‘I doubt I go back’: College basketball coaches enjoy comfortable life without suits
Bob Huggins has a story to tell about the moment he decided to stop wearing a suit and tie to work as a basketball coach, even though that meant he was going to dress differently than just about everyone else in his profession on game day.
It goes like this: he was preparing to return to the court with his Cincinnati team at some point in the early 1990s when the school’s athletic director noticed Huggins was sweating profusely in a three-piece suit at halftime. He told Huggins he didn’t look comfortable. Huggins responded by saying he didn’t feel comfortable.
Those words led to a longer conversation about why Huggins was only dressed to the nines because he felt pressured to do so. If he wanted to be a big-time coach, he thought he had to dress like one. But his boss shook his head and told him there was no reason why coaches couldn’t wear more comfortable clothing.
“That was the green light for me,” Huggins said recently from his office at West Virginia. “I haven’t put on a tie since.”
Nearly 30 years later, every college basketball coach across the country has made the same decision, albeit for different reasons. Huggins is no longer the most casually dressed coach in the sport. After years of showing up to games in windbreakers and quarter-zip pullovers while most of his peers wore suits, ties and impeccably pressed shirts, everybody else in the business is suddenly dressing just like him.
Sneakers have replaced dress shoes. Hoodies are suddenly en vogue. This season, every day is casual Friday.
“I have always been a trendsetter,” Huggins said. “I’m glad coaches have made the change. I remember going to Rutgers and guys are just drilling me with questions. Why don’t you wear a suit? What’s your philosophy on that? Are people offended that you dress the way you dress? I’m like, ‘Hey listen, I’m not a banker. I’m a ball coach, and this is how ball coaches are supposed to dress.’”
Changing with the times
Men’s basketball coaches radically changed their dress code this season for health reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than dressing up in clothes that can only be dry-cleaned and carry a high risk of germs, they opted for more casual attire that can be easily washed.
A new dress code has made every game feel like it is being played at a holiday tournament, one of the few occasions when coaches previously ditched their suits for polo shirts and pullovers.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton now likes to wear Nike Dri-FIT shirts on the sideline. Texas coach Shaka Smart is partial to polos. Kansas coach Bill Self and Kansas State coach Bruce Weber both seem to prefer long sleeve pullovers.
“It’s a lot easier and nicer,” Weber said, “to put a sweat suit on or a top or a polo than worrying about that suit and tie and if you’ve got any wrinkles. It’s much more comfortable, there’s no doubt.”
Most coaches seem to agree.
Few, if any, say they miss dressing up for games.
“I like suits, but they are totally inappropriate for coaching basketball games,” Boynton said. “Who started this? We need to do some research. Let’s thank that guy and then we can thank COVID for one thing, that it helped us change it. I am a pretty active guy. I have had a suit rip on me. That’s no fun. I like to get into it, so when I slap the floor the last thing I want to worry about is if I have a hole in my pants.”
It will be interesting to see what happens to the coaching dress code after the pandemic ends.
On one hand, it will be safe for coaches to go back to wearing suits and ties. So maybe they will. That is the way they have always dressed, after all.
On another, there’s no rule that says basketball coaches have to dress that way. Coaches in most other sports dress casually at games. Baseball managers wear the exact same thing as players — uniforms. Soccer coaches don’t appear to have a dress code, wearing everything from workout shirts to suits. And football coaches are practically encouraged to dress down. Sharp-dressed coaches have rarely been seen since the days of Tom Landry and Hank Stram.
If New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick can wear a sleeveless hoodie on game day, why shouldn’t basketball coaches have some freedom in their fashion choices?
“I actually like it,” Self said. “I doubt I go back. I’m not going to say never, because who knows? Maybe someone will make me do something. But I think it’s a good look and I think that it’s probably silly when you look back on why coaches wore what they wore before this … basketball coaches have always done it because everyone else has always done it. Our world is a lot more casual than it was even 15 to 20 years ago.”
Future fashion trends
There are some drawbacks to paving forward with a relaxed dress code.
Weber wonders if by wearing a suit on game days in the past he sent a special signal to his players that told them they needed to bring their best effort. When he was dressed up, they knew it was time to play, not practice.
Now, he’s wearing the same thing at both games and practices, which has led him to try and bring extra intensity to his pregame routine.
Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin wonders if it is important for Black coaches to dress up during games.
“The reason why I like to wear a suit is because for young guys, they grew up in areas I grew up in,” Martin said. “If they see me in a suit, that means something. That’s why I like to wear a suit and that’s really the only reason, so they can see that.”
Still, both Martin and Weber said they would prefer to continue dressing casually, because, at some point over the past few months they had the same epiphany that Huggins did many years ago.
There is no replacement for comfort on the sideline.
“I think there is a way to do this,” Self said, “depending on how you want to represent or how comfortable you want to be, so you can still come across looking classy and very presentable and still be very casual. I think Huggins might have been ahead of the curve on that one.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.