masthead.jpg

switchconcepts.com, U3dpdGNo-a25, DIRECT rubiconproject.com, 14766, RESELLER pubmatic.com, 30666, RESELLER, 5d62403b186f2ace appnexus.com, 1117, RESELLER thetradedesk.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER taboola.com, switchconceptopenrtb, RESELLER bidswitch.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER contextweb.com, 560031, RESELLER amazon-adsystem.com, 3160, RESELLER crimtan.com, switch, RESELLER quantcast.com, switchconcepts , RESELLER rhythmone.com, 1934627955, RESELLER ssphwy.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER emxdgt.com, 59, RESELLER appnexus.com, 1356, RESELLER sovrn.com, 96786, RESELLER, fafdf38b16bf6b2b indexexchange.com, 180008, RESELLER nativeads.com, 52853, RESELLER theagency.com, 1058, RESELLER google.com, pub-3515913239267445, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
May 19, 2016

New Unis for All

Filed under: Athletic Department,Marketing — Chas @ 7:11 am

No kidding. In the interest of infodumping, go here if you feel like seeing detailed images of all the new unis. From the football team to the band, to the cheer and dance to gymnastics (sorry, the unis are on mannequins).

Let’s give AD Scott Barnes some credit since it has been a seeming non-stop slam-fest on him since late-March. He put together a nice spectacle. Kept things under wraps. Really well-coordinated campaign. Made the unveiling of the full athletic department rebranding a full-on celebration of Pitt.

I’ll get this out of the way, now because I’m not trying to be negative or contrary. I just want to restate my position on the script: I don’t really care. I have nothing against it. I know a lot more people feel very passionately about the script Pitt and really wanted it back.

I hated the whole “Pittsburgh not Pitt” attempts. I had no real problem with the block “Pitt” even if it was a bit generic. What I miss, what I would prefer back is the old color scheme over anything else. I liked the royal blue and yellow. That ship has sailed except for throwbacks and retro one-offs.

The rebranding is not just about uniforms.

What might seem like a simple cosmetic change to some represents a widespread rebranding effort that the university’s athletic department hopes will launch the start of a new, successful era.

“It injects a level of enthusiasm and excitement in your program that good things are happening,” Barnes said. “What I love about this mark is we’re honoring the past, but we’re looking forward to the future. I think as you walk around and talk to our student-athletes and our fans, they’re really excited. They’re excited because it’s a new beginning.”

Other facility changes include a new hydrotherapy center for the football team, work to Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, an updated locker room for the swimming and diving team, and an exterior facelift of Trees Hall.

“Literally every playing venue and practice venue that we have will get a facelift with the new Pitt script and some other branding elements that attract and inspire pride with our student-athletes, recruits and coaches,” Barnes said. “That’s really the goal in everything we do.”

The script was the school’s primary athletic logo from 1973-96 before the athletic department opted to be referred to as ‘Pittsburgh’ and implemented a panther logo some derisively dubbed “Dino Cat.” In 2005, the athletic department adopted the block Pitt as its primary logo. Barnes said the department and Advent, a Nashville-based branding company, will spend the next 18 months working on secondary marks, which could include a panther logo.

The unveiling was the conclusion of a coordinated effort throughout the day to promote the switch. On Twitter, several athletic department accounts posted photos of former Pitt greats such as Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis and DeJuan Blair sporting various script merchandise.

The Pete is getting refitted. There will be a new floor, which does look sweet. And the “Cathedral Wall.” The Cathedral will light up after wins. Changes.

Uniforms are only the beginning. Barnes said every practice venue will get a facelift with the new logo.

Perhaps the most impressive new look will be at the Pete, where the Pitt script will be splashed on center court. There were discussions about making it stretch from one 3-point line to the other with the Cathedral of Learning as a backdrop, but officials settled for a more conservative look.

Yet, the Cathedral will not be ignored. The end zone closest to the Pitt bench will feature a photo of the iconic 535-foot skyscraper, surrounded by basketball greats of the past. When the men’s or women’s team wins, the building will light up.

Barnes said the script lettering celebrates Pitt’s history.

“Bringing this iconic logo back evokes a nostalgic feeling of the success we have had in the past,” he said. “It’s the next step in building momentum (for the future).”

Pictures (courtesy of Justin).

