News that the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa reached a seven-year deal with Nike as its official athletics outfitter from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2032, was met with unanimous excitement from players and coaches alike.
The deal, in conjunction with BSN Sports, will be the first department-wide deal the school has had with Nike. Hawai"i signed its first department-wide deal as a school in 2017, signing with Under Armour. After Under Armour reneged on its deal in 2021, the school quickly transitioned to Adidas.
As a record-setting quarterback from UH from 2000 to 2004, current Rainbow Warriors head coach Timmy Chang never got to wear Nike as a player. It wasn't until June Jones secured a Nike deal prior to the 2005 season that the then-Warriors wore uniforms outfitted by the brand. The football team's Nike deal lasted through the 2007 season, the greatest in school history. But after that, Jones left for SMU and the team agreed to a new deal with Under Armour.
"I wouldn't say I was jealous," Chang said when seeing former teammates wear Nike uniforms. "I thought the guys behind us carried the torch really well, and they deserved all that. I think our (current) players are excited. I think the athletic program's excited, and when they're excited, it gets us excited about coaching them and getting to work."
While some coaches across college football, both presently and in the past, have had the final say on uniform designs, Chang is supportive of the team returning to its former look nearly 20 years ago.
"Definitely on the road, I would love the old Colt Brennan throwback with the gray and the whites," Chang said. "That was one of my favorites to see Hawai‘i playing in. But of course, we'll have the all black piece in there, and then maybe a green one. And then we'll be able to play off of those different colors, with the gray, white, black and green."
As the only coach on both the 2007 and 2025 teams, UH defensive tackles coach Jeff Reinebold remembered how donning the swoosh elevated the self-esteem of players on the team.
"The players want to wear Nike. That's just the facts, right? It's got the best reputation of any shoe, or any equipment, gloves, all of it, and I think it elevated our identity, it elevated our visibility, and ultimately, I think it elevated our play," Reinebold said. "That's the spin off, that's the synergy of this thing. I think it can elevate our identity. I think it can elevate our profile. I know it's going to elevate our recruiting, and from that comes better players. Better players make better coaches and better football teams."
Back when he was the star quarterback for national high school power Bishop Gorman, Micah Alejado remembers the copious amounts of Nike gear given to his team. As he enters his redshirt freshman season as Hawai‘i's presumed starter at quarterback, Alejado says among his UH teammates, Nike is "obviously the preference."
"The world likes Nike the most, pretty much," Alejado said. "Everybody's excited. The jerseys fit well, the cleats feel the best. They make good stuff. We're super excited."
Back when Hawai‘i head soccer coach Michele Nagamine ran a soccer store on King Street in the early 1990s, she remembers how Nike's shoes advanced the women's game. During that time, all soccer shoes came in men's sizes and men's cuts until Nike made products tailored towards women.
Nike used to outfit the Rainbow Wahine soccer team in the early 2000s, but when Nagamine got the job prior to the 2011 season, the school steered her towards Under Armour in hopes of the university landing a department-wide deal.
Although Adidas, Hawai‘i's former outfitter, has the richest tradition in soccer, Nike has been the trendy pick among Nagamine's players and recruits.
"I'm super excited. I think the team is very excited," Nagamine said. "We loved Adidas as well, but I think Nike, in their hearts, is something they love, and we're really, really excited."
University of Hawai‘i baseball coach Rich Hill worked with Nike for years as the former head coach at San Diego. The BaseBows will be another team on campus wearing Nike for the first time next spring.
"I really enjoyed my time with Nike at the University of San Diego. They were great to us. The product is amazing," Hill said, who also noted Nike is the official outfitter of Major League Baseball. "They take care of the baseball side of things. It's big time. We're really excited.
"Uniform wise, we'll try to keep it as similar as possible. We work with Wilson (the team's equipment provider), they want to design a Hawaiian uniform for us, kind of like a City Connect kind of thing. We're working with them on that, but I haven't got that far. But I'm a uniform snob, so I'm anxious to see what they want to do for us."
Hawai‘i basketball coach Laura Beeman, who brought a Nike deal to the team with her when she took over in 2012, knows the brand has cornered the baskeball market.
"I know the kids love to wear Nike. I used to have Nike when I was at my JUCO, and then get at USC. It's great product," Beeman said. "Right now, we're going to rep Adidas the best we can until we're done, and then get excited about whatever's coming our way with Nike."
As for men's volleyball, the team on campus that has had the most recent success nationally, the 'Bows will have to say goodbye to an Adidas deal that supplied the team with a bevy of uniforms and designs annually.
"I love Nike, but I love Adidas too, so the end of the day, it's just gear on our chest, and it's more about the volleyball," setter Tread Rosenthal said.
Added middle blocker Justin Todd: "I've loved the deal since we got it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