Univ. of Alabama football coach Nick Saban said the school likely will not be joining other colleges in debuting new unique uniforms, saying there is a "brand, there's an expectation of what people expect to see when Alabama plays football," according to Don Kausler Jr. of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. Saban said of UA's crimson and white uniforms, "That's a brand that has sort of been developed for how many years? You know, definitely since Coach (Paul) Bryant's been here. And all the years past that. So just for some marketing whim? I'm not really into that." He added, "I don't think the coach should change uniforms. I don't think the coach should change the color of helmets. I just don't believe that." Saban reiterated his "feelings that he expressed last season before Alabama made minimal changes when it wore special Nike Pro Combat uniforms for its home game against Mississippi State." Kausler noted though Saban "acknowledged that making uniform changes ultimately isn't his decision at Alabama, it's hard to imagine someone going against his wishes." Saban: "The reason I agreed to the small changes that we had last year, which people couldn't even hardly notice, was so that we would be able to get the other package of [things] to sell and for our players to have and all that other stuff. So it was a compromise on my part even to do that" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 9/15). Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan said, “In an era when all these teams are changing to black that don’t even have black in their uniforms because it’s a marketing tool and supposedly to attract impressionable kids, here’s a guy standing up for a good, sound tradition” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 9/15). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said UA, Penn State and USC are among the schools that do not need to change uniforms because they “have football identities that are wrapped into those uniforms and all their victories." The Univ. of Maryland, which drew headlines for its state flag-inspired Under Armour jerseys, "doesn’t have that." Kornheiser: "What Maryland did got Maryland in the game, and it was brilliant for Maryland” ("PTI," ESPN, 9/15).
BACK IN BLACK: ESPN’s Dan Le Batard said Maryland “has done something very dramatic” with the all-black uniforms they will wear Saturday against West Virginia, as they are "cool, these are different.” Le Batard: “There seems to have been an Under Armour plan here. Those uniforms are amazing. That’s a huge difference.” UM was "just trying to bring attention to Maryland” with their season-opening uniforms because “when was the last time Maryland got into the national conversation the way they did with those uniforms. That’s pretty smart by Maryland. They’ve just figured out how to get free advertising in a really creative way” (“Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 9/15). In Tacoma, John McGrath writes, "It wouldn't be accurate to say garish uniforms put Maryland on the map ... but the buzz generated from the Miami game has turned Maryland football into a national topic." McGrath: "In that sense, the Terps accomplished the impossible: They've displaced the Nike, er, Oregon Ducks ... as college football's Most Oddly Clothed Team." McGrath adds, "Now that Maryland has out-Oregoned Oregon, expect a sort of arms race to determine which school can out-Maryland Maryland" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 9/16).
