The Auburn Uniform Database is dedicated to documenting the historic aesthetics of Auburn University Athletics.
Auburn Athletics Season Review 2021-22
/0 Comments/by Clint RichardsonFrom 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.
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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.
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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.
One picture is all you need sometimes. Thanks to @ByJustinLee, this image shows how much has changed on the back of the Auburn football helmet.
Large player numbers from A-Day are staying. The Unity logo has moved from the jersey to the helmet. The SEC logo moves to the right. pic.twitter.com/9EDCttTEMy
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) August 30, 2021
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.
Minor change for Auburn’s football pants this season – no more belts.
The usual belted pants have been replaced with drawstring trousers.https://t.co/UcZpH0PGjP
(📸 via @adamsparksphoto & Butch Dill. H/T to @dragon_mccain for noticing the change.) pic.twitter.com/SUZRAEZEB4
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) September 12, 2021
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.
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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?
Through 15 meets in the 2022 season, @AuburnGym wore 13 different leotards – including 6 brand new designs!
Which of the leos is your favorite design? I know mine 😁https://t.co/oktWrA3rZb pic.twitter.com/46uLD9PpmB
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) April 18, 2022
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.
OK this is weird.
There are two completely different 1s on the new soccer kits.
The one with the top bar is new. The classic Auburn Copperplate font is straight vertical with no flair. https://t.co/RBEF7xEHMC pic.twitter.com/GderZkvU9k
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) August 10, 2021
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.
Auburn Softball has an interesting uniform inconsistency.
Since conference play began, the Tigers have worn an all-white batting helmet. Most players are wearing a navy AU logo with an orange outline.
Though some are wearing an orange/navy colorway.
(📸via Vasha Hunt) pic.twitter.com/IC3vb07tTC
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) April 24, 2022
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.
Auburn Athletics Season Review 2020-2021
/0 Comments/by Clint RichardsonWith the difficulties of the last year across the world, it’s no small feat that a full athletic season was complete with rather minor difficulties. Unfortunately, some games got canceled and some seasons ended sooner than expected.
Last year was a little bare here at the Auburn Uniform Database, as many of the annual articles weren’t posted (or written). It just didn’t feel right to recap seasons, encourage fans to buy merchandise, and break down new uniforms across the football landscape not knowing what the next moments held. But as things start to turn around, it feels like even this site can get back to normal.
So, let’s pick back up some of these annual staples on the site, starting today with the annual season review.
The summer’s social unrest and injustice events led many teams to support the overall cause and their own minority student-athletes in many public showings. At Auburn, athletes joined in protests on campus and were even accompanied by their coaches.
Like so many other athletic programs, Auburn created a “unity” logo and produced patches with the design to adorn the uniforms. Each team sport donned the patch on their uniforms.
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The 2020-21 athletic season for Auburn featured many highs and lows across the board. Strong wins, devastating losses – they come every year.
With the pandemic, Auburn didn’t go out of its way to provide many new uniform elements for the athletes this season. While there weren’t any complete overhauls, there were a few nice surprises to showcase.
Baseball
Word last year was that Auburn Baseball was going to add two new ballcaps to the rotation – the return of the white hat and a new throwback-inspired design featuring Sailor Aubie. The latter of those never came to fruition on the diamond.
The white hat, however, quickly overtook the role of the primary hat. The 2020 season saw the new white hat in 17 of the 18 games played before the season was halted. Auburn picked up right where they left off, sporting the white caps for the five-game homestand to open up the 2021 season. The Tigers would eventually revert to the navy cap for the majority of the season. The white hat would see action in eight more games throughout the season, still coming in under the total of games worn last year.
Outside of uniforms, Auburn did make a few changes to Plainsman Park’s appearance this year. The stadium’s concrete walls were painted grey, the back padding behind home plate is navy rather than green, some chairs behind home were swapped for new mesh-backed seats, and the Green Monster and batter’s eye have been adorned with tone-on-tone graphics.
The outfield wall padding was also updated for the first time in a few years. The ghosted images of former Tiger greats were replaced for retired jersey graphics, though the name and numbers were represented on the current uniform design rather than what was worn during their playing days.
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Oh, and Brody Moore decided to rock some amazing high-cut stirrups this season and was easily the best-dressed player on the field!
Brody Moore is officially my favorite player on this Auburn team.
Look at those stirrups! pic.twitter.com/hE1d6FdfaK
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) February 26, 2021
Auburn sported 14 different uniform combinations this season. Here’s how they fared:
You can view the historic catalog of Auburn Baseball uniforms here.
Men’s Basketball
Year two of the current uniform set was rather uneventful for Bruce Pearl’s program. 2020-21 didn’t see any torn jerseys like last year!
This season and last season did have one interesting tidbit in common – Auburn wore white at home all year long. Yea, it seems simple, but the Tigers have often worn an alternate-colored for at least one home game since the 2002-03 season. Before 2019-20, the last time Auburn accomplished this feat was 2013-14.
As the working world dropped many of the formal wear requirements, so too did the basketball world. Bruce Pearl and his staff forwent the traditional suits and ties for the more casual polo and slacks. Bruce also joined many other coaches in honoring the late Georgetown head coach John Thompson Jr. with his trademark towel on the shoulder. Auburn women’s basketball coach Terri Williams-Flournoy worked with Thompson and also joined in on the tribute.
AUTLIVE has been a wonderful initiative from Coach Pearl and the program has embraced it each season. Since the beginning, the campaign has produced t-shirts with proceeds going to help cancer patients and their families cover everyday bills. The shirts have cycled through orange, blue, and white colorways with the team wearing the uniform that matches the t-shirt color.
This year’s edition of the AUTLIVE game saw that streak broken, as the team wore white while the coaching staff and fans wore the navy t-shirts. Despite the first occurrence of mismatching colors, Auburn remains 6-0 in such games.
The Men’s Basketball uniform history dates back to the 1969-70 season. You can view all those uniforms here.
Women’s Basketball
It was a tough season for the Women’s Basketball program, losing all 15 conference games and making a change at head coach.
The WBB squad was one of the two teams that broke out a new uniform during the season. On the trip to LSU in early January, Auburn broke out the new navy alternate uniforms with “Tigers” emblazoned across the chest. If you’ve read this site for a while now, you know that utilizing the school nickname on a jersey is a rather rare occurrence. These secondary navy duds were designed to mimic the men’s basketball team’s orange uniforms with the bold accents across the shorts and shoulders. It was an interesting departure from the primary set with the Northwestern Stripes donning the sides.
The @AuburnWBB team debuted their new navy uniforms Wednesday at LSU.
This is the second navy uniform in the rotation for the Tigers.
They are based on the MBB team’s orange uniforms, with the Tigers chestmark and shorts stripes.
(📸via @AuburnWBB) pic.twitter.com/X1tN4UzIpE
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) January 2, 2021
The Tigers uniform was only worn twice this year. That’s twice more than Auburn wore orange this year. In fact, this season was the third time under Coach Flo’s tenure that the Tigers went the entire season without wearing orange. Though no official word was ever given, it certainly feels as though Coach Flo, and possibly the players, had some disdain for the orange colorway. It’s really interesting to see the team go multiple seasons without wearing a specific uniform and to happen multiple times is more than coincidence. It’s also odd to see a new alternate design see action before the orange version of the primary uniforms was even revealed (if it even exists at all!).
