FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[formerd3db]

Thanks again, newcard.

Thank you also, sflzman.  Also, great topic on uniforms and helmets you pose.  I will post my response/opinions to your question/topic later today or over the weekend, as I have to take care of some "day job" aspects right now!

Anyway, talk to you all later.

[Raider 68]

Former,

I love your response and agree with it on most parts, though I haven't been to hopes or trines (or Calvins for that matter ), but I'm going to go with the original question that was asked, about UNIFORMS haha

So about the uniforms, Albion by far had the worst until this year when they got the new ones. I still think Adrian has the best though, probably followed by alma (anything louisille style is really cool), followed by hope (kind of the Oregon of the MIAA with the 4 different jerseys). Albion is right there too, the new jerseys are nice but nothing too fancy about them. Trine then Olivet round off the "cooler" looking jerseys, before getting to Kalamazoo's hideous ones.

Just my opinion. Any other takers on this topic?

Also I was just thinking pants/jersey here, what do people think about the helmets in the conference?

sflzman,

Thanks for your input. I remember seeing K-zoo's uniforms when we lived in Western Michigan and I thought they were terrible. WMU's were not great either! Maybe someone has the ability to post each school side by side!

[RuleBritannia]

Former,

I love your response and agree with it on most parts, though I haven't been to hopes or trines (or Calvins for that matter ), but I'm going to go with the original question that was asked, about UNIFORMS haha

So about the uniforms, Albion by far had the worst until this year when they got the new ones. I still think Adrian has the best though, probably followed by alma (anything louisille style is really cool), followed by hope (kind of the Oregon of the MIAA with the 4 different jerseys). Albion is right there too, the new jerseys are nice but nothing too fancy about them. Trine then Olivet round off the "cooler" looking jerseys, before getting to Kalamazoo's hideous ones.

Just my opinion. Any other takers on this topic?

Also I was just thinking pants/jersey here, what do people think about the helmets in the conference?

Man, I loved Albion's old uniforms. My feeling is that the best uniforms are more than stripes and colors but that the objects on the uniform have a larger meaning. For example, the wings on Michigan's helmets are more than just a cool design, they are an irreplaceable part of Michigan's football tradition, same with Notre Dame's golden helmets, or the numbers on Alabama's helmets. The only adornment on Albion's old uniforms was the school name "ALBION" on the chest above the numbers. And I kind of thought that said it all 33 34 MIAAchampionships, and a national title, wearing those same uniforms, wins over every Division I program in Michigan, and Notre Dame. It was a clear statement of the history of Albion's program. The new ones are fine I guess, but they don't have quite the same air of tradition in them, and the "ALBION" on the chest is way smaller 

[sac]

Thanks for your input. I remember seeing K-zoo's uniforms when we lived in Western Michigan and I thought they were terrible. WMU's were not great either! Maybe someone has the ability to post each school side by side!

Western Michigan......home jersey's the same scheme in Black,  WMU has white, black and I think gold pants to wear.

There just isn't much you can do with black and gold on a uniform that will look good.  Brown and gold was even worse.



Kalamazoo

Despite my school's use of orange, there isn't much you can do with orange either

[Raider 68]

sac,

Thanks for the pics. The current WMU uniforms are better since they switched to black from the brown in the late 90's. K-zoo that is another story!

[formerd3db]

Great comments everyone re: the uniforms.  Without question, everyone has their favorites and dislikes.  There are certainly both good and bad aspects regarding all of those.  Anyway, here are my opinions on the uniforms:

Albion:  I agree with RuleBritannia - I liked the old tradional uniforms that Albion has, of which their current ones are pretty much the same.  I agree that the small lettering on the front chest for any school - and hope has that as well - doesn't look as good as the larger lettering and I would personally like to see all that go back to a little larger lettering; if schools are going to go with the name of their college/university on the front upper chest.  That said, I like Albion's current color of gold pants, the darker purple jersey's and the golden helmets (like Notre Dame) with purple (or black) facemasks.  If they keep the traditional "A" on the helmet, that is fine with me because I like those traditional single letters on helmets.  I did not like Albions bright yellow helmets of several years ago, the brighter purple ones were fine with the yellow "A" on them (i.e. the same colors as in their main "official" college logo and that of the NFL Minnesota Vikings), however, I still like the actual gold ones even better.

