From the Auburn Soccer team kicking off in mid-August to the Baseball program finishing in Omaha, the 2021-2022 Auburn Athletic season has come to a close.
Here at the Auburn Uniform Database, we do care about how well the program performs, but it’s all about how the teams looked on the playing surface. Enjoy a look back at the last year of Auburn’s athletic uniforms and all the things that happened during the season!
Baseball
For the second time in four years, the Auburn Baseball season concluded in Omaha. Another successful season on the diamond record-wise and an even better year aesthetically.
Auburn debuted a special green St. Patrick’s Day hat in 2019, but it wasn’t worn in 2020 due to covid and 2021 as the holiday fell on a non-game day. The green caps returned this year for the opening game of the Ole Miss season. The following home series would see the return of the digital camouflage hats against Vanderbilt.
The now-standard all-navy caps with orange logos has been used as the primary hat since 2018. Auburn also mixed in the white AU logo caps that hadn’t been worn since 2019. The white hats that dominated the 2020 shortened season were not to be seen this year.
When Auburn made the College World Series in 2019, the CWS patch was placed high on the right sleeve towards the shoulder. With plenty of room at the bottom of the sleeve – a standard position for a baseball patch – this positioning was awkward at best. For the Tigers’ return, the patch was placed on the left chest above the script wordmark. For the third and final game of the Omaha trip, Auburn broke out the pinstripe uniforms. Rather than place the CWS patch above the AU logo, it was placed on the opposite side just above the player number.
The patch placement and alternate hats notwithstanding, this year really showcased how good the Auburn Baseball team can look. The current set of uniforms is one of the better designs in the program’s history. As we conclude the fifth season of use, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to see a whole new set debut in the next year or two.
You can view the historic catalog of Auburn Baseball uniforms dating back to 1980 here.
Men’s Basketball
While the hype, fanfare, peacocks, and deep-fried memes surrounded Auburn Basketball en route to the program’s first #1 ranking, the Tigers left the uniforms untouched from last season. The historic 2021-2022 season was the third year of the current uniform design. Should the previous trend stay true, expect Auburn to debut a new look for the 2022-2023 campaign.
The one aesthetic blemish on the season came in February when Auburn hosted Alabama. Auburn added the Unity design to the back of the jerseys above the player names in 2020. After nearly two years of wear, some of the applications started to peel off. Some players lost the entire white vinyl on their logo, sporting what appeared to be a black heart.
Over thirty years of Men’s Basketball uniform history have been added to the Auburn Uniform Database. The collection now dates back to the 1950-1951 season. You can view all those uniforms here.
Women’s Basketball
This season marked the first for new head coach Johnnie Harris. It was a rollercoaster season record-wise but did see huge victories over #18 Georgia Tech and #4 Tennessee.
The women’s basketball program has seen an interesting uniform trend as of late. The previous coaching staff didn’t sport orange uniforms in three complete seasons. Last year, the team wore two different navy uniforms. This season included a few similar quirks.
The Tigers sported two uniforms for the majority of the season – the primary home whites and road blues. The alternate “Tigers” design was left in storage all year, as were the orange uniforms for the third straight season. Only once did Auburn break from the primary designs when they sported the now five-year-old pink uniforms against Florida.
The Women’s Basketball uniforms catalog dates back to the 2005-06 season. Those historic designs can be seen here.
Football
The first year under Bryan Harsin saw its ups and downs on the gridiron. But the new coach made his mark on the Auburn Football program – at least from an aesthetic standpoint.
Things started in April with the annual spring game. Players wore large two-colored number decals on the back of the helmet, replacing the much smaller numerals from the last sixteen years. The new player numbers forced a few other changes on the helmet. In addition to the Unity logo being added as a decal, the SEC decal was pushed to the left side. The American Flag decal was placed above the conference decal.
When the Tigers ran out of the tunnel for the season opener, fans were treated to another new tradition on the Plains. For each game, players were chosen to lead the team carrying a USA flag and a new WDE flag. This was a carry-over from Harsin’s time at Boise State, with the second flag reading “Bleed Blue.”