To top off the lack of orange uniforms, Johnnie Harris was presented with the old-style orange jersey as she was announced as the new head coach. Even Coach Flo was introduced with an orange jersey at the press conference. Hopefully, Coach Harris brings the orange colorways back in the upcoming season.
The Women’s Basketball uniforms catalog was a recent research project and now dates back to the 2005-06 season. Those historic designs can be seen here.
Football
If it wasn’t a rollercoaster ride, was it really an Auburn Football season?
The 2020 football season started off with another hit to the Auburn Family as Pat Dye passed away on June 1st. Just before the season opener against Kentucky, the team announced a special memorial logo would adorn the football helmets and the playing field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn will be honoring the late Pat Dye with a special memorial logo during the 2020 season.
The design features Dye’s initials and “Sixty Minutes,” a reference to his introductory press conference when asked how long it would take to beat Alabama.https://t.co/qPEQmEYfe3 pic.twitter.com/Km6J8gu9P6
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) September 25, 2020
Gus Malzahn also joined in on the tribute to the late coach, sporting a shirt and tie with a classic Dye-style ballcap for the Kentucky game. Malzahn would forgo his own traditional visor for nine of the ten regular-season games.
Of course, Malzahn would be let go from his coaching duties following the season. I was a Gus fan, and naturally, I loved keeping track of his visors and sweater vests throughout his tenure. I hated to see the Malzahn Trackers end almost as much as I hated to see Malzahn gone. And because we document everything here at the Auburn Uniform Database, there is a permanent home to the Malzahn Trackers on this very site.
Let’s do this one last time.
Gus Malzahn sported a new vest for last night’s game vs Miss. State, the second different grey vest during his tenure.
The former Auburn head coach wore 33 different vest/sleeve/patch combinations. pic.twitter.com/OntjkdRBkG
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) December 13, 2020
Despite the up-and-down shortened season, Auburn earned a bid to the Citrus Bowl, the first time in the Orlando bowl game since 2006. Unfortunately, it featured a rather recent foe in Northwestern rather than a new opponent.
Auburn made an incredibly minor change to the helmets for the bowl game this year that I’m sure most fans didn’t even notice. The Tigers have traditionally worn navy visor clips and visor tab decals but went all white – with new white facemask clips – for Orlando.
Really good look at the changes Auburn has made to the helmets for today’s game, including
– white visor tab decals
– white visor clips with AU decals
– white facemask clips to attach to the helmet(📸 via @CitrusBowl) pic.twitter.com/usEMQAkR6b
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) January 1, 2021
The Tigers also wore the Citrus Bowl logo on the back of the helmets, which is a bit of a rarity for Auburn.
Auburn and Northwestern are wearing the Citrus Bowl logo on their helmets.
Auburn has only worn the bowl logo on the helmet six times, three of which have been the BCS logo.
(📸 via @AuburnFootball) pic.twitter.com/A2qvi9gdYe
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) January 1, 2021
With the change to Bryan Harsin, many fans naturally questioned what, if anything, would be changed regarding Auburn’s uniforms. If Auburn history has shown us anything, the answer is: most likely nothing. For more on what Harsin’s Boise State background and alternate design history mean for Auburn, be sure to read this article from January.
The largest uniform collection on this site is naturally Football. You can view uniforms from 1934 to present day here.
Soccer
Soccer was the first Auburn sport to return this season. In their first game against Mississippi State, the Tigers were without the new Auburn Unity patch. However, the patch was present for the second game against Ole Miss, which occurred about a month after the season opener.
Unlike their first game 25 days ago, the Auburn Soccer team wore the Auburn Unity patch on their kits yesterday in the overtime win against Ole Miss.
(📸 via @fototodd, Auburn Athletics)https://t.co/WLSzVTnVI6 pic.twitter.com/NuKf9W5XAg
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) October 14, 2020
One of the rare new uniforms of the 2020-21 season belongs to the Auburn Soccer squad. The team broke out a new powder blue goalkeeper kit against Arkansas. The Tigers are no stranger to powder blue, having worn the color in the net as recently as 2017.
Auburn Soccer is debuting a new goalkeeper kit tonight in Fayetteville, sporting a new powder blue design.
Arkansas is wearing black and pink uniforms, so the Tigers are wearing their white kits on the road. pic.twitter.com/ntFkKo6RnC
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) October 30, 2020
The biggest drawback about this current soccer kit is the shortened sash stripe. The previous iteration was hands down the greatest uniform in Auburn Soccer history and it’s unfortunate that Under Armour’s latest shirt template ruined such a beautiful look. The 2020-21 season was the third year of this kit, which is a year longer than the previous two sets lasted. Maybe that means this will be the final time we see this design.
The Auburn Soccer uniform feature on the AUD is admittedly lacking, but the plan is to flesh that section out a good bit soon. You can view the current collection of soccer uniforms here.
Softball
The Auburn Softball team has been the leader in the uniform clubhouse for many years now. They sport as many uniform combinations as possible and often add new elements each season to add to the mix and matching.
2021 did not disappoint, aesthetically, as the Tigers donned 19 different combinations! That blows out the former program record of 14 but falls just shy of the Baseball team’s 20 combinations worn during the 2019 College World Series season.
The season started strong as the Tigers showed off a new pair of orange striped socks and orange belts in the preseason photo shoot. It didn’t take long for these new additions to make their debut, as Auburn wore them in just the second home weekend for a doubleheader against Murray State.
I’m an absolute sucker for photos like this, especially with those new orange striped socks 😍😍
(📸 @MatthewCS11) pic.twitter.com/q831ajJmdg
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) February 27, 2021
For the now three seasons that this uniform set has been worn, I’ve been saying that this is the best design in Auburn Softball’s history. The uniforms all look incredible and the addition of the Northwestern Striped socks in 2019 was one of the best uniform changes ever. Even though some jersey/pant/sock combinations may not have been winners, the best combos were always incredible.
The Tigers have also taken to sporting new batting helmets each season, with much of the last decade-plus seeing multiple designs. For 2021, Auburn only wore a single helmet – an all-white shell with a silver facemask (or white C-Flap for some players) and an orange AU logo on the front. Funny enough, the orange/blue colorway of the AU logo is not an approved design, per the school’s branding guidelines.
Auburn is wearing the new white batting helmets that they’ve been showcasing in promotional photos.
This continues the annual trend of having new helmet designs each season since 2011.
The AUD has a collection of batting helmet designs over the years: https://t.co/bpYnbmMov8 pic.twitter.com/TKvD3rnlYV
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) February 13, 2021
With this being the end of year three for this set, a new uniform design may be on the horizon. The last set lasted only two years (though the orange jersey had an extra season of use) and the previous uniforms had a four to five-year lifespan. It will be a sad day when this look gets retired. Hopefully, the next set will be equally as nice.
The Auburn Softball uniform history has recently seen a makeover, moving to a new template like the designs above, and having many more designs added. You can view nearly every uniform design worn since the team’s inception in 1997 here.