As noted in one of the articles, a secondary logo is still in the works. That’s always been an issue for Pitt. Even the old style prowling panther or roaring face or the ill-fated panther tooth.

And perhaps that is why the script has resonated so much for so many fans. Beyond simply, “well that was the logo used when Pitt had its resurgence in the 70s and into the early 80s.” Of all the logos, primary and secondary, that script logo seemed to connect much more broadly with fans and alum.

Now some of the uniform unveilings from the show last night.

Basketball was modeled by Mike Young and Jamel Artis.

The all-white cheer uni really popped.

I’m in no rush to buy brand-new gear, but if the soccer kits are sold, that would be the exception.

Tennis

Track

And of course, football.

For those hoping that the throwback unis would be revealed, no such luck. That of course makes sense. That would have overshadowed everything else. That’s going to happen. Closer to the start of the season.





Mystery solved on the design of the weird New “Gothic-like” Numbers.

And if you like them… you’re not alone.

Penni Graham has given them her blessing.

********

Head Coach’s Wife! ?@CoachsWifeASU 12h12 hours ago

The jersey numbers are an ode to the architecture of The Cathedral of Learning… Which is pretty cool.

********

So there you go. Argument settled.

Comment by PittofDreams 05.19.16 @ 7:33 am

Whites look like my high school practice uniforms in 1995. Cheerleading was done well. And soccer. So what 2 out of 15. About Barnes success rate. I grade it a D+

Comment by Upittbaseball 05.19.16 @ 7:36 am

Geez, just get the colors to match. How hard is that!

Comment by JoeKnew 05.19.16 @ 7:39 am

Whites are awesome and I bet the players love them along with the blue helmet. About time Pitt got with the times with a different helmet.

They can lose the gold pants forever!

Comment by notrocketscience 05.19.16 @ 7:47 am

the numbers on the blue FB unis remind me of jerseys that you can find on the rack at the local WalMart.

I do like the new BB court design though, as well as most of the other uniforms.

Comment by wbb 05.19.16 @ 7:50 am

Remember how Pederson rolled out the logo for just football…with no fanfare. It was a joke.

This was very well done.

The facility changes are a large undertaking, glad to see all sports are included.

Comment by notrocketscience 05.19.16 @ 7:51 am

All whites suck in football period!.. they look okay on tennis, gymnastics, soccer, cheerleaders but all whites as said above were the practice football unis and should remain that way – Number 4 looks like Ralphie trying on bunny pjs in Christmas Story – real thrilled. Are these the unis Chryst picked out? Blue on Blue not bad but colors – eh. We still look like ND, Navy etc. Majors had it right in 72 and the colors changed campus wide.
Not too sure about the shoulder stripes.
Now what was this in the other thread about UPitt and a goat? I think only Ewes for him.

Comment by rkb 05.19.16 @ 7:57 am

Oh and Baseball has a Block P. We had a script P to match the Script Pitt on jersey. How dumb can these AD people be? It is easy. Get rid of all
Block letters. Old school cheerleader outfit like USC is awesome. I wish they made the hoops court cooler. Show me a Pitt script that is huge on the football field. Not a bs script in a circle compliments of carrick jr high art class.

Comment by Upittbaseball 05.19.16 @ 7:58 am

Wbb- exactly. The $8 jerseys but Tossing loves them and we are all trolls. Do something right and Im first to say great job. Great Job on Soccer and Cheerleading. Disaster on the rest. Colors suck and numbering is a joke. Then show a poll on a koolaid site. Get a poll here with real fans and see the tally. Herman Munster go back to Utah you tool.

Comment by Upittbaseball 05.19.16 @ 8:05 am

@@@@@

Happy the Script is back however missed the boat by not
bringing back mustard and blue.

Comment by JR 05.19.16 @ 8:33 am

Agree. We are still ND, Akron, Tulsa, Navy, etc.

Saw this and almost choked on my coffee.

link to cardiachill.com ???

Comment by Upittbaseball 05.19.16 @ 8:40 am

Real schools keep their traditional look and no need for fashion changes…while the the idiots running our program continue to grab at straws..phucking idiots..So they come out of the tunnel against the Nits in the Marino era garb and then we have to look at this poor attempt at fashion for the rest of the year after year after year..Johnny Majors got it all right the 1st time around..reminds me of a story my Dad used to tell me as a young boy..he said ” when the white man first landed on these shores he found a society where the men hunted and fished everyday and the women did all the work..and the white man tried to improve and continues to improve on that way of life.” Should have left the unis alone along time ago..Thanks to modern technology I can go back and watch the Mustard and Blue to get my Pitt fix..

