Nike Advised UT In "Lady Vols" Branding Decision, But School Says It Made Final Call

Nike last April said it believed "the continued use of Lady Volunteers further segments an athletic institution that is striving to be united as ‘One Tennessee,'" according to brand evaluation document cited by Dustin Dopirak of the Knoxville NEWS-SENTINEL. The document "represents the first public indication of Nike’s role" in the Univ. of Tennessee’s "controversial November decision to restrict the use of the Lady Vols nickname to the women’s basketball program." UT Senior Associate AD/Communications Jimmy Stanton said that Nike's evaluation of the brand "was not a formal recommendation that the nickname be discontinued." He added that the decision "was purely the choice of the athletic department." Stanton in an e-mail wrote, "Nike did not make decisions for the University of Tennessee. However, I think you would agree they have considerable branding expertise and steward a number of successful brands." Stanton said that UT "did not give Nike any specific questions to answer in the audit and did not specifically ask for an evaluation of the Lady Vols brand." Dopirak noted the brand audit "included no detail about the methodology Nike used to determine that the nickname was segmenting the institution, and there is no evidence cited as proof." Other observations "include concerns over a lack of consistency in wordmarks, numerals and icons from sport to sport." Nike also said that it "saw inconsistency in the shade of orange on uniforms and saw inconsistent use of the checkerboard pattern on uniforms" (Knoxville NEWS-SENTINEL, 3/22).