Why don’t WSU’s jerseys have players’ names? Here’s your answer

It’s a question many fans have asked on social media and at Wichita State men’s basketball games this season.

Why aren’t the player’s names on the back of the jerseys?

After so many years of having the last names printed, they have vanished off the back of the uniforms this season for WSU. Why?

Basically, it mostly stems from WSU being in the last year of its shoe and apparel contract with Nike. WSU will become an Under Armour program beginning with the 2018-19 school year.

“A transition of this nature can be complicated and has a lot of moving parts,” WSU basketball director of operations Dominic Okon said. “In order to help simplify part of this process, we made the decision to not include the names on the back of the jerseys this year.”

Since WSU joined the American Athletic Conference last spring, new white, yellow, and black jerseys had to be printed by Nike. Without names on the back of the jerseys, WSU now has the option to sell them after the season — instead of just selling the graduating seniors.

“It gives the athletic department more flexibility at the end of the academic year as to what they can do with the jerseys,” Okon said.

Although nothing has been determined, Okon said he expects the names to return to the back of the jerseys as soon as next season with Under Armour.

This story was originally published January 2, 2018 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Why don’t WSU’s jerseys have players’ names? Here’s your answer."