Comment by BigB 05.19.16 @ 8:50 am

Love the dance team and cheerleader unis..were the chicks at Pitt that hot in the 60s and 70s..to busy studying to pay attention??

Comment by BigB 05.19.16 @ 8:52 am

You’re not a troll, you’re just a miserable human being. Had you attended the event you’d be bitching about the horderves.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 05.19.16 @ 8:52 am

The colors were never suppose to change, nor does everyone want 70s baby shit mustard.

That look was great back in the day, but young folks aren’t buying it now and it is all about sales. Great for a throwback, that is about it.

You want the old colors back, go buy up a bunch of the retro stuff when it comes out. The administration will love whatever sells and brings in the most money.

White is for practice? Tell that to 90% of the teams in the NCAA. They all have a white version of their uniforms. About time Pitt got with the times.

Pitt had sleeve stripes back in the day, so you old school lovers got a taste of the 70-80s jersey there to satisfy your nostalgia, lol.

Comment by notrocketscience 05.19.16 @ 9:04 am

JR

I predict PITT brings back the mustard and blue for the Penn State game! There was mention (somewhere?) that they would wear throw back unit for one game.

Comment by winedogs 05.19.16 @ 9:06 am

Pitt’s uniforms look nothing like the schools mentioned. They are actually very unique now. Well, unless you are freaking blind.

Comment by notrocketscience 05.19.16 @ 9:09 am

By the way, looking at old photos made me realize that Pitt never kept the same color gold and blue for the pants and jerseys. The colors got lighter, besides the helmet, into the Marino years. Some years, nothing freaking matched. Go figure.

Comment by notrocketscience 05.19.16 @ 9:21 am

Love the white uniform with blue helmet and mustard stripe.

Comment by Oklahomeboy 05.19.16 @ 9:23 am

Tossing – and you are a yinzer homer who even loves the Stalling hire. That says it all. Hope you enjoy working in the AD Dept. if the blather is a gauge it appears the unis get a C- at best. Of course that excludes you and Barnes Wives.

Comment by Upittbaseball 05.19.16 @ 9:35 am

@Chas
Regarding “Let’s give AD Scott Barnes some credit since it has been a seeming non-stop slam-fest on him since late-March.”

I’m not seeing this. There seemed to be about a week of traditional and online media scrutiny and then it was back to the business of covering the beat. Since then there has been media pieces and tweets puffing up all the great things Stallings has done in terms of staffing, recruiting, retaining and training. Zeise even wrote a puff piece last week about Stallings being right man/right time that was tweeted by the online guys as right on target. Everybody is back to business as usual.

Only national guys are still questioning anything about the Stallings hire.

Nobody continues to question anything about the hiring process. Barnes hasn’t felt any reason to respond to anything regarding it and Gallagher apparently hasn’t compelled him to do anything.

I think Reed of all people did the most insightful, passionate editorials I have seen of the Stallings hire and the shameful “process” that led to it.

Comment by Barvo 05.19.16 @ 9:37 am

With the retro uniforms coming at the beginning of August, I like it.

Have both uniforms. Why not? Sell merchandise with both sets of colors.

The retros will be worn for Penn State, and other rivalry games. i.e. WVU and Notre Dame.

They will also be worn for any big games, i.e. other Power 5 conference games. Oklahoma State next year.

They will become more and more popular and worn many more times than just once a year.

Things are gonna be ok, come on off that ledge and have a cup of coffee.

Comment by Dan 05.19.16 @ 9:44 am

I like everything about them. They look sharp. The script has a nice clean look and I like keeping the the Navy Blue and Gold colors. They were the traditional Pitt colors before Johnny Majors changed them to Mustard and Royal Blue. He did that primarily to “illustrate change” and to present a more modern look. Pitt was always referred to as Pitt. It was our brand and our identity. I hated Steve Pederson’s change everything to Pittsburgh. It still bothers me when announcers on ESPN use Pittsburgh rather than Pitt. As John Steigerwald stated in a commentary, “No one who ever went Pitt or who grew up within a hundred miles, called it anything other than Pitt.” Good stuff and Hail to Pitt.

