Some of us have been saying this for years. The "Nike owns the interlocking MSU logo" was a flat out lie from the Larry Templeton administration.
Here's the truth, starting from the beginning.
The "MSJ" logo of the 80s was the first MSU logo that was somewhat recognizable in college football. In the early 90s, the apparel contracts started when Auburn signed a deal with Russell Athletic. Florida went with Starter, and MSU went with a company called Apex. It wasn't long before Nike saw the potential and started signing schools. We were actually in the first batch of schools to sign with Nike. Prior to the 1996 season, Nike "modernized" our uniforms to the look that we all know and love.
Step back a couple of years, and we had the Jeff Malone fiasco - he "donated" a new basketball court and we put his number on the court but he never paid for it. Richard Williams was about to have the team rolling and wanted his own logo because baseball had theirs. On a trip, he had seen the Marshall track team and liked their logo. It was created in house, but the first version of the Banner M-State was born. It was awful. When it was painted on the court, to save money it was freehanded so it was off center and looked terrible (We had this court through 2000, by the way).
Terrible M-State on the Basketball Court
But back to football (and track and field), who had the Nike contracts in the mid-90s. One of Nike's suggestions was a updated MSJ logo. A Nike designer did come up with the updated look, but Nike never owned it. Our athletic department was stuck in the 80s at the time, but they weren't stupid enough to not have rights to the primary logo. The design was exclusive to Nike branded merchandise for seven years, but was ours.
Prior to the 2001-22 season, Adidas came on as a basketball-only sponsor. The basketball SID made a suggestion that Adidas put into the uniforms. Like many schools with two-word names - it was first word above the number and second below. So our uniforms had Mississippi above the number, then State under the number. When you took a headshot of a player, all you saw was Mississippi. He suggested we somehow get Mississippi State above the number.
There was a falling out between Nike and the athletic department in 2003 (the Oregon hydrating uniform story), and it happened to coincide with the end of our seven year deal. It could have been solved, but when Sly Croom came on prior to the 2004 season, he wanted to look like Alabama. Plain jerseys, two stripe pants, etc. Russell Athletic, which was headquartered miles from the Auburn campus, had lost its deal with Auburn as they became one of the first Under Armour schools. RA was desperate and made an offer that our cheap AD could not refuse. While everyone was ditching Russell, we signed a five year deal. By the end of that deal, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech were the only D1 schools aligned with Russell.
Russell's machines could not properly embroider the "Nike MSU" or the Banner M-State. If you have Russell gear in the back of your closet, go look at it - it looks like crap. The banner M-State looked better, and the university licensing department (Yes, we did our own thing at the time) had wanted to go to one logo for years - so the decision was made to go all-in on the banner M-State other than baseball. The Nike exclusivity on the interlocking MSU was over - and you could find a few things for a couple of years, but it was sparse. Midwestern State in Texas and Montana State used the logo on their football helmets for a time as well.
The fan gear from Russell was awful. The uniforms (in all sports) were awful. It was perhaps the worst rebranding in SEC sports history. It was wildly unpopular and it didn't help that it was a terrible time for MSU sports sans men's basketball (who had an Adidas contract). The athletic department used Gene and Gene's Page to circulate the rumor that we HAD to switch because Nike owned the logo and they did us dirty on the Oregon thing. The fact is that Russell offered more money than Nike, then produced ****** stuff.
When we signed on with Adidas in 2009, they recommended an updated logo. By this time we had a competent, non-cheap athletic director who did a proper re-branding (and also led to a great Jack at Shelter thread).
Here's the truth, starting from the beginning.
The "MSJ" logo of the 80s was the first MSU logo that was somewhat recognizable in college football. In the early 90s, the apparel contracts started when Auburn signed a deal with Russell Athletic. Florida went with Starter, and MSU went with a company called Apex. It wasn't long before Nike saw the potential and started signing schools. We were actually in the first batch of schools to sign with Nike. Prior to the 1996 season, Nike "modernized" our uniforms to the look that we all know and love.
Step back a couple of years, and we had the Jeff Malone fiasco - he "donated" a new basketball court and we put his number on the court but he never paid for it. Richard Williams was about to have the team rolling and wanted his own logo because baseball had theirs. On a trip, he had seen the Marshall track team and liked their logo. It was created in house, but the first version of the Banner M-State was born. It was awful. When it was painted on the court, to save money it was freehanded so it was off center and looked terrible (We had this court through 2000, by the way).
Terrible M-State on the Basketball Court
But back to football (and track and field), who had the Nike contracts in the mid-90s. One of Nike's suggestions was a updated MSJ logo. A Nike designer did come up with the updated look, but Nike never owned it. Our athletic department was stuck in the 80s at the time, but they weren't stupid enough to not have rights to the primary logo. The design was exclusive to Nike branded merchandise for seven years, but was ours.
Prior to the 2001-22 season, Adidas came on as a basketball-only sponsor. The basketball SID made a suggestion that Adidas put into the uniforms. Like many schools with two-word names - it was first word above the number and second below. So our uniforms had Mississippi above the number, then State under the number. When you took a headshot of a player, all you saw was Mississippi. He suggested we somehow get Mississippi State above the number.
There was a falling out between Nike and the athletic department in 2003 (the Oregon hydrating uniform story), and it happened to coincide with the end of our seven year deal. It could have been solved, but when Sly Croom came on prior to the 2004 season, he wanted to look like Alabama. Plain jerseys, two stripe pants, etc. Russell Athletic, which was headquartered miles from the Auburn campus, had lost its deal with Auburn as they became one of the first Under Armour schools. RA was desperate and made an offer that our cheap AD could not refuse. While everyone was ditching Russell, we signed a five year deal. By the end of that deal, Mississippi State and Georgia Tech were the only D1 schools aligned with Russell.
Russell's machines could not properly embroider the "Nike MSU" or the Banner M-State. If you have Russell gear in the back of your closet, go look at it - it looks like crap. The banner M-State looked better, and the university licensing department (Yes, we did our own thing at the time) had wanted to go to one logo for years - so the decision was made to go all-in on the banner M-State other than baseball. The Nike exclusivity on the interlocking MSU was over - and you could find a few things for a couple of years, but it was sparse. Midwestern State in Texas and Montana State used the logo on their football helmets for a time as well.
The fan gear from Russell was awful. The uniforms (in all sports) were awful. It was perhaps the worst rebranding in SEC sports history. It was wildly unpopular and it didn't help that it was a terrible time for MSU sports sans men's basketball (who had an Adidas contract). The athletic department used Gene and Gene's Page to circulate the rumor that we HAD to switch because Nike owned the logo and they did us dirty on the Oregon thing. The fact is that Russell offered more money than Nike, then produced ****** stuff.
When we signed on with Adidas in 2009, they recommended an updated logo. By this time we had a competent, non-cheap athletic director who did a proper re-branding (and also led to a great Jack at Shelter thread).
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