Okay, so, I was digging into this whole thing about why NFL coaches don’t rock suits on the sidelines anymore. It’s kinda interesting when you look back at it.
I started by going through some old articles and stuff online. You know, trying to piece together the timeline. Turns out, back in the day, like the ’70s and ’80s, coaches were all about that formal look. Suits were the norm, man. I found out that Tom Landry, that legendary Cowboys coach, was the last of the Mohicans in the suit department. He retired in ’88, and that was pretty much it for suits in the NFL.
Then I looked into why this changed. Apparently, the big shift happened when the NFL started making these massive deals with sportswear companies. The one that really changed the game was in 2012. That’s when Nike swooped in with a $1.1 billion deal. Billion with a “B”! That deal made them the only ones who could provide gear for the teams on the field.
So, I read through the fine print of these agreements, well, not the actual contracts, but summaries and articles about them. They basically said that everyone on the team, including staff, had to wear the branded gear. Before that, coaches could wear suits, or sweaters, or whatever they wanted, really.
- First step: I hit up Google, searched for old articles and posts about NFL coaches’ outfits through the years.
- Next: I dug into the history of these big money deals between the NFL and companies like Nike. Found out about that 2012 agreement.
- Then: I read up on what these deals meant for what coaches could wear on the sidelines.
I even stumbled upon this one story about Mike Nolan, a coach who tried to bring back the suit a few years ago. His dad was a coach back in the suit era. Anyway, Reebok had to make him a special suit so he could wear it.
It seems the whole suit thing is just a relic of the past now. Nowadays, coaches are like most of us. They wear suits to court, weddings, or, you know, important stuff, but not on the sidelines.
The Conclusion
It is clear that it’s all about branding and money. These sportswear companies pay big bucks to have their logos all over the place, and that includes the coaches. It’s kind of a bummer in a way, losing that bit of old-school style, but hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.
It was a fun little dive into sports history. It’s crazy how much things change, right?