Alma: Again, I am partial to the traditional single white "A" on the side of the helmets (Alma's design of the "A" is a little different than Albion's, but both are good visuals), and I like the dark maroon helmets with the black facemasks.  I like the black face masks better than when they were white.  I did like, however, when Alma had the script "Alma" on the side when my brother played there and that would be neat to see if they ever went back to that (which is like what Pitt had when Dorsett and Marino where there and also like Colgate now has i.e. script "gate" on the side), yet I would understand if some people think that is just too "old school" to go back to.  I did not like the old white helmets that I've seen photos of that Alma had away back in the late '60's and early 1970's.  As to their uniforms, I do like the all dark maroon (both jerseys and pants) with white numbering for home games and I like the newer fancy style numbers they have as opposed to the traditional "block type" numbers; again I would like to see the Alma College on the upper front chest.  Their white away jerseys are good, and those can be used with either maroon pants and/or white pants - I do like the large type strips down the side if one is going to go with strips or they could use the type of "pointed stripe" that some teams use, such as the NFL Denver Broncos and some of the college teams; and/or just have the solid maroon pants. I did not like when Alma had yellow pants a couple of years when my brother played (it looked to much like Ferris State , but not as good as current Iowa State's uniforms.   Also, I'm sorry if I offend anyone with this, however, I just do not like that Scotty dog character logo (never have been able to like it for some reason) and would not put it on the helmet.

Adrian: I like their all black uniforms with the yellow numbers outlined in white.  I like their all black helmets with black facemasks (heck, black is "stealth" and classy for any team IMO).  As far as a logo, their "AC" is okay, although if they are to continue with that, I would redesign it - somehow it looks too mundane IMO.  I did like the old Bulldog paw logo they had for several years (which is like Clemsons - heck, liken that to California's old Bear claw paw print from years ago which I would like to see them bring back instead of the current script "Cal"  ).  As RuleBritannia mentioned, the U of Mich wing is so neat (of course, I'm bias since our dad was a U of M grad ) and Adrian had that for a few years (black helmets with the Mich yellow wings/3 stripes logo) since former Adrian head coach/now current Siena Heights Univ. head coach Jim Lyall played for Schembechler at Michigan.  I'm not sure what all yellow jerseys/game pants for away games (with their black helmets) would come across as looking like, but that might be neat similar to West Virginia's and Cal's all yellow uni's they use at times.

Hope: Well, once again, I am a traditionalist and "old school" if you will, I guess. I admit I like Hope's old uniforms which we had when I played which are like Auburn's.  I would return those, although use the same wider stripes on pants and jerseys that Auburn now uses and use the same pants for both home and away, but use the white jersey's for away.  Also, if you are going to leave Hope on the upper front chest, again, I would make it slightly larger lettering as mentioned above for the other schools.  I love the traditional "H" on the side (the one we have which is like Yale's and Brigham Young's "Y") and would leave that.  I do like the orange facemasks (instead of the old gray, although I see where many teams are going back to that, such as Michigan used in the Sugar Bowl and Alabama used in the national DI title game).  If Hope could afford it (which we all know is probably just not feasible at the DIII level for any of the schools ), it might be neat to see Hope use the white Auburn helmet for away games (like Hope used to have in the 1960's before switching to the navy blue helmets) and make the current "H" logo for that helmet only, i.e. like Auburn's with orane surrounded by small blue outline, and use dark navy blue facemasks for that helmet.  However, I would still keep the dark navy blue helmets as they are now for home games. Now, all that said, I certainly think it has been neat to see that Coach Kreps in recent years has changed the uniforms such that the all navy blue pants and the all orange pants have been used.  I might keep the all navy, but as much the orange looks fine also, I don't think it looks as good as the traditional Auburn/Hope white pants with the orange stripe/with small navy blue stripes on either side as I've mentioned above.

Kalamazoo:  I might really be opening a "hornet's nest" here (pun intended also ) with these comments/opinions after seeing some of you guys already posted comments on Kazoo's uniforms!  But here goes anyway (please, no one throw rotten apples or peaches at me that's kind of an "inside" story/joke from one of my Hope playing days away game bus trips, but I will leave that for another time - maybe !).  Once again, I like the old (yes, really old) college traditions and, as such, I really like Kazoo's old jersey's which were black and had the alternating orange/black stripes all the way down both arms only. .  That just suggests/fits in with the "hornet" nickname.  I would keep black pants with those (no stipres) and/or alternate that with their old design white pants with orange stripe/with small black stripes outlining that orange for aways games (or again, modernize that stripe design to be like the Denver Bronco's one; or perhaps even better, come up with some type of pant like Oregon's with a hornet's 'striped tail" or similar at the knees, like Oregon's duck feathers or webbing design - oh my. ).  I would still keep the all black helmets with black face masks and the current "K" with the fighting hornet is my favorite and I would keep that as the logo on both sides of the helmet.  Now, as far as "orange" and you guys are right about difficulty in using that, perhaps Kazoo could use an orange jersey with black stripes outlined with small white for their away games with white pants or do an orange jersey with the alternating black/orange stripes all the way down the entire sleeves only or even a white jersey with alternating orange/black all the way down both sleeves only (orange numbers outlined in small black) for away games similar to the home black ones as described above.

