October 11, 2014: When Matt Campbell’s Toledo team came to play Iowa State, the Cyclones went heavy on the mustard.
A moment I have dreaded since ISU’s hiring of a new football coach is here.
The Cyclones finally are going to keep up with the national trend of alternating uniforms a few times during the season. Players like it. Fans like it.
[Campbell says:] “You’d love to be at the point where you have the ability to wear a different uniform every game. Kids like that. We like that.”
Ugh. You know what looks good on a team? WINNING. You know what doesn’t? Hopping from trend to trend, acting like Pepsi to Iowa’s Coke. Spending time on things irrelevant to the program like “social media” and extra uniforms. The obsession with alternate uniforms on both the college and pro level is an indictment of short attention spans, prioritizing style over substance, inability to leave well enough alone, and marketers’ desire to squeeze every dollar it can from fans. It’s also a sign of having extra money to spend (see the high schools that can afford pink alternates).
When you’re not wearing the same home or away scheme on the field game in and game out, you don’t have uniforms. You have outfits.
The only way this can get worse is if one of those alternate uniforms is gray. Because nothing says “cardinal and gold” like wearing a pale imitation of your biggest rival.