Redesigning Tech

Saturday against Virginia Tech the Yellow Jackets center wore a jersey with a different number font than the rest of the players on offense.

With adidas taking over next year as the supplier of uniforms, let's hope we see fewer irregularities. But knowing Georgia Tech, who chose adidas over uni-giant Nike and up and comer Under Armour, I have zero confidence the uniforms will improve.

Some young buck in the Tech athletic department once made the comment that alumni want to see Tech wear their traditional uniforms, then noted that the uniforms had constantly changed over the years. There's truth to that statement: in the 40's and 50's Tech wore plain gold pants and white jerseys with three stripes. In the late 60's the helmets were white, the pants a mustard gold (or mustard jerseys and white pants). The mid 70's showed a return to the classic gold/white/gold look (above). That's where they lost their way.

From the 80's forward the Jackets have fallen victim to every uniform trend: black facemasks, drop shadow numbers, various number trim styles, various number fonts, gold numbers, various striping patterns on both jerseys and pants, black jerseys, gold jerseys, navy jerseys, striped socks, black socks. Thirty-five years of zero continuity. Tech hit bottom wearing the infamous Russell Athletics honeycomb unis on national TV against Virginia Tech (above). It was like the emperor's new clothes. 

Young fans love the honeycomb helmet. It does resemble the white lid worn in the 60's and 70's. To me from a distance they look cream colored. Tech should've kept the black/gold/black stripe pattern and used grey facemasks. Black masks on white and gold helmets look terrible. Perhaps adidas can help with this. Again, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Some other things I's like to see:

1. a consistent, deeper shade of gold. Nothing close to yellow.

2. Jerseys with simple necklines and collars that match the jersey color.

3. Are three patches needed on the front of the jersey? One GT, one ACC, a third the Russell R (to be replaced with the adidas logo). That's too much (see below).

4. Thick plain block jersey numbers that start at the base of the neck – not at the base of the shoulder pads where they can be obscured. I see too much of that, like Louisville wears.

5. traditional Tech stripes if possible, except these days jerseys don't have sleeves.

6. interesting the font of the names on the back of Tech's jerseys is only used by Tech and the Dallas Cowboys. I'm partial to block letters like Bama and Georgia and Clemson, but Tech's funky font has been around long enough that I'm used to it.

7. please stay away from all black and all grey unis. Nothing special about them – almost every team else does it. And all gold would be too much as well.

8. don't wear the white helmet against Miami or other white helmeted teams. Don't wear the gold helmet against gold helmeted teams like FSU. Use some common sense.

9. get good-looking school gear in the stores: sporting goods stores, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. Make it the same color (gold or navy or grey) and the same logos and fonts year after year, to get a sense of continuity.

Prediction: adidas will design a helmet with a large Buzz on the side. Not sure how I'll like it. Just let the facemask be grey.

These days Tech mixes and matches white pants and helmets so often that the traditional gold over white over gold look shows up fewer and fewer times. I'd like to see gold/white/gold more often. Only wear the white helmets when wearing white jerseys and helmets. I wouldn't mind seeing a navy or gold jersey every now and then, but once a year is more than enough – but only with white pants. I've liked how recent navy (or gold) jerseys have been filled with lots of gold and white trim (above). The mustard throwback jerseys broken out during Calvin Johnson's time would also be nice to see occasionally (below).

This gives us more than enough uni combos. No reason to wear four different uni combos in any one year. In fact, four is too many. No reason to wear white helmets with the gold pants. 

Helmet/jersey/pants

1. gold/white/gold: default uni, especially for homecoming and against UGA. The Dawgs wear the same thing every year. So should Tech. Also against Clemson.

2. white/white/white: once at home per year, preferably at night.

3. white/mustard/white throwbacks (at homecoming?)

4. gold/navy/white (1990 national champs).

I noticed something else about Saturday's game: the fans in the stands. Few alumni wore Tech gear. Sure it was chilly. Rabid fans have jackets in school colors. Heck, I own a Tech jacket. And cap. And shirt. Students wore bright yellow. I saw a grey Tech cap. Way to show your school spirit. With the alumni we have, wearing school gear is not a priority. Some things will never change.