In the “minor changes” category, Auburn players wore a new style of football pants this year.
The biggest news of the year for the Auburn Football team was of course the alternate helmet designs that graced the field. For the primetime road trip to Penn State, the Tigers sported new white facemasks for the first time ever. A few weeks later against Ole Miss, the team broke out the beloved orange masks for the first time in nearly 40 years.
The new facemask options created wonderful-looking combinations and sparked something in the Auburn fanbase that hasn’t been seen before. Here’s to hoping they stick around for the upcoming season.
The largest uniform collection on this site is, of course, football. You can view uniforms from 1934 to the present day here.
Gymnastics
I’m always trying to expand coverage here at the Auburn Uniform Database. Gymnastics has been the one area that I’ve always been terrified to touch. Replicating the leotards is a monstrous undertaking and I have yet to find the best ways to do so.
This year, I wanted to do something to cover this program, especially with the growing attention thanks to Suni Lee’s addition to the roster. Despite not having recreated mockups like the other sports, we at least have a list of each leotard worn and their designated names.
Below is a look at the 13 different leotards worn during the 2022 season, including six brand-new designs. Which one is your favorite?
There is no historic catalog of gymnastics leotards here on the AUD. If you have any suggestions on how to best do so – especially when it comes to recreating the designs – please let me know!
Soccer
The 2021-2022 athletic season started off on a good note as the Auburn Soccer team debuted a new set of kits. The new uniforms are the next iteration of the stripe-sash design and, by most measures, are the best of the bunch. Gone are the half-done “belly button” stripes and back are the full sash – a huge improvement. You can read more about the new kits and how they differ from the previous styles here.
Despite the overall improvements, the new kits did start off on a bit of the wrong foot. For the team’s first exhibition match against Memphis, a few of the jerseys were decorated with a different style #1. The new font was a mistake by the company that Auburn outsourced to place the numbers on the jerseys. When the Tigers partook in their annual preseason photo shoots, a number of players were wearing un-numbered jerseys. The global supply chain issues can even affect an athletic team’s uniform numbers.
New for this season was a look at how well the kits performed when paired together.
The Auburn Soccer uniform feature on the AUD is admittedly lacking, but the plan is to flesh that section out a good bit soon enough. You can view the current collection of soccer uniforms here.
Softball
Auburn Softball started the season off red hot only to falter and exit in the Clemson Regional. Uniform-wise, the Tigers looked nearly identical to last year, though there were a few tweaks.
To celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary as an SEC-recognized varsity sport, Auburn wore a special anniversary patch on the right sleeve. The Auburn Unity patch previously was in that place, so it was relocated to the back of the batting helmet.
The helmets also featured a memorial decal for Jane Moore, the namesake of the on-campus facility. Moore died in July of 2021 at the age of 85.
New batting helmets tend to be an annual thing for Auburn Softball, but 2022 was a bit different. The non-conference portion of the season saw the Tigers wearing a two-toned helmet, with white on top and navy on the bottom. This same helmet was worn back in 2020. Once SEC play began, Auburn went to the all-white helmet from 2021. The old version had an orange AU logo with navy outlines, while the new design had a color-flipped logo. Some old orange/navy logos crept in despite the new decals during the season.
The Tigers downgraded their aesthetic this season in such a minor way when they sported new socks. The last few years saw navy, white, and orange socks with large Northwestern stripes. For 2022, the hosiery was changed to feature much smaller stripes. Truly a disappointing change.
The Auburn Uniform Database features a near-complete history of Auburn Softball uniforms. See them all here.
Volleyball
The first full season under head coach Brent Crouch saw the volleyball program on the outside looking in for postseason play.
The Tigers sported the same set of uniforms as last year’s shortened season. The team wore the same four tops as they did last year, but the libero also wore four different jerseys, up from two in 2020.
In addition to the overall jersey records, I included a team-libero combination tracker this season.
View Auburn Volleyball uniforms since 2017 here.
Enjoy learning about Auburn uniforms and history? Want to see more like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for even more uniform news. To support this work, you can donate directly via Buy Me A Coffee. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!