Season in Review

Yes, I did do an end-of-2015 uniform wrap-up, but this new feature will now be moved to the end of the athletic year to better cover the year’s worth of Auburn uniforms. With the last of the Spring sports just recently wrapping up, it’s the perfect time to go through each team’s uniforms throughout the 2015-16 athletic season.

Baseball

Butch Thompson’s first year as Auburn baseball’s head coach was a rough one, with the team below .500 and failing to make it to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. The season started off with the Tigers wearing the all white uniforms in seven of the first eight games. The one game they tried to mix it up was eventually postponed due to rain. Auburn stuck with the white tops much of the year, wearing them a total of eighteen games. Coach Thompson has been described as a “simple guy,” which could be the reasoning for staying with the same uniform for so long.

One of the more odd tidbits from the season is that Auburn and Thompson didn’t wear two uniforms at all – the beautiful creme throwback “Auburn” script uniforms and the new white vests that were debuted last year. Even though the white vests never saw game action, they were used for Senior Day in the players’ framed gifts. Alternate uniforms were found at local retailers, and was originally thought to never reach Plainsman Park. Sadly, they eventually were worn,

Basketball

A rough year on the court, Auburn basketball struggled in the latter parts of the season. But hey, at least they looked pretty dang good. The team broke out new uniforms this past season that were more of a throwback to the 1980s, the time of associate head coach Chuck Person and his teammate Charles Barkley.

Prior to a knee injury that kept him out the remainder of the season, T.J. Dunans was spotted with a tiny tear in his jersey. The front of the collar on his orange top had torn at some point during the season. The fabric and tailoring options currently used by Under Armour lends itself to these issues. The jerseys are lighter and not as durable, and tighter than ever. Cinmeon Bowers had a tear in his alternate blue jersey last year because of the same issues.

These uniforms were thought to be the best basketball uniforms in a long time shortly after their reveal, and they were a treat to see on the court. Many people think these could be the best uniform Auburn has ever worn off the football field. It’s hard to disagree with that.

Football

It’s been well documented here that Auburn’s football program updated to a new template which did a wonder for the Tigers’ uniforms. Where the previous template fell flat, the new uniform really showcased Auburn’s uniform designs to a much better degree.

Here’s a side-by-side view of the differences between the new and old Under Armour templates and Auburn’s uniforms. pic.twitter.com/8NlZW8dOkD

— Clint Richardson® (@Clintau24) July 23, 2015

Along with the new uniforms, the Tigers also tried their best to make the accessories more uniform. In previous years, players were basically allowed to wear whatever they wanted underneath their jerseys. Trovon Reed even trotted onto the field wearing a 2013 BCS National Championship shirt a few seasons ago. To better authorize on-field gear, Auburn went to a standardized set of accessories – shirts, gloves, socks, etc. – for the players to wear. The uniformity stayed the course throughout the season, with some minor tweaks. 

Under Armour provided custom socks in all three colors – white, blue, and orange – but the team ended up only wearing them for a few games, then switched back to a simpler style that was worn the recent years. Overall, the Tigers did stick to the uniform accessories, and they looked pretty good. The orange set was pretty divisive among Auburn fans. I thought it looked pretty good and popped, but many others thought it was over kill.

Soccer

One of the best stories of the season, Auburn Soccer fought through a tough season and cancer diagnosis of strength and conditioning coach Megan Young, truly embodying the #MeguhStrong mantra, putting the Auburn Tigers at the highest ranking in program history, finishing the season ranked #12 in the country. This season also saw the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance. 

Softball

It was another historic season for Auburn Softball, as the team made their second trip to Oklahoma City and their first appearance in the Women’s College World Series finals. 

To coincide with the beginning of a new season, the Softball team debuted a full set of brand new uniforms. The first major uniform redesign since the 2010-11 season, Auburn broke out three new sets in three colors – a white, blue, and grey set. The updated uniforms were based on the design of the orange tops that were worn last season. You can read more on the new uniforms here.

The team wore 13 different uniforms during the season, breaking the record of 10 combinations worn during the 2011-12 season. Some of the differences in combinations include the different set of pants, with the new pants featuring a thicker side stripe and different placement of the Under Armour logo.