Volleyball
The Auburn Volleyball team added a new set of jerseys last season that included contrasting colored shoulders and sleeves with Northwestern Stripes down the arms. They were sprinkled in during the year and returned this season for a few matches. As the team opted out of the spring portion of the schedule, we didn’t get to see if they were going to be treated as alternate designs again or be promoted to primary status.
The new look is rather unattractive, personally. Between the two colorways, the design isn’t even consistent. With the body color, sleeve (or shoulder) color, and the addition of the stripes, it all just feels too busy.
From 2016 to 2018, Auburn wore a really nice set of jerseys that featured the traditional Northwestern Stripes across the sleeves. Despite the awkward seem, the stripes made for a great design. The current look is still lacking with the current vertical-striped sleeves.
Volleyball is the newest addition to the Auburn Uniform Database. I hope to add more historic designs to this site soon. The last four years of uniforms can be viewed here.
The last year has certainly been difficult for many and it such a success that a full slate of sports was able to complete their seasons.
Here at the Auburn Uniform Database, things were pretty off and on. With no games happening and no new uniforms, there wasn’t much to write about. Most of the last year has been spent on creating content for the AUD social media pages. But the last few weeks have centered around uniform research. It’s been really refreshing to update the Baseball, Softball, Women’s Basketball, and Soccer uniform pages and research photos of older seasons.
In the last month, 30+ years of Auburn uniforms have been added to this site. There are now over 222 combined years of uniform designs featured here on the Auburn Uniform Database.
In addition to that, the Auburn Uniform Database website received some well-needed TLC. The home page got a facelift and many of the pages across the site now feature a cohesive look. It’s relatively minor, but it certainly felt great to make these changes and make the AUD that much better.
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.
2018-19 Auburn Season Review
/0 Comments/by Clint RichardsonAfter Auburn’s successes last year, many thought the 2017-18 athletic season was one of the best in Auburn history. The 2018-19 season might have something to say about that. While the lead horse in football struggled compared to the previous year, many other sports upped their game. Baseball makes it to the World Series. Men’s Basketball appears in the Final Four. Equestrian claims another national title. Many other teams earned NCAA Tournament teams. This is easily the best period for Auburn Athletics, and it’s incredibly enjoyable as a fan.
This also might be the best aesthetic period for Auburn athletic teams. Nearly every program is sporting fantastic uniforms across the board. Naturally, some tweaks would make it all the better, but it’s hard to be dissatisfied with how Auburn teams look aesthetically when they’re competing.
As we officially close the year here on the Auburn Uniform Database, let’s take a look at each of the Auburn programs’ uniforms and anything newsworthy that happened during the season.
Baseball
The Auburn Tigers Baseball program experienced the best season in decades in 2019. After a 22 year drought failing to make the College World Series, Auburn fought for their first Super Regional title and return trip to Omaha. Uniform-wise, this was also one of the busier years for the baseball team. Multiple new additions to the wardrobe helped create new combinations and a record total number of mix-and-matches.
Auburn sprinkled in multiple new hat designs this season. The Tigers wore five different hats, just shy of the six caps worn in 2013. The 2019 schedule began with the return of an old cap – the tri-color design. The three-colored hat was last worn six years ago and hasn’t sniffed returning to the field. In recognition of St. Patrick’s Day, the Tigers wore all-green caps with blue AU logos for the entire weekend series against Tennessee. Interestingly enough, Auburn wore alternate uniforms for the Tennessee series a few years ago also. The field at Plainsman Park was also decorated to join the St. Paddy’s Day party.
The most controversial addition to the uniform in 2019 was the return of the blue digi-camo hats. After a two-year hiatus, the camo hats returned for the Capital City Classic against Alabama and the Ole Miss weekend series, in which the Tigers celebrated Military Appreciation. After keeping the caps on the shelf the rest of the season, Auburn broke them back out for the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers rode the camouflage caps through their Regional and Super Regional victories and into the College World Series.
During the College World Series games, head coach Butch Thompson was spotted wearing a slightly different style of camo hat, one with a blue-outlined logo rather than the white.
Butch Thompson was seen last night wearing the older blue-outline cap while the rest of the team wore the white version.
Turns out he’s done that for a while at least. Butch wore the old style in the Regionals at GT and Super Regional round at UNC. pic.twitter.com/OCXAwfv8qg
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) June 17, 2019
2019 has been a rough year for the Auburn community. In March, tornadoes ripped through Lee County and struck just miles from Auburn’s campus. Beginning with the March 8 game versus UTSA through the remainder of the season, Auburn wore Lee County Strong decals on their helmets. The decals even made their way onto the uniforms with third base coach Gabe Gross wearing it on his chest. On May 25, Voice of the Auburn Tigers and longtime baseball broadcaster Rod Bramblett and his wife Paula were killed in a car wreck. The baseball team would play their first NCAA Tournament game just five days later, without their beloved broadcaster. In Rod’s honor, the team added memorial decals to their hats and batting helmets.
Auburn set a record for number of uniform combinations in 2019, sporting 20 different looks. The 2013 season previously held the record, which featured 16 combinations. Three new hats on the year plus the addition of the College World Series patch for two games helped surpass the old record. Auburn wore the orange jerseys with five combinations, the white tops with five, and the blue jerseys were used for four combos. The pinstripe uniforms were worn with three different caps, whereas Auburn traditionally pairs them with the same hat.
Basketball (Men’s)
The men’s basketball program at Auburn also saw amazing success in the 2018-19 athletic calendar. Much like baseball, Bruce Pearl’s team struggled through conference play but showed no mercy come tournament time. After winning four games in four days in Nashville, the Tigers took home the SEC Tournament title. Then magic happened in the big dance. Auburn defeated four teams – including three blue blood basketball programs in Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky – to make the program’s first appearance in the Final Four. Even though mere seconds separated Auburn from the final game in Minneapolis, the Tigers’ season was nothing short of spectacular.
Since Bruce Pearl took over as head coach, the AUTLIVE Cancer initiative has continued to raise money to support families going through cancer treatment. Each of the previous four seasons have featured an AUTLIVE game with the team, coaches, students, and fans wearing specially made t-shirts. For the first three games, Auburn mixed the t-shirt colors, going orange in year one, white the next, and then blue. The team uniforms have matched the color of the shirts. Auburn once again went with orange shirts (this time with a different design altogether) and the team also wore their orange uniforms at home.
Auburn’s NCAA Tournament run was played on three different court designs (two of which changed the “Round” text on the baselines). You can view all those, plus the Final Four court design, on the Basketball Courts page.
During Auburn’s Sweet 16 game versus North Carolina, a few Tigers were seen without their NCAA patches. They started the game with them, but at some point they disappeared during the game.
Auburn’s Chuma Okeke (#5), Bryce Brown (#2), and Malik Dunbar (#4) all lost their NCAA patches during Friday’s Sweet Sixteen game versus North Carolina.@PhilHecken @UniWatch pic.twitter.com/1QESqFnfQB
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) March 30, 2019
Auburn’s Chuma Okeke tore his ACL late in the UNC game and missed the rest of the tournament. Malik Dunbar showed support for Okeke during the final two games by wearing Chuma’s #5 jersey in pre-game warmups.