Olivet: This is kind of tough one.  I do like their uniforms in more recent years with the use of black as the accent yet keeping red in there.  I like the red jerseys with white/black numbers and the all black pants.  I did like when they had black helmets using the red U of Michigan wings/stripes, but I guess that might not be the best, but I wouldn't be opposed to them going back to those.  That said, I do like their current new helmets of red with black facemasks, however, I would redesign the "OC" logo as I think it is mundane like Adrian's as I mentioned above.  I would do it in the font like Oregon's "O" i.e. "OC" in that font OR perhaps even bettter, just use Oregon's single "O" in that font in white on their current red helmet with black face masks.  I would get rid of any stripes down the middle of the helmet.  For away jerseys/pants, use white jersey's on black pants or perhaps red pants, either way solid like Oregon.  I do like Olivet's old Comet characature logo and I hope they always keep that for athletic clothing, stationary, etc. as that is a unique design, although I guess I would not put it on the helmet, even though I like it.  I think my description of their helmet as I noted above is still the best, IMO.  Again, keep black facemasks and not going back to white facemasks.  As much as I like black, I don't think a black helmet for Olivet would look the best - they should keep it red, but heavy black accent i.e. as noted for solid black pants is the best IMO (although they did use wide black stripe down the red jersey and that would be fine also.

Trine:  Last but not least, I like Trine's current uniforms and helmets.  I think the change to the gold and dark navy blue colors was a great move. Sorry, but I just did not like their old royal blue and red and white.  I like their single "T" logo for the helmet sides.  If they wanted some variations in gold pants, navy blue jerseys i.e. like Notre Dame and Akron, that would be neat also. In all, Trine has classy uniforms.

As far as Western Michigan's uniforms, I agree - their "crap" brown and yellow (sorry about that) of years ago was just ugly (especially the brown helmets) - I liken them to the "Flaming Pile" of which our colleagues/friends over on the OAC board refer to Baldwin-Wallace's old uni's (ouch and again sorry about that! ).  However, I do like their current colors of gold, black, white and their current helmets.  I would redesign their jerseys/pants - the gold with black and/or black with gold looks good; all black on black or all gold on gold with black numbers/white accent, etc. or something similar to some degree, however, I do not like their current strips on their shoulders of the white jerseys as sac showed us in his post today. Oh well.

Well, that's my take on our MIAA uniforms.  I suppose I could talk more about what other college uniforms I like (such as Pitt and some of the others - neat what Wisconsin did for their Rose Bowl uni's the rose petal on their "W" helmet logos and jersey numbers), however, I think I've bored all of you enough already with my MIAA "pinings" above.   This is always a fun topic to discuss and share everyone's opinions on in the off-season, just like the stadium discussion as well.  So thanks for listening to my long descriptions and opinions, likes/dislikes and I've enjoyed reading what has been posted on the uni's and stadiums from those of you that have posted already.  I will look forward to seeing other's opinions and ideas are on these.  Thanks again all.         

[formerd3db]

P.S.  Do I win the prize for the longest post ever here on the MIAA board?   Holy cow!  I can't believe I even did all that! (And I didn't even venture a "fantasy" about what Calvin could do IF they end up deciding to add football!!!! )

[NCF]

P.S.  Do I win the prize for the longest post ever here on the MIAA board?   Holy cow!  I can't believe I even did all that! (And I didn't even venture a "fantasy" about what Calvin could do IF they end up deciding to add football!!!! )

YES. but always fun to read your posts. keep 'em coming.

[formerd3db]

newcardfan:
Thanks. Also, it is great to have you posting here on our board as well - I enjoy your opinions as well.  I occasionally venture over on your board and suspect we'll be doing more as well as the CCIW/MIAA Challenge continues this fall.

[sflzman]

Sac:

Those are some new threads for Kalamazoo since I last saw them, personally I like hose a lot better than the old ugly black with the two stripes (one orange one White) on the shoulder and down the pants.

Former:

About the wishing the scots jerseys had the "Alma College" in them, the home jerseys actually do say Alma College in the "Louisville" script which I think I mentioned earlier, (the Louisville part). Although the road whites simply say scots in the Louisville font.

