Kansas University’s athletic department is sticking to its commitment, and the team uniforms are getting replaced as a result.
To stay up to date with the university’s vision of one unified KU – in both colors and logo – the Jayhawks’ sports team will undergo uniform tweaks starting this fall.
That includes football and men’s basketball. Football will have new uniforms unveiled soon – perhaps at KU’s media day in Lawrence on Aug. 7. Among the changes are the new Trajan KU logo on the helmets, and new numbers to resemble the Trajan font on the jerseys.
Men’s basketball will have similar changes on their jerseys this winter.
“The colors will stay the same. The Jayhawk will stay the same,” KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said. “The font will change to something that is close to what the Trajan font is.”
The Jayhawk actually already was changed recently, though it was subtle – the new “KU” logo replaced the older one on the bird’s body. The bird kept the same look.
For football, it will be the fourth different uniform since 2001. Terry Allen-coached teams had a royal-blue color through the 2001 season. KU changed to a dark blue when coach Mark Mangino was hired before the 2002 season, then switched to the university-wide “KU blue” before the 2005 season – around the same time adidas replaced Nike as the athletic department’s apparel provider.
The university adopted the Trajan font lettering in the summer of 2005, paying $88,900 to LandreyMorrow, a Portland, Ore., firm, to help come up with the design. By that time, KU’s football uniforms already were in the works, which is why the block lettering and numbering has been seen on the helmets and jerseys the last two seasons.
The athletic department wasn’t forced to follow the university’s unified plan, but chose to from the onset. The next step in the evolution of the gameday attire reflects that.
“We committed at the very beginning that we would be on board with the unifying effort that the university was undergoing,” Marchiony said. “We committed to them right away. It’s not something the university said (to do). This is something we committed very early to the chancellor and everyone involved.”