Malik Dunbar (@malik_ihoop) wore injured Chuma Okeke’s jersey in pregame warmups prior to Sunday’s game versus Kentucky.
(📸 via Wade Rackley) pic.twitter.com/aIIbVyHD94
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) April 1, 2019
Basketball (Women’s)
After a whole season of being AWOL, the orange uniforms returned! Auburn went 46 games, dating from January 27, 2017 to November 28, 2018, without wearing the alternate orange unis. They were only worn twice this year, but the Tigers did go 2-0 in orange.
It’s not often we see changes to the Auburn Arena court, especially after the new design was put down a few years back. But, for the first game of the year, the Women’s NIT logo was placed on the court for their preseason tournament.
The pink uniforms from last season were carried over into the 2018-19 season and worn for another two games. Auburn first wore them on the road at Arkansas and again two games later hosting Alabama.
Football
The football season was the biggest rollercoaster for Auburn fans,having big wins over Washington and a late come-from-behind victory over Texas A&M, but also with bad loses to Tennessee and LSU.
Not much changed on the uniforms, as Auburn added 3D rear bumpers for the UCF bowl game last year. The Tigers did add a pink ribbon decal to the helmets for the Tennessee game, which was also the AUTLIVE game in which Bruce Pearl teamed up with the Auburn University Marching Band. The band broke out pink capes during the halftime performance.
Speaking of the marching band, the AUMB wore new uniforms for the season. Many minor changes, but a few larger tweaks that many weren’t too fond of. More details here.
Gus Malzahn has recently shelved his signature sweater vest. After 22 games without wearing one, Malzahn returned to his vest style on the sideline for the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
Gus Malzahn is wearing a vest for the first time since the September 17, 2017 victory over Mercer.
The 22-game no-vest streak is over.
(image via @ByJustinLee ) pic.twitter.com/jxivTq1hR8
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) December 28, 2018
Soccer
After starting the season 9-0, Auburn struggled to end the season, finishing 12-6-2 overall. For the season, the Tigers sported new kits that changed the ever popular sash design. Previously extending the entire length of the front jersey, the stripes now truncate to just below the number. While the template design might be to blame, it’s a shame the stripes had to suffer. Once a wonderful aspect of the uniform is now more awkward than anything.
Over the past handful of seasons, Auburn has supported multiple sclerosis through awareness and fundraising. Auburn’s goalkeeper Sarah Le Beau has been effected by MS personally, as her father battles the condition. Le Beau and Taylor Troutman both sported orange ribbons on their jerseys for the MS Awareness game versus Georgia.
Softball
Unlike their baseball counterparts, the Auburn Softball program didn’t change a whole lot with their uniforms. The second season of the current uni set did see a drop in combinations worn throughout the year – from 14 last season to 11 this year.
The number of combinations wouldn’t have been as high if it weren’t for a new pair of beautiful Northwestern Striped socks, which were worn with three different combos. The new socks added a great splash of color to the lower leg, something that has been missing since stirrups were removed in 2014.
Auburn has now worn the striped socks with three different sets of uniforms.
The new socks continue to improve the look for each uniform and has been one of the best aesthetic additions in recent years.
(images via @catwoffordphoto & Ryan Greenwood) pic.twitter.com/Blo9YDv8rk
— Clint Richardson (@Clintau24) April 1, 2019
New batting helmets have been an interesting choice for Auburn the last two or so seasons. This year, the Tigers changed from DeMarini to Under Armour brand batting helmets. A white and navy, both matte finished, shell were worn. The white helmet was paired with a white mask and a 3D blue/white AU logo. The navy helmet had a silver mask and an orange/white helmet. Unfortunately, the superior blue helmets were only worn nine times, finishing with an 8-1 record.
The Softball program also added Lee County Strong decals to their batting helmets following the March tornadoes that struck just miles from Auburn’s campus.
Volleyball
A disappointing season on the court record wise and uniform wise for the Auburn Volleyball team. The Tigers finished 12-16 and only wore the superior Northwestern striped jerseys for six games.
Auburn did reveal a new pink jersey that features similar sleeve stripes that were worn for three games, amassing a 1-2 record. The new version is a massive upgrade over the previous style.
And that will wrap up the Fifth Anniversary for the Auburn Uniform Database. Year five was pretty good. The AUD Instagram and Facebook accounts have become more of a priority in order to publish more content. The growth on both pages has been encouraging and hoping to continue with that.
This also marks the first full year on the new website. I like how everything looks and works, I’m but still working on growing this site and creating more content.
Thank you as always for continuing to support the Auburn Uniform Database! The summer tends to be the busiest season for the AUD, with the season recaps, the always fun and challenging CFB Uniform Roundups, the upcoming concept uniform series, and more. Keep an eye out for all of those and be sure to following the AUD on all of our social media accounts.
Enjoy uniforms and want to see more content like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database, like the AUD Facebook page, Instagram page, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news. Also, you can support this site by purchasing AUD t-shirts and other merchandise. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.
2017-18 Auburn Season Review
/0 Comments/by Clint RichardsonThe 2017-2018 athletic season was probably one of the best in Auburn’s history. Even with the roller coaster of ups and downs, the highs made history. New Year’s Six bowl game for football after beating two #1 teams; men’s basketball winning the SEC title and making the NCAA Tournament; equestrian taking home the national title; men’s golf winning the SEC Title and finishing in the top 4 in nationals; baseball winning a Regional and bringing home the first Super Regional game win.
As has been the case the last two years, let’s take a look at each sport’s season aesthetically. Teams listed are those in which the Auburn Uniform Database tracks uniform records throughout the season.
Baseball
Auburn Baseball wasn’t expected to do a lot of good this season. Sports “experts” picked the Tigers to finish 11th in the conference during the pre-season.
Auburn didn’t pay too much attention to these predictions, as they put together one of the best seasons in the last two decades. The Tigers won 40 games, swept their Regional, and won the first Super Regional game in the program’s history. Casey Mize also made history as he was selected first overall in the MLB Draft, the first Tiger to be the top player drafted.
As the Auburn Tigers made history on the diamond, they did so wearing a brand new set of uniforms. In January, the team showcased their new Under Armour designs. Four new jerseys and two new pairs of pants were revealed, with two sets entirely recycled. Auburn also replaced the orange-billed cap with an all blue hat.
Auburn thankfully kept the throwback uniforms in the rotation. Since the starting pitcher typically chooses the game’s uniform, Casey Mize broke out the creme throwbacks the majority of his home starts. The new blue-billed hats also created a new combination for the throwbacks, which have now been paired with five different hats.
The new hat wasn’t the only headwear change on the season. Auburn tweaked the batting helmet design from last season, removing the orange-bill decal, as it was no longer needed to match the caps. The Tigers also added player numbers to the bill of the helmets.
Plainsman Park also received a minor addition around midseason as new graphics were installed on the backstop. The foul-territory turf installed in the offseason looked a lot better throughout the season than I originally imagined.
Basketball (Men’s)
The best season for the men’s basketball program in twenty years was fun for all. The Tigers grabbed the regular season SEC Championship and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. Even with the championship, the end of the season featured more than its fair share of ups and downs.