Comment by Justinian 05.19.16 @ 9:49 am

I think uniforms look great. Updated look; black helmets; script of hoops uniforms handed well.

I’m not sold on Barnes but give him credit for this one.

Comment by Tony77019 05.19.16 @ 10:04 am

Won’t be seeing gold pants for football. Players hate them.

Comment by Tony77019 05.19.16 @ 10:04 am

I’m ok with the uni’s and glad the script is back. I’m with Chas on the royal blue and yellow, it was so unique.

Was watching ESPN 30 for 30 on Brian Bosworth, there is a 2 second clip of him essentially body slamming John Congemi, you knew it was Pitt instantly. Hope we at least get the old colors once a year…

Comment by Pap76 05.19.16 @ 10:11 am

Could care less about the Uni’s. Care a lot about what fits inside them. Especially on 9/10! H2P

Comment by Dan 72 05.19.16 @ 10:45 am

Upitt – you mean the vocal minority that you reside over? Fan poll shows 70% approval. I was one of the first to criticize the stallings hire and Barnes for gaming the system so not sure where that came from. I agree with the baseball hats and the script P but I’ve also heard it was a trademark issue. I like the uniforms up and down the line. Matte helmets are perfect. Not a huge fan of the gold helmets but that’s my only criticism there. Jersey numbers are fine and will look good on tv. You bitch. It’s what you do.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 05.19.16 @ 10:46 am

as I had suggested last week, the Pitt-PSU game kicks off at noon. Plan your trip accordingly

link to pittsburgh.n.rivals.com

Comment by wbb 05.19.16 @ 11:04 am

1 cheerleader pic – girl on far left is outstanding

2 Penni Graham should not be commenting on anything Pitt-related, go away please

3 Disapointed in football changes but other sports look nice.

H2P

Comment by pittbluegold 05.19.16 @ 11:04 am

White pants are terrible, especially for a team that shits its pants as much as Pitt does.

Comment by Nick 05.19.16 @ 11:11 am

I don’t like the lame-o color scheme nor the weird number font.

I give it a C-.

Comment by Jeff 05.19.16 @ 11:37 am

Seems pretty simple why Pitt Admin holding back on the Retro Unis.

If the Retros were out, they would be in HIGH DEMAND compared to anything debuted yesterday.

It’s all about the Benjamins.

Comment by PittofDreams 05.19.16 @ 12:33 pm

Liking the blue helmet the more and more I see of it!!

Comment by Dan 05.19.16 @ 12:34 pm

As for the “Gothic Number” tribute to the Cathedral of Learning… a nice try. I get it.

However, it’s something you’d expect to see on a discounted Cotton Tee hanging on the back racks at Marshalls.

Not a Game Jersey.

Comment by PittofDreams 05.19.16 @ 12:45 pm

Bottom line… anxiously waiting for the Retros complete with the Pant Stripes which are about as much Pitt as the Script.

Hopefully, when they debut the clamor from the Masses (aka “the Noise”) will cause Barnes and Co. to rethink.

Comment by PittofDreams 05.19.16 @ 12:48 pm

Don’t really care about the uniforms, but that said, I like the dark helmets; hate the all-whites because they do indeed look like practice uniforms (a la PSU) and have no identity associated with them because so many teams use them now. Really don’t like the all-white pants…

Oh, and I dislike the mustard and royal. While distinctive, they are just ugly colors.

If Pitt becomes a good football team, the unis won’t matter a bit…

Go Pitt.

Comment by MajorMajors 05.19.16 @ 2:04 pm

Do out pants and helmets don’t match so the power that be can say, we don’t look like ND, Navy and so on

Comment by Dcpinpgh 05.19.16 @ 2:05 pm

Narduzzi like the fact that they has 9 different combos, he helped design and they players will have say in what they were…pretty cool.

Comment by markp 05.19.16 @ 2:08 pm

Man Mike Young just LOVES the skin tight look! Its his thing. 🙂

Comment by DD 05.19.16 @ 2:40 pm

Wow – the players have a say! God spare me.

Comment by Reed 05.19.16 @ 6:18 pm

Powered by WordPress © PittBlather.com

Site Meter