Why BYU football never repeats a uniform combo — and how Nike helps make it happen

One of the most exciting components of BYU football from week to week is the uniform reveal.

At surface level, it seems simple — royal, navy or white — but it runs much deeper.

The BYU football equipment room recently gave an inside look at how it prepares the Cougars for game day and what variables play into creating unique, once-a-season combinations.

Unlike the Oregon Ducks, who have seemingly endless uniform varieties, BYU football only has four jerseys in its current rotation: royal, navy and two white jerseys — one with royal accents and the other with navy accents. That might sound like a limited list of combinations.

Wrong.

Josh Weier, director of football equipment operations, said that BYU can go an entire season without repeating a uniform variation.

“With the combination of face masks and helmet colors, we can come up with a different variation to where we don’t wear the same combination twice throughout the year,” Weier said.

For example, a royal helmet can be paired with a royal, white or nickel face mask to create three variations, each bringing a different accent to the overall look.

Weier explained that the staff assembles the players’ helmets each week because of the variety. He and his team build 115 helmets weekly — totaling 1,380 helmets per season.

These decisions are not made lightly. Several factors play into the uniform choice from week to week.

"We start working on this once the schedule comes out and we see who we are going to play," Weier said.

One factor involves the uniform’s history with a particular opponent. The equipment staff and leadership council discuss the team’s win-loss record in each uniform and against that opponent before deciding what to wear.

The game’s location and how often a combination has been worn are also considered.

Sometimes the equipment staff makes it a point to be consistent with the uniform choice against certain opponents.

The most notable example is the "Holy War." The Cougars make it a point to wear the “royal color rush” against Utah, keeping the rivalry’s nostalgia alive from year to year.

Weier brought up another recent example — the uniforms worn against the Colorado Buffaloes.

"We played them last year in the Alamo Bowl, and we wore all white ... so we wore that again this year to replicate that," Weier said.

A level of superstition seems to be at play in these decisions.

"We played well, we had a good outcome, so we like to recreate the same kind of thing there for the players," Weier said.

As the adage goes, "When you look good, you play good."

Jersey history

BYU has quite the timeline when it comes to jerseys. From navy to the out-of-place orange, to royal, to navy and tan, and back to royal, the Cougars have run the gamut on the field over the years.

A unique feature inside the BYU equipment room showcases that history — a series of shadowboxes displaying the jerseys and helmets of current coaches who played for BYU.

Some featured kits include the old-school royal and white with the block Y worn by offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick; the infamous “bib” jersey worn by Kalani Sitake in 1999; and the well-known royal and white, and white with navy accents, worn by Harvey Unga and Kelly Poppinga, respectively. History lies within the BYU coaching staff.

Fans have seen the uniforms change and alter from year to year, but one of those major changes was all thanks to legendary coach LaVell Edwards.

Partnership with Nike

Edwards was not only the winningest coach in BYU history, but he also showed his winning mentality behind the scenes as well.

BYU was one of the first schools to team up with Nike and become a "Nike Elite" school, which meant athletics would then be sponsored and maintained by the then small, but now biggest, athletic wear company in the world.

“LaVell was one of the first college coaches to work with Phil Knight and create that partnership with Nike,” said Duff Tittle, senior associate athletic director for broadcast relations.

With this partnership, Nike took BYU football to new heights, with the notable change being the transition from navy to royal uniforms.

“We became one of the ‘Nike Elite’ schools, which gave them more opportunity to produce and design our uniforms,” Tittle said. “And the school did a lot of marketing research … and saw that it was drawing in more sales.”

The switch from navy to royal

This change has taken hold within the BYU football program and within the fan base as well, with almost everything sold within the bookstore and elsewhere being royal.

Navy is more of an "old school" or "throwback" look for the program these days, as it is only brought out once or twice a season.

It’s no question BYU has had quite a run with its jerseys — and it all starts inside the equipment room, where unique ideas come to life and are worn on the big stage.