Throughout the season, Auburn was rather intentional on what uniforms they wore. Having three colorways of the throwback uniforms and the alternate Tigers set, Auburn had options for each game. For the majority of the season, the Tigers alternated their two home whites and two road color sets. Rarely did Auburn wear the same uniform in consecutive games. The Tigers wore their orange jerseys for all three games during the Charleston Classic, and wore blue for their January 27th game at home versus LSU as well as the following game at Ole Miss.
Auburn began the season with a program first – wearing blue at home. As the Tigers hosted Norfolk State, a team known for wearing white on the road, Auburn began the 2017-18 season in the Auburn Arena wearing a uniform color for the first time. Auburn has worn orange and white for every game in the Arena’s short lifespan. Most Under Armour teams, Auburn included, wore special red, white, and blue shoes for Veteran’s Day. Auburn wore them in the season opening game.
Auburn Basketball will be wearing special Under Armour shoes for Veterans Day tonight vs Norfolk State (📷 via @AuburnMBB) pic.twitter.com/luCOfbNihv
— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) November 10, 2017
Head Coach Bruce Pearl’s AUTlive Cancer initiative marked its third year in 2018. Auburn has sold special t-shirts each season, with the proceeds going to help families pay for daily expenses while fighting cancer. Each year has seen different colored t-shirts, with the team wearing matching uniforms. Auburn wore blue uniforms this season to match the blue t-shirts. Auburn is 3-0 in AUTlive Cancer games since the initiative began at Auburn.
.@AuburnMBB is now 3-0 in #AUTlive games.
In each of the three years of @coachbrucepearl ‘s cancer fighting campaign, Auburn has matched the uniforms to the #AUTlive shirt color. The 2018 edition saw the Tigers wear blue at home for only the second time in school history. pic.twitter.com/iWuGrgVage
— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) January 28, 2018
Another first for this season was the NCAA patch being placed on the jerseys. Auburn wore both their two white uniforms for the Tournament, and each of them donned the light blue patch.
Auburn also revealed the first statue of a basketball player and the first one to be placed at the Auburn Arena. The Charles Barkley statue sits just outside the scholarship entrance on the east side of the Arena.
Basketball (Women’s)
The 2017-18 season won’t be remembered for being the greatest Women’s Basketball season. Auburn finished 14-15 overall and 5-11 in SEC play.
In an odd twist, Auburn failed to wear their orange uniforms this season. Looking back at previous seasons under Head Coach Terri Williams-Flourney, the Tigers have worn orange only a handful of times. Even more odd is that the orange uniforms are used entirely in the marketing materials for each of the two seasons.
While Auburn shelved one of their uniforms, they did add a new one. Like in previous years, Auburn hosted a breast cancer awareness game and wore pink uniforms. The Tigers had worn the same uniforms for the last five seasons, with the design and template not matching the other sets. When viewed in comparison to the modern fit, it’s a drastic difference. Under Armour provided Auburn and multiple other teams under their banner with new pink and grey uniforms. The jerseys and shorts featured a gradient set of stripes on the sides. The numbers and wordmarks were also single-tone, so they didn’t match very well with the blue and white styles.
Today on @AuburnUniforms:@AuburnWBB debuted new pink #Play4Kay uniforms last week.https://t.co/nY9ht8AT9n pic.twitter.com/D8tnaAUCb7
— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) February 19, 2018
Football
It was an up and down year for most of Auburn Athletics, but probably none more so than Football. Once again, expectations were high going in to the season. The Tigers struggled at Clemson and LSU, but knocked off two #1 teams in the same year – Georgia and Alabama. A loss to UCF in the Peach Bowl left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths.
Even though the action of the field was wild, it was a rather uneventful season aesthetic-wise. Auburn has now worn the latest Under Armour template for three years. We are now two years removed from the rotation of matching orange, blue, and white gloves, sleeves, socks, and cleats. The metallic/chrome stripes are no longer a shocking revelation.
But there were a few changes. First, the addition of 3D Bumpers to the nose of the helmet. Auburn sported these all season long, and added a rear bumper for the bowl game. I love these additions, as they create some depth in an often-overlooked area of the helmets, and they aren’t outrageous enough to stir up the fanbase.
2017 also saw the return of the SEC logo to the helmets. When the SEC went to the circle logo full time in 2012, the majority of teams wore that logo on the back of their helmets. Auburn did not adapt the change immediately. In fact, Auburn tweaked the decals they had been wearing in order to not conform with the rest of the league. While the Tigers had worn SEC pennant decals since 2006, an NCAA pennant was worn from 2012 on. Only in 2017 did the SEC logo return, but sans pennant. All 14 SEC teams now wear the same helmet decals.
And speaking of decals, the 2017 SEC Championship Game saw the first appearance of the game logo on a uniform. The SEC is one of the rare holdouts on placing Championship Game patches on their teams. But they did add decals to the back of the helmets for this edition.
Most teams like to show off for the bowl games with new uniforms or whatever. Auburn decided to join the party, but, of course, keep it subdued. Nothing new with the uniforms, but there was a new cleat design to be worn. The Cam Newton-design C1N MC featured a really nice set of Northwestern stripes across the high top portion. Cam actually sported these during warmups prior to Carolina’s game versus the New York Jets the day after Auburn knocked off Alabama.
While the cleats looked fantastic, they didn’t perform very well. In Auburn’s second trip to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the Tigers struggled with their footing. Slipping and sliding across the field, in turn, helped UCF shut down Auburn’s offense for a while. Naturally, the vocal fans blamed the entire performance on the special cleats.
Soccer
It’s always tough to follow record-breaking seasons, especially when a lot of talented players graduate. That’s what happened with the Auburn Soccer program in 2017. The 2015 and 2016 campaigns were two of the best years on record, and 2017 was a bit of a transition season.
The Tigers finished 8-6-5 overall, and was bounced in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to the eventual champions, Stanford.
No changes were made this season to the soccer kits, but Auburn did somewhat add a new set. A powder blue goalkeeper kit was showcased at picture day in early August and eventually worn just once for the regular season finale against Vanderbilt. The long sleeve tops aren’t new as they were worn two season prior, but they weren’t worn with matching shorts. It was also the only time all season Sarah Le Beau and the goalkeepers would sport anything besides their orange uniforms.
Softball
While Auburn Softball had recently experienced historic heights for the program, the last year or so was a difficult time for the Tigers. With one coach leaving on poor terms and a short off-season for the incoming coach, the 2018 season was a challenge. Auburn had a lot of hardships and distractions and featured a rather young team. Auburn would fall in the first game of the SEC Tournament and be bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the first round to in-state rival Jacksonville State.
The Tigers would enter the 2018 season with an entirely new set of uniforms, all of which were a great look for the program. Auburn’s first Women’s College World Series appearance in 2015 featured uniforms with a simple design. The following season saw a bit more adventurous design with some bolder color blocks. This new set hearkens more to that 2015 set with a classic look for a diamond team.