Also about the olivet helmets. If I remember correctly they did use the Oregon "o" logo briefly in the early 2000's, I'll double check that in the morning though.

And finally, The Adrian helmets. I wish they would have kept the numbers that they used in the 2010 season for whatever anniversery that was. Those looked cool. That's sill my favorite thing about Alabama is that theyve kept the numbers...

Btw. Since were on this topic, Minnesota announced their 8 new jersey combos and helmets courtesy of Nike. I won't spoil the fun yet I'll let you guys try to build and image about what Nike did to gopher football, but I'll post the links to the release video and pics tomorrow.

I'll guarantee nobody correctly incisions this design from Nike. 

[formerd3db]

sflzman:

I agree with you about that particular Kazoo uniform.  Also, I can't quite recall if Olivet used simply the "O" in the early 2000s.  I should know and I think you are right, but I'm not sure.  I only clearly recall the "OC" and the Michigan "wings", however, as I mentioned, I did not like the former.  But, again, on second thought, I think you are right about them having used the Oregon "O".  They should go back to that, IMO. , but use black facemasks and keep the helmet red. (and add a black helmet with black face masks with a red "O" perhaps outlined with small white borders? for away games - yet I doubt the administration there would spring for the extra $ to have two helmets. - again, the DIII budgets just can't support that...unless one of Olivet's rich alumni springs for that like Mr. Cutler did for the new stadium and rest of the new Cutler Athletic Complex there).

As to Minnesota's new uni's, obviously, it appears they really have decided to make the commitment with trying to take the program to the next level, although that should not be surprising since they built the new on-campus stadium and the Kill hire (hopefully, he will be able to remain healthy).  However, while Nike has been the so-called leader in all this new era of wild uniform designs, starting with Oregon, I do hope that they kept the traditional Minnesota "M" and just dressed it up along with various color combos like Oregon's helmets or Arizona State's new ones, etc.  Yet, as you say, the rest of us will just have to wait and see.  When is Minnesota's athletic department going to unveil/present the new helmets/uniforms?

[sflzman]

Olivet did use the "O" from 2005-2006 according to the Helmet Project. It also had a little stripe with it.

Link is here: http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

Minnesota Unis:

http://www.bringmethenews.com/2012/01/20/gophers-unveil-new-nike-designed-football-uniforms/

The new helmets are unvieled here too. I lvoe this look. A new school flare to these old school jerseys. The helmets say "ski-U-Mah", which is a Minnesota staple, the numbers are the font based on the 1940's national championship team, the numbers also have a brick pattern in them, which was the brick pattern from the old memorial stadium wall.

[formerd3db]

sflzman:
Excellent info!

1)  Indeed, Olivet used that Oregon type "O" in 2005-06 - you were right and I forgot (another of my "old age" moments! ).  I'd like to see them go back to it as well as return to black facemasks.  BTW, I saw on "The Helmet Project"'s website, that the gentleman relates he has not ever received info on Alma's past helmets.  Perhaps in your spare time you (and/or "you know who" ) could send that in to them i.e. the old white helmets with maroon stripes, then Alma had gold helmets for a couple of years in the mid-70's before going to the maroon with the script (small subscript) "alma", then to the use of the "A".  They had white facemasks late 1980's until late 1970's when they switched to the black facemasks.  Just something else for you to do in "your spare time"!

2) Also, nice new uniforms for Minnesota.  I am glad they kept the historic "M" design and the black facemasks (switched from dark maroon) look great.  And the brick pattern in the numbers is really neat - again just like Wisconsin's Rose Bowl petal design on their numbers and "W" helmet logo for this year's Rose Bowl game.  Although I am not a fan of Nike as a company (I'm currently an Adidas guy for obvious reasons ), I do like their design department's new ideas for many of the colleges and universities new football helmets/uniforms.  Anyway, very neat for Minnesota.  At least they'll look better when they play Michigan and Michigan State here (and sometimes Western or Central or Eastern). 

Thanks again for the all the info.

[sac]

Sac:

Those are some new threads for Kalamazoo since I last saw them, personally I like hose a lot better than the old ugly black with the two stripes (one orange one White) on the shoulder and down the pants.

K also wore these for home uniforms




highlights of their game with Olivet, road uni's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RlwCjlGso&context=C3629bfbADOEgsToPDskKVFIfGP6WNHLrc6FwGb1hW

[Raider 68]

formerd3db,

Great post! I am still reading and absorbing it all!!! +k