Not any more. Grant recently signed a contract with Impact Sports, a strategic partner with Nike, to outfit all the WSU teams (except for volleyball, which has a contract with adidas through 2011).
It was always up to the coaches to find deals on shoes and clothing for their teams, and Grant felt by using different brands, the school’s green and yellow colors were sometimes shades different from team to team.
“We spend $300,000-400,000 a year on uniforms and equipment, depending on the year (teams don’t order brand new uniforms every year),” Grant said. “By going to one company, we’ll save 10 percent or so, so we’re not going to right the ship from a budgetory standpoint, but we will spend less. If this costs us money to do this, we’re not doing it.
“We’ll also have consistency in our uniforms, and the presitge of the Nike brand. Athletes always ask, ‘Are you a Nike school?’ We’d say, ‘Well, in some sports we are.’ Now, we will be.”
While some of Nike’s deals with WSU are directly with basketball coaches Brad Brownell and Bridgett Williams, those two coaches, according to Grant, do not receive checks, the way some of the BCS coaches do. However, they do receive some shoes and apparel, usually directly from Nike. The school does, too.
The rest of what the school uses is bought, usually at cost, according to Paul Brunelle at Impact. That’s about a 45 percent savings for shoes and 50 percent for apparel from store prices.
Impact deals with schools in 26 states, handling accounts with smaller schools plus about 10 mid-majors, such as WSU. Marquette is also one of Impact’s clients.
“We’ve been adding territory with schools that are a good fit for us,” Brunelle said. “They have a good program at Wright State, we like the administration there. They have a beautiful facility. We think they’re recognizable in the Horizon League.”
And, they have uniforms in WSU colors.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author