The University of Oregon football program has been known for a few things in recent years: having a great team (except for in 2016), a fast-paced, high-scoring offense, and incredibly unique uniforms. Going forward in 2017, new head coach Willie Taggart appears to be ditching the unique uniforms.
Taggart comes to Eugene in 2017 after being hired away from USF following Oregon’s firing of Mark Helfrich. Under Helfrich in 2016, Oregon went 4-8 while showcasing some odd and eccentric uniforms.
This weekend against Washington: Webfoots.#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/hfwYz3DcWb
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) October 3, 2016
The 2017 set hasn’t been released yet, and the plans for them are “considered top secret by Oregon and Nike” according to OregonLive.
“We’re going to try to stick to more traditional colors this year,” Kenny Farr, UO’s football equipment administrator, told OregonLive last week. “Trying to kind of simplify a few things but still keep it modern and keep it looking really good.”
If the school is going to a traditional scheme like Farr says, there should probably be more green and yellow. However, there are almost always bright green and silver featured in the uniforms, so maybe those will also be featured colors?
While some criticized Oregon for rolling out crazy uniform combinations starting back in the late 90s, a lot of people loved them. It seems like now Taggart wants to take the focus off the uniforms and put it on the team’s performance.
The uniform trend Oregon started was even tracked by OregonLive. Within its interactive tracker, one can see uniforms dating back from 1997 to 2014 that include 24 different helmets, 51 jerseys, 20 pants, and 32 pairs of shoes.
“We’re not going to go anything out of the traditional Oregon palette. … we have some great stuff coming,” Farr added.
That means blue and orange are gone, according to Farr. He also said while there will be throwbacks, Oregon’s football program has always had a loose definition of “retro.”
“It’s weird,” Farr said. “A throwback here could be 2010.”
The first opportunity fans have to see new uniforms will be at the team’s spring game on April 29th at Autzen Stadium.