Auburn wasn’t done with just the main set of uniforms, as they would soon unveil the program’s first ever pinstripe design. Auburn was relatively lax on wearing the full pinstripe set, only breaking them out for five games, but enjoyed mixing the pants with different jerseys for an additional four games. Just a few short years ago, an image leaked of one of the Softball players trying on what turned out to be Auburn Baseball’s pinstripe uniform. That turned out to be a successful test, and the Softball Tigers now have their own version.
Auburn has also enjoyed playing around with batting helmet designs. The 2017 season was kicked off with the Tigers wearing a new matte blue and orange helmet with orange facemask. That facemask was changed to blue around mid-season. Once post season came around, a new white and blue helmet was thrown in the mix. Auburn alternated between those two helmets for most of the 2018 season.
Much like last year, Auburn added another helmet into the mix for post season play. The first game in the NCAA Tournament Tallahassee Regional against Kennesaw State saw a second white helmet (almost grey, actually), this time matte in finish with a special feature. The AU logo on the front of the shell was from 3D Bumpers, a company that has gained a lot of traction recently for providing three-dimensional logos and lettering for many football teams, including Auburn. The blue-on-white AU logo was a poor choice here, in my opinion, but I love the look of a 3D logo.
Regarding smaller additions, Auburn wore a #JSUStrong decal on the back of their helmets during the Kentucky series in response to Jacksonville State University being heavily damaged by tornadoes in late March.
Auburn also sported purple ribbons for the Arkansas series in support for infielder Tannon Snow, who was diagnosed with epilepsy last season. The team surprised Snow with the ribbons along with her family being in town from California to throw out the first pitch.
The Tigers had a little fun on their road trip to Ole Miss, pulling an April Fool’s prank and wearing mismatched socks. Ole Miss would win the game and series, so don’t expect a follow up to this next year.
The annual Breast Cancer Awareness game was set for the series finale against Kentucky. Each season’s pink t-shirts are slightly different. This year’s added front numbers for the first time since 2010. Auburn also paired the shirts with their new pinstripe pants.
Volleyball
The Auburn Volleyball team was the newest addition to the AUD Uniform Tracker for the 2017-18 season. The Tigers debuted new uniforms last year and continued to wear them throughout the 2017 campaign.
Volleyball requires the libero to wear a different colored jersey from the rest of the team, much like soccer and the goalkeeper. The majority of the team would wear the Northwestern striped tops worn last year. The libero would wear an older style without the sleeve stripes. The libero would have an alternate jersey available in an attractive powder blue colorway.
Auburn would also sport special pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness. The Tigers wore them at home in early October, then again in Tennessee for the following match.
Action and drama on the field and court were at all time highs this season, across the board. In addition to uniform records, I also kept track of the overall records for these seven sports. The win percentage for Auburn Athletics had hung around 75% early on in the season, but was ultimately stuck in the 60% range.
It was an interesting season here on the Auburn Uniform Database. The summer was interesting, with some exclusive materials and the University adopting a logo change. Even with three programs debuting new uniforms, views were considerably lower than normal. The site did hit 500,000 views in August and is now nearing 600K.
Thank you, as always, for continuing to support this site. Next month is a big milestone for the AUD, and there are a few changes planned to coincide. Stay tuned for that!
Enjoy uniforms and want to see more like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database, like the AUD Facebook page, Instagram page, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news. Also, you can support this site by purchasing AUD t-shirts and other merchandise. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.
Enjoy uniforms and want to see more like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database, like the AUD Facebook page, Instagram page, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news. Also, you can support this site by purchasing AUD t-shirts and other merchandise. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.
2016-17 Season Review
/0 Comments/by Clint RichardsonAnother year of Auburn Athletics has come to a close. Let’s take a look back at the season by way of each program’s uniforms.
One of the biggest additions to (almost) all the uniforms this season was the SEC’s new Graduate patch. The SEC Grad patch was an initiative from the league office and commissioner Greg Sankey to put an emphasis on academics. The Arkansas football team was the first to try this out with a test run at the beginning of the football season. Come October, all the conference teams were sporting the new look for their athletes that have already earned a degree. Unfortunately for volleyball and soccer, these patches came out towards the end of their seasons, so none of their athletes were able to wear it if they qualified to do so. The remaining sports each had at least one graduate on the team sporting the new patch. Below you can find a collection of SEC Graduate patches for each sport.
Auburn SEC Graduate Patches
Baseball
The second year of the Butch Thompson regime at Auburn was not expected to be much. The media members voted that Auburn would finish tied for last in the conference before the season began. Then the Tigers hit the field.
The throwback uniforms are always a fan favorite. (photo via Wade Rackley, Auburn Athletics) |
Auburn was 14-5 heading in to conference play, swept then #5 Florida at home, and quickly rose through the many college baseball national rankings. The Tigers topped out at #4 before struggling through the tail end of the season. A 7-game losing streak was the low point of the year and put the team in a hole they struggled to climb out of with the remaining games.
Even without sporting any brand new uniforms, there was plenty of uniform news for this Auburn baseball season. The beginning of the season saw the team heavily favor the blue and white hat that was typical saved for the pinstripe uniforms. The sans-orange hat was actually paired with five different combinations on the year. For the first time in over a year, the fan favorite and spectacular Auburn throwback uniforms saw the light of day. Unfortunately, the inconsistencies still existed from the last time they were worn.
Much like the Softball team, the Baseball program debuted a new batting helmet design this year. The new design featured an orange bill and AU logo that was to be paired with the matching hat. The old design with simply the white AU logo was worn with the sans-orange caps.
Auburn baseball is making the first change to the batting helmets in about a decadehttps://t.co/2HPYq0rYWT pic.twitter.com/39WyoNWcyp— Clint Richardson® (@Clintau24) February 13, 2017
Of the eleven different combinations, four of them were brand new for the program. Auburn had previously worn blue tops on pinstripe pants, but never paired with the blue and white hat. The same holds true for the orange jersey and white pants combo. The Tigers paired the script Auburn orange jerseys with grey pants for the first time since the 2013 season, when the pants had a different design. We also saw orange tops and pinstripe pants for the first time this year.
Men’s Basketball
A year that started out promising ended with disappointment for the Auburn Men’s Basketball team. Although the team finished with a winning record for the first time since the 2008-09 season, it was hard to not wonder “what if?” A lot of talent, little chemistry, and a few key injuries derailed the promising season for the Tigers.
Last year we saw Auburn transition over to a new throwback-inspired uniform design. This year, they were tweaked a little and updated to the newest Under Armour template. Many of the tweaks were considered improvements – such as the full collar stripes – while some were downgrades – the AU logo on the shorts moving over and interrupting the side stripes. I personally believe that pairing the new jerseys with last year’s shorts would be the ideal look for Auburn Basketball.
Auburn Basketball will be wearing new uniforms and the new Under Armour template this season. Here’s a side-by-side look at all the details: pic.twitter.com/VXOpfUNa6w— Clint Richardson® (@Clintau24) October 30, 2016
The new shorts were a little confusing for some, like Ronnie Johnson, who wore them backwards for a half against Boston College.
