:19 got to be able to represent that a little bit better.
05:21 If not, I think also an alternative
05:23 could be maybe even putting the state on the side,
05:26 or maybe putting the state on one side,
05:29 the Flying WV on the other.
05:30 I think that'd be a cool way to do it,
05:32 or you could implement the country roads kind of uniform
05:36 look, where you take the helmet decal that they
05:38 have with the Flying WV inside the state,
05:42 put that on the sides of the shoulder pads,
05:44 and I think that's one or two.
05:46 I don't think you can go wrong by putting either the state,
05:50 the Flying WV, or some combination of the two
05:53 on the actual jersey.
05:55 I think that's got to be something
05:57 that they've got to go with.
05:59 The whole idea behind the matte helmets,
06:04 the matte finished helmets where there's no gloss to them,
06:11 it was a really big thing.
06:14 Back in 2011, '12, '13, that was kind of
06:18 like the next wave of uniforms.
06:21 And it just had a different look because no one really
06:25 had that at the time.
06:26 It was just kind of starting to come out.
06:29 Now it's really just overused.
06:31 And I think it's OK to have maybe for a particular uniform,
06:37 maybe like an alternate or something.
06:38 But to have it for all three, or I guess really all 30
06:44 some combinations that you have, it's a little over the top.
06:48 I think you need to go back to the glossy look.
06:51 The glossy look, man, like that blue helmet
06:55 under the lights at Milan Pushkar Stadium.
06:59 I mean, talk about chef's kiss.
07:01 Like it is gorgeous.
07:04 That is, in my opinion, the best helmet.
07:07 And I know it's very basic too, but that is the best helmet
07:10 they've ever had.
07:11 The glossy blue helmets from the Pat Wigeno kind of years,
07:17 they've got to bring those back.
07:18 Get rid of the matte blue.
07:20 I don't think it makes sense to have the blue.
07:22 If you want to keep the matte white,
07:23 that's fine because I think there's a way that you can kind
07:28 of implement that to all the uniforms and it makes sense.
07:31 You don't really need a glossy white,
07:33 even though glossy white probably
07:35 wouldn't look bad either.
07:37 The gold helmet, I think in certain combinations
07:44 it looks right.
07:45 It looks good.
07:47 I'll tell you this, I'm not a fan of the banana suits.
07:51 Yellow from top to bottom, I'm not for it.
07:55 But I think in some uniform sets it makes sense.
08:00 The grays I could care less for.
08:02 I just-- I mean, I get it.
08:04 And this is a very touchy subject.
08:06 So and the reason I'm even bringing this whole subject
08:10 to the table today is because Rodney Gallagher went
08:13 on the Athletic Aesthetic podcast,
08:15 I want to say probably in the last week or so.
08:17 I'm not really sure the date.
08:19 But he kind of mentioned like, hey,
08:21 we're going to be getting new uniforms next year, as in 2025,
08:26 I would assume.
08:28 And they kind of asked him about his whole kind of perspective
08:34 of what he would like to see them take as an idea
08:39 and make it into a uniform.
08:40 He's saying go all black, head to toe,
08:44 incorporate some mountains in there, which I like.
08:47 I think that's a nice touch.
08:49 Maybe you could do that somewhere on the shoulder pads.
08:52 And he was basically kind of going
08:54 for another country roads themed concept,
08:58 but black head to toe.
09:00 I don't mind it.
09:01 Here's my thing on the black/gray uniforms.
09:05 They're alternates for a reason.
09:07 And I get-- fans get extremely upset about it.
09:10 At least a portion of the fan base
09:11 gets upset about it when you go away
09:14 from the hardcore tradition blue and gold.
09:17 I get it.
09:18 It's not what you're used to.
09:20 It's what has been worn for years and years and years.
09:24 But in this day and age, it's about the fashion.
09:28 It's about the style, the look, and feel good, play good,
09:31 that kind of thing.
09:32 When you're recruiting and you can take all the pictures
09:36 and stuff, it doesn't sound like it's
09:37 something that should matter.
09:39 But in reality, it does.
09:41 To these kids, it's not going to maybe make
09:44 them make their decision.
09:46 But hey, if you're kind of up in the air
09:49 and really can't decide between two schools,
09:52 I'm not saying it's going to come down to the uniforms
09:54 by any means.
09:55 It should never come down to that.
09:57 And if it does, you're probably making the wrong decision.
09:59 But it has a part in it.
10:02 It has a small percentage.
10:05 The team has cool uniforms.
10:07 Yeah, makes sense.
10:10 If a team doesn't have the grandest of looks,
10:15 then maybe you want to move on from that school.
10:19 But maybe not.
10:20 But my whole take on the black/gray thing
10:23 is it's an alternate for a reason.
10:24 You're not going to be wearing it every single weekend.
10:27 So fans, if you see them come out
10:29 with a black and/or gray uniform combination, don't panic.
