Stoops on Black Helmets

[akaukswoosh]

Brett Dawson ‏@BDawsonRivals2mIn live chat, Mark Stoops says "probably" no black helmets for UK this season. "Maybe somewhere in the future."

[BarristerCat]

I was going to mention this in the gray uni thread, but apparently I killed that thread. So, I'll bring it up here:

My thinking has always been that we'll see major uni changes in Stoops' second year, but not this year. The "maybe somewhere in the future" quote seems to back that up pretty well. There won't be any major changes this year because the design/production process takes just over a full calendar year. In order to get an entirely new uni set for a given season (say, 2014), the designs would have had to have been finalized in the Spring/Summer of the previous year (2013 in this example). So, that means Stoops hasn't been here long enough to get us in new unis this year.

I do, however, think Stoops wants to change the look. He's hinted at it a few times. I think that happens for next season, and I think it will be changed in a big way. I wouldn't be surprised to see the checkerboard pattern go away, either. My guess is that the uniform curmudgeons among us should just go ahead and be prepared to accept the fact that they aren't going to like it.

[KSRBEvans]

^I accepted that a long time ago. Whatever helps recruiting is fine.

I just find it a little humorous that we keep adding colors--we're now apparently going up to 4 (blue, white, gray, black). I can't wait to see what else gets added to the palette in the years to come. Still trailing Oregon (green, white, yellow, black, silver), so we've got some catching up to do, apparently.

[BigBlueBrock]

I was going to mention this in the gray uni thread, but apparently I killed that thread. So, I'll bring it up here:

My thinking has always been that we'll see major uni changes in Stoops' second year, but not this year. The "maybe somewhere in the future" quote seems to back that up pretty well. There won't be any major changes this year because the design/production process takes just over a full calendar year. In order to get an entirely new uni set for a given season (say, 2014), the designs would have had to have been finalized in the Spring/Summer of the previous year (2013 in this example). So, that means Stoops hasn't been here long enough to get us in new unis this year.

I do, however, think Stoops wants to change the look. He's hinted at it a few times. I think that happens for next season, and I think it will be changed in a big way. I wouldn't be surprised to see the checkerboard pattern go away, either. My guess is that the uniform curmudgeons among us should just go ahead and be prepared to accept the fact that they aren't going to like it.

god i hope they get rid of the checkers

[BigBlueBrock]

^I accepted that a long time ago. Whatever helps recruiting is fine.

I just find it a little humorous that we keep adding colors--we're now apparently going up to 4 (blue, white, gray, black). I can't wait to see what else gets added to the palette in the years to come. Still trailing Oregon (green, white, yellow, black, silver), so we've got some catching up to do, apparently.

blue, white, black, grey, fluorescent blue, silver

[BarristerCat]

^I accepted that a long time ago. Whatever helps recruiting is fine.

I just find it a little humorous that we keep adding colors--we're now apparently going up to 4 (blue, white, gray, black). I can't wait to see what else gets added to the palette in the years to come. Still trailing Oregon (green, white, yellow, black, silver), so we've got some catching up to do, apparently.

I think that is a uniquely "old guy" way of looking at alternate unis -- and I say that as someone that shares some of that feeling. Most people under 30 don't look at adding neutral "colors" to an alt uni as somehow altering the school's color scheme. There's plenty of support for that in the uni world, too. For instance, many schools/pro teams don't officially list white as a school/team color. Yet, every school/team has a white jersey (and most leagues don't require a team to wear white -- only a lighter colored uni for the home team). Many schools also use gray without listing it as an official color, and have for a long time (Ole Miss comes to mind). Heck, there's a whole pro league (and most of the entire sport) that uses gray as a uniform color and none of the teams in it list gray as an official color (MLB).

IMO, as long as they stick to using neutral colors (gray, black, even cream like some baseball teams are doing now) for the alts, then I don't see it as trying to add something to the sacred cow that is the school's color scheme. I say that even though I've come to hate black alts. I hate them, though, because most often they really don't look good. I'm not opposed to them philosophically.

[suncat05]

I like the idea of alternate uni's, always have. And as long as the colors blend well with royal blue/white, it's all good with me. I just wish we'd lose the stripes on the helmets. Just a plain color helmet with the interlocking UK logo, whether the helmet be solid white, solid blue, solid gray or black, or fluorescent blue, or those helmets with the mirror effect, it doesn't matter as long as we lose the stinkin' one or two stripe motif, it's all good!
When Coach Brooks went with the solid blue helmets with the interlocking UK on them, I thought it was the look we've needed for a long time. It's just a cleaner look.