D1 and shoes

D1 scoop wrote:

We get new trainers (all Nike - mostly Pegs and Structures) in mid-August. Then, around early- to mid-October we get new trainers, and then again in early December. Overall, I'd say we each get about 6 pair/year, but it does depend on mileage. Also, most of us are VERY picky about our shoes, and prefer to train in Asics, NBs, etc., and we just buy our own shoes (thanks Mom!). Many guys rotate thru 2-3 different shoes during a typical week depending on the workout, and depending if shoes are dry from the previous day, etc. Our coaches let us train in whatever works well for us - but we all race in Nike spikes.

I died reading this, my largest expense in college behind rent and food was shoes.

I'm a recent grad, not a 1960's style work ten hr/wk to pay for full room and board.

The way our coach explains it to us is that Per NCAA rules everything we wear that is visible has to be "School issued" and that we could potentially be DQ'd for breaking that. Flashy socks is one that always comes up and I see other schools do it, but coach says people could protest that but typically don't. Compression, KT Tape, other medical stuff I understand would be different. I've never read the official rules on it though. That's my grapevine knowledge

Big school athlete wrote:

The way our coach explains it to us is that Per NCAA rules everything we wear that is visible has to be "School issued" and that we could potentially be DQ'd for breaking that. Flashy socks is one that always comes up and I see other schools do it, but coach says people could protest that but typically don't. Compression, KT Tape, other medical stuff I understand would be different. I've never read the official rules on it though. That's my grapevine knowledge

The uniform rule is that you have to have matching uniform with you team between knees and elbows. In other words under garments you wear under singlet or shorts has to match. Anything below the knee is fair game including socks and shoes.

Uniforms aren't required to be the same exact brand either, only that they come from the school and colors match your teammates.

Sincerely,

College Coach who just spent hours hearing about this rule at the USTFCCCA convention.

Your coach is misinformed wrote:

[quote]

The uniform rule is that you have to have matching uniform with you team between knees and elbows. In other words under garments you wear under singlet or shorts has to match. Anything below the knee is fair game including socks and shoes.

Uniforms aren't required to be the same exact brand either, only that they come from the school and colors match your teammates.

Sincerely,

College Coach who just spent hours hearing about this rule at the USTFCCCA convention.

Anyone reading the thread came across my question on the first page. Basically, do you HAVE to wear shoes provided by the school's shoe sponsor?

Immediately below my post was a guy who thought he was answering the question. Like other posts, he says you don't have to in training but you DO in races. Now, before I even asked, there were 2 guys who said they did (or someone on their teams did) wear something they bought or got somehow that were NOT from the official brand. However, they pointed out that racing was definitely, absolutely, mandatorily in Nike.

This is the first post who both seems to know (being a college coach) and comes close to answering the question.

Apparently it is NOT an NCAA rule. So, neither you nor your team will be DQ'd. OK, so you don't all have to have matching shoes (contrary to all previous posters) when in actual races.

After all this, the question still isn't really answered. I realize darn few of you would dare show up at an official race in something other than Nike, especially if they are free and everything else is not. But what if I did? The NCAA would not object, we just found out, but would Nike (or whoever is the school's official sponsor)? If I didn't sign anything agreeing to wear them, does the sponsor have any recourse? Maybe some of you scholarship recipients could tell me whether you had to sign such a contract - a contract agreeing to not be seen in something else at an NCAA race. But even then, a non- scholarship recipient doesn't have to enter into any agreement to NOT get paid - or do you? Do you have to agree to wear Nike (and sign something to that effect) just to 'be on the team'?

I realize many of you don't actually know what would happen since you never had a reason to rock the boat, and by the way, the Nikes were free. Nevertheless, perhaps the knowledgeable coach above can answer the question.

Thanks again!

The entire equation comes down to the school's individual equipment contract. Equipment contracts vary widely based upon the school and their perceived value to the company.

The simplest/minimal contracts will be for a school to receive significantly discounted gear along with additional credits in exchange for school purchasing a set amount of gear over a set period of time. Example: school receives 40% off all gear, plus gets $20,000 worth of gear but must accumulate total purchases of at least $80,000 over a 2 year period.

The next stage of contracts would be a company supplying a set amount of gear and then additional purchases at a discount. Example: school receives $100,000 worth of gear, anything beyond is purchased at a discount of 40%

The largest and most prolific schools will have essentially unlimited gear and resources, they will also receive compensation for advertising etc.

Within contracts there is often "exclusivity" clauses which requires the gear to be the only visible company within a venue and on an athlete - depending on the contract, this could technically apply to a practice setting.

The number of shoes or amount of gear an athlete receives at a school varies greatly depending on their contract and/or athletic budget.

I have not coached at the NCAA level for a few years so this may have changed but while I was coaching there were regulations in place that essentially "required gear equity" among athletes - meaning that just because you were a stud, you weren't allowed more shoes than an "average Joe." There were also lots of ways to skirt and loophole this such as all athletes are issued "uniform and gear A" but athletes competing in X meet were also issued additional "uniform and gear B".

If someone did that, the sky would fall.

Seriously, what do you think would happen? More than likely, nothing. The athletes don't sign any "contract". If the coach noticed and cared, he might chew the athlete out. In the extremely implausible case that the sponsor got wind of it and decided to make a fuss, they would call up the athletic department, and the athlete would be disciplined.

But really, an athlete wouldn't be allowed to race for his college team in a non-school issue uniform, and shoes are exempt. So it's a non-issue.

I've never worked at a power 5 that has a huge contract with any brand, so I don't know what it would be like at the very top where exclusivity is the #1 reason for a brand having a contract with an athletic department. The vast majority of schools likely have no recourse if a student-athlete wears a non-school and really wants to fight the system, but it's not worth most kids time to fight it. In the grand scheme of things most all spikes are created equal (and if they're not somebody like nike is happy to let you wear someone else's and cover them, at least for their professionals such as Barshim).

At pretty much every school each student-athlete signs a document saying you will represent the school in an appropriate manner. Most of these include wearing a team issued uniform, which at big schools with an all-encompassing contract will include the shoes. If the contract doesn't explicitly state this, it's vague enough that the student can be disciplined if they don't comply with the athletic department's desires in regards to team gear. Even if it's not stated, it's not worth the student-athlete's time to fight this because they'll likely loose competitions, and stand no financial gain if they take it to court.

Hope that helps.

I graduated in 14, but throughout my career I raced in different brand spikes than our sponsor Adidas without ever getting any trouble about it. Ours was maybe a special case as we had the option to choose each semester if we wanted training shoes or spikes. Spikes are always cheaper, so I just went w the brand I wore in hs that worked for me and took the one pair of free shoes/bought the rest.