Auburn’s Ronnie Johnson wore his shorts backwards in first half vs Boston College. Fixed them for the second half (major h/t @jonwaldenshow) pic.twitter.com/uTQFtoDZaS— Clint Richardson® (@Clintau24) December 13, 2016
In addition to the updated uniforms, Auburn broke out a new set of alternates. These new unis featured Auburn’s infamous Northwestern Stripes that Under Armour continues to apply to as many places as possible. The biggest aspect of these alts is the chestmark – this would be the first time ever that Auburn basketball had worn the university’s nickname front and center on a uniform. The “Tigers” alternates debuted in the conference opener against Georgia, which resulted in a loss for Auburn.
The Tigers played the season on a brand new court design. Gone was the previous orange-dominate court and in was a blue-based, blue-surrounded court. This is the first design change of the Auburn Arena.
A look at the new blue-based court design in the Auburn Arena (photo via Dakota Sumpter, Auburn Athletics) |
Women’s Basketball
For each of the last few years, I’ve added a new program to my uniform trackings. This year’s team was women’s basketball. Coach Flo’s team was impressive a second season in a row, making two straight NCAA Tournaments.
Auburn women’s basketball had new uniforms this season (photo via Anthony Hall, Auburn Athletics) |
Much like the other Auburn athletic programs, things looked great for most of the year, and then a poor finish kept everyone wondering what had happened. After a promising non-conference schedule, the Tigers suffered a six game losing streak during SEC play. The Tigers looked to compete for an SEC Tournament title, but were bounced in the opening round by Georgia. North Carolina State ended Auburn’s season in the NCAA Tournament.
Auburn broke out new uniforms this season, updating to the newest template from Under Armour. The new uniforms, like many other Under Armour items, heavily feature the Northwestern Stripes. Similarly to the men’s uniforms, the women had an AU logo on the side of the shorts that disrupted the striping. For some reason, mainly because of the template, the striping didn’t wrap all the way around the legs.
Even with the three new uniforms this season, the Tigers still wore a pink uniform that was multiple years old. I was told that the team expected Under Armour to send new pink uniforms, so they didn’t order any themselves. So expect to see a new set of pink unis – possibly in the same design as the other uniforms – this coming fall.
Football
It seems like the theme for many of the Auburn sports this year was “what if?” And it all started with football. The 8-5 season was marred by the rotating quarterback position, especially in the opening game against eventual national champion Clemson.
Before the season started, many Auburn players were spotted wearing the Riddell SpeedFlex helmet, one of the new helmets designed to help limit impact and concussions. The 2017 A-Day game also saw another new helmet – the Vicis Zero1 – being worn by Will Hastings.
The Tigers were expected to wear treDCALs this season, a new addition to thigh pads that add a silhouette of a logo or number, but they never saw the football field.
Montravious Adams was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week in late October after his stellar performance against Arkansas. During the game, though, Adams’s AU helmet decal was ripped off at some point.
SEC D-Lineman of the Week Montravious Adams had his AU logo ripped at some point during Saturday’s game vs Arkansas pic.twitter.com/2x0LLD5c6t— Clint Richardson® (@Clintau24) October 24, 2016
There wasn’t much new added to the football uniforms, other than a new compression sleeve design that was worn by a few players.
There were a few noteworthy sightings at this year’s A-Day game. You can see a collection of tweets regarding these sightings here.
Looking forward to the new season, Auburn will be fielding a football team for the 125th year. Will the Tigers mark the occasion with a special anniversary patch like they did for 100 years back in 1992? Details are here.
Soccer
A year after a historic and emotion-filled season, the Auburn Soccer team came back and bettered the last year. After reaching the program’s first Sweet 16 and finishing the season ranked #12, the best ever, Auburn reached their first Elite 8 this past season, and was ranked #8 in the final polls. The Tigers racked up 17 wins in their 2017 season, breaking the previous program record.
The Auburn Soccer team was another program to debuted new uniforms this year, with these making tweaks to the design from the previous season. The Northwestern Stripe sash is tweaked to better reflect the true dimensions of the striping. The odd shapes under the arm and on the shorts are now gone, creating a much cleaner look.
Softball
After reaching the final game of the Women’s College World Series last year, the goal for the Auburn Softball team was to win it all. With losing so much talent the year before, reaching the final series was going to be a challenge in itself. Unfortunately, and through more than their fair share of turmoil through the season, the Auburn Softball year was cut short after losing in the Super Regional round.
The Tigers changed from orange facemasks to blue midway through the season |
Softball received a whole new line of uniforms last year, so there wasn’t much expected in that realm this season. Even with no new uniforms, there was still plenty going on the diamond for the Tigers. Auburn sported new batting helmets from game one against Oklahoma in Mexico. These new helmets featured a matte blue shell, orange highlights, and an orange facemask. The Tigers would change over to a blue facemask around the time conference play started.
Kasey Cooper wears the wrong batting helmet (photo via Wade Rackley, Auburn Athletics) |
Not all was well with the new helmets though. On March 2, against Liberty, the legendary Kasey Cooper was sporting the batting helmet from the year before. She would return to the orange-detailed new helmet the following day.
Kasey Cooper was subject of another uniform-related happening later in the season. Before the series finale game vs Missouri in mid April, Cooper mishandled a ball in warmups, resulting in a nasty black eye. To protect the eye and keep from having a repeat incident, she wore a protective mask for two of the three games in South Carolina.
Once post season play began, the Tigers were given another new batting helmet. The second helmet of the year was a glossy white lid, with blue highlights and a chrome-like AU logo on front. They looked better with some uniform combinations than others.
Casey McCrakin sporting one of the two new batting helmets this season (photo via Dakota Sumpter, Auburn Athletics) |
Although there were no new jerseys or pants for the Tigers, Auburn did add a few new uniform combinations to the history book. Against LSU, Auburn paired the white tops with grey pants and white socks. They would later do the same but with blue socks against Ole Miss. The white jerseys were part of four different combinations, with the two mentioned, the typical white/white/blue look, and a new white/white/white look that debuted against Missouri in mid April. The orange jerseys were also part of four pairs, with two brand new looks – orange/blue/white worn against LSU in the SEC Tournament, and orange/white/white against Cal in Regional play.
The orange/white/white uniforms were part of a last minute change for the Tigers. Due to NCAA rules, teams must contrast in post season play, with the home team wearing light colored uniforms and the road team dark. Cal won the loser’s bracket game to face Auburn immediately after. The Tigers were originally wearing all white and had to change to meet the rules.
Volleyball
I admit to not being a big volleyball fan, not understanding a lot about the sport, and not having paid much attention to Auburn’s program in the past. But this year saw a new uniform style debut, and of course I was all over it.
New uniforms for Auburn Volleyball this season (photo via Dakota Sumpter, Auburn Athletics) |
The volleyball team sported new jerseys that featured the Northwestern Stripes across the sleeves at the elbow. The weird part is that the stripes didn’t meet on the back side of the arm.
The Tigers showcased a blue and orange version of these new jerseys. Auburn had a pair of shorts that matched the tops with the stripes – as seen on the team’s intro video – but they sadly never wore them.
The volleyball team would finish the season 15-16 and missed out on post-season play.