10:34 Don't freak out.
10:35 Don't go to Facebook and start complaining about,
10:38 oh, black is not a school color.
10:42 Gray is not a school color.
10:44 I mean, it's nonsense.
10:46 You're going to be wearing it one time a year, more
10:48 than likely.
10:49 Maybe two, because sometimes these things
10:51 get thrown into bowl games.
10:53 But it's not going to become a regular thing.
10:56 So don't ever fear, oh, because they introduce a black uniform,
11:03 that that's going to eventually start to take over.
11:05 They're going to become black and go-- it's not
11:07 going to happen.
11:08 Same thing can be said about gray.
11:11 Those that feared about the gray a decade or so ago,
11:17 where has that gone?
11:19 It's still kind of an every once in a while thing.
11:22 So I think if they do move into a new direction
11:27 here with the new uniform or with uniforms, my opinion,
11:32 you got to go with one or the other.
11:33 You can't have both gray and black.
11:36 You've got to just pick one.
11:37 And to me, get rid of the gray.
11:42 It is a very, very weird kind of look, I think.
11:48 I think the black and gold obviously go together.
11:54 But I think even the blue, if you can kind of sprinkle
11:58 in that blue in some areas, there are some schools--
12:00 and I think Albany actually may be one of them--
12:03 where they have a black and blue--
12:05 like a black jersey with blue numbering,
12:08 and it looks really good.
12:10 You got to hit a home run on the concept,
12:13 because if you don't, then black and blue just looks like blah.
12:16 But if you get the concept right,
12:19 it can look pretty sexy.
12:21 I just don't know, again, what that would look like.
12:25 But I think you go black instead of gray.
12:28 Get rid of the grays.
12:29 The gray, too-- and I've noticed not only in football,
12:32 in basketball, too, you can see the sweat.
12:37 You can see all the marks of where they've been sweating.
12:40 And I guess you can kind of see it on the gold uniforms
12:45 a little bit.
12:46 You really can't see it on the blue or the white.
12:48 You can rarely ever see it.
12:51 I don't even think it's possible that you can really
12:53 see it on the black uniforms, the ones
12:56 that the basketball team has, and the ones
12:58 that you see all across college football.
13:01 It's a solid look.
13:03 I think if you hit it right and it makes sense,
13:06 you do the black uniform.
13:09 You could do the coal rush and all that stuff.
13:12 Everyone would be excited about it.
13:13 And I know there's, again, that little sliver of the fan base
13:20 that would just absolutely hate it.
13:21 But again, look, it's for probably one game a year.
13:24 And it doesn't matter.
13:25 If the team wins, you're going to be happy anyways.
13:28 So that's kind of my whole spiel on the whole uniform
13:31 situation.
13:32 Again, West Virginia will, I believe--
13:35 I haven't got this confirmed, but I
13:37 believe this will be their last year
13:39 under the current uniform look before transitioning possibly
13:44 into something else.
13:45 Now, if that is the case, they're
13:47 already having these discussions about what
13:51 that next uniform will look like.
13:53 Because WVU, as a university, as an athletic program,
13:58 as a football program, they kind of
14:00 have to have an idea of what they want it to look like.
14:04 So they can send a pitch to Nike.
14:06 Nike can start working on it.
14:08 They get it signed off.
14:09 Because this is also obviously going to impact sales
14:12 and everything else.
14:13 They have to get this approved by a certain date.
14:15 I don't know that exact date.
14:17 I can try and figure that out.
14:19 But I would assume that they're already getting
14:23 the ball rolling on this process.
14:26 So I think it's a fun thing.
14:28 And hey, look, it seems like Neil Brown and this program
14:32 have really started to maybe turn the corner.
14:35 They had a 9-1 season last year.
14:38 You may have a really good year again this year.
14:41 And it's a good time to whip out a new look
14:45 on the back of potentially two really strong seasons.
14:47 So let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
14:50 I really want to know, outside of the black and the gray
14:53 uniform look, what you would like
14:55 to see from the traditional side of it, the blue, gold,
14:57 the white.
14:58 Do they keep all three helmets?
15:00 Do they keep all three jerseys, all three pants?
15:03 What do you want to see when they do eventually rebrand?
15:07 It's either going to be this year, next year,
15:09 sometime in the near future.
15:10 It will happen.
15:12 What concepts do you want to see?
15:14 Numbers, mountains, wording.
15:17 What kind of things do you want to see on the new WVU football
15:22 uniforms that are going to be coming out here potentially
15:26 in the next couple of years?
15:27 Let me know on the YouTube comments.
15:29 And while you're on there, hit subscribe at Mountaineers Now.
15:32 Give us a like on our channel as well.
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15:38 And also, follow us on X at Mountaineers Now.
15:42 I'm Skylar Callahan.
15:43 You've been watching Between the Ears.
15:44 We'll be back with another episode tomorrow morning.
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