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In Auburn Uniform Database news, this past season was another good one for the site. Even with the slower news regarding Auburn uniforms, the content that was available helped continue to grow the site and my personal Twitter account. The website surpassed 400,000 lifetime views just before the calendar switched over to 2017. Last October, my Twitter account passed 4,000 followers as well. Individual article views have been the highest they’ve been in the history of the site. And in personal news, I graduated from Auburn University, the greatest school in the country, in May. Don’t worry, the uniform content will still be here with plenty more coming in the future.
The 2016-17 athletic season was a rollercoaster for Auburn Athletics. Great talent and expectations, losing streaks and bubbles busting. This past season was another success for this site, and I genuinely thank you all for your continued support.
Here’s to hoping for a better overall season of Auburn Athletics and more continued success for the Auburn Uniform Database.
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Season in Review
/2 Comments/by Clint RichardsonYes, 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.
The team broke out new sash-style uniforms last season, featuring the infamous Auburn football Northwestern stripes. This year the goalkeepers were awarded new uniforms this year, an orange version of last year’s new uniforms.
The entire team wore orange ribbons on the road at Tennessee shortly after Young’s diagnosis. The ribbons were removed for the follow games as the Tigers wore specially made #MeguhStrong t-shirts in pre-game warmups and on the bench.
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.
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It’s no secret that Auburn has transitioned to a #WomensSportsSchool. The ladies performed so well this season, across every sport under the Auburn University banner. Hopefully they can keep the momentum up heading into the fall, and the men’s teams can catch up to the ladies’ levels.
This past season was probably the busiest in history for Auburn’s uniforms, across the board. New uniforms, new alternates, and lots of other news happened throughout the season. With many of the teams receiving new uniforms this year, who knows what we’ll see next year.
Auburn Athletics Uniforms – Year in Review
/1 Comment/by Clint RichardsonThe end of the calendar year always brings about articles remembering the last 365 days, in many shapes and forms. Sports seasons, especially the slew of collegiate sports, don’t typically fit in nice and neatly with the calendar. So what’s a better time than now to look back at the previous 365 days or so of the uniforms worn throughout Auburn’s biggest sporting teams!
Baseball
In what turned out to be Sunny Golloway’s final season on The Plains, the former head coach brought his old vests to Auburn. While at Oklahoma, Golloway outfitted his Sooners in the classic vests look, as well as plenty of camouflage. The camo trend unfortunately hit Auburn once before, with Coach John Palowski, but those were shelved Golloway’s first season. Last year, Auburn debuted a new navy-camo hat against Alabama in the Capital City Classic in Montgomery, and wore them a few times throughout the season, pairing it with a few different uniform combinations.
This season sees former Mississippi State associate head coach and pitching coach Butch Thompson take over the reigns. Hard to expect much from a first time head coach of a division one program, but Mississippi State did enjoy their massive rotation of uniforms (17 combinations last year!) when Thompson was on the bench.
Softball
The Auburn Softball team had a historic season, breaking a multitude of records on their way to the program’s first SEC Championship and trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Their trip to OKC saw a few new things in the uniform department. An early season game against UAB saw the debut of a brand new orange uniform, the first the team had worn since the 2010-11 season. The new jerseys feature blue areas on the sleeves and collar that showcase a sublimated tiger stripe pattern, reminiscent of the basketball team’s 1999 uniforms, as well as one of the craziest uniforms worn by the softball team in 2001.
The orange tops were only worn with the blue pants, but for one game against Tennessee, the team mixed it up going with orange belts and socks. A loss in that game derailed the mix and matched combination.
Through people associated with the program, Auburn softball will be replacing the previous white and blue uniform sets with new ones based off the new orange jersey design. Here’s a guess as to what the new uniforms may look like.
In addition to those, the Tigers will be sporting a new grey uniform, one that was described as “charcoal” in color – guessing something similar to Nike’s anthracite color used across their different sports. One more uniform is possible to be added to the arsenal after this upcoming season – a pinstripe set, similar to the one worn by the baseball team. A photo surfaced last season of this design.
Basketball
The basketball team typically switches uniform designs every three years or so. This past season saw the Tigers jump that trend by half a season, introducing new alternate uniforms for the conference schedule. The new uniforms were to test Under Armour’s new tailoring method, so many teams under the UA banner broke out similar uniforms. Auburn’s new unis featured sublimated tiger stripes at the bottom of the jersey (below where they would be tucked in) and all across the shorts. The Tigers wore these uniforms for the entire conference season, except for one game against Ole Miss where the previous old uniforms made an appearance.
The end of the season saw the team facing some adversity, with a losing record, a tough conference tournament on the horizon, and the loss of Antoine Mason for a game or two as he was with family as his father was in the hospital and eventually passed away. The night of Anthony Mason’s passing, Auburn traveled to Texas A&M for one the last games of the season. The Aggie equipment managers were gracious enough to make and apply memorial ribbons for the Tigers to wear. Auburn wore the ribbons the rest of the season and throughout the team’s miraculous run in Nashville in the SEC Tournament.
The 2015-16 season saw the true replacement of the last uniform set, as Auburn revealed new throwback uniforms, harking back to the glory days of current associate head coach Chuck Person and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley. These new uniforms feature the same double stripe design as those worn in the 1980s. These could possibly be the best uniforms the Auburn Tigers have ever worn. They’re certainly the best Under Armour uniforms Auburn has sported.
Football
Auburn uniforms aren’t mentioned much in the world of uniforms, unless the topic revolves around classic teams that don’t need to change anything. This season saw some of the biggest changes to Auburn’s football uniforms since the addition and removal of the orange drop-shadow of the 1990s. Arguably the biggest change for the team is the upgrade to Under Armour’s newest template, one that works much better for Auburn’s design than the previous template. Auburn also added a slew of accessories for the players to wear, planning to keep the arsenal of gloves, sleeves, and socks a bit more uniform throughout the team as opposed to previous seasons, where these items can get plenty messy in terms of what is worn on the field. The changes that brought about the most discussion were to the helmet, as the Northwestern stripes were updated to feature a new chrome/metallic finish, and the facemask was updated to a new navy blue “titanium” material that produces a great looking sheen, especially in the sunlight.
Soccer
In what was one of the best stories of the season, Auburn Soccer truly embodied their #MeguhStrong mantra and fought their way through a tough season and cancer diagnosis of strength and conditioning coach Megan Young to put 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.
The team broke out new sash uniforms last season, so this year the goalkeepers go a new design – an orange version of last year’s new uniforms.
The entire team wore orange ribbons on the road at Tennessee shortly after Young’s diagnosis. The ribbons were removed for the follow games as the Tigers wore specially made #MeguhStrong t-shirts in pre-game warmups and on the bench.
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The last few seasons have seen many great teams and many broken records. Auburn continues to field teams that are just a joy to watch compete week in and week out, even with all the heart attacks we suffer sitting in the stands or watching on TV. Though we may never know the outcome of the games, and sweat them all out to the bitter end, at least we can always count on our teams being one of the best looking ones out there.
Hope you enjoyed this special piece. Please feel free to share this among your friends and post your opinions about the myriad of Auburn uniforms worn throughout this last season!
This piece also happens to be the 100th article posted here on the Auburn Uniform Database! Thank you all for reading, sharing, and conversing about Auburn uniforms with me over the last year plus.
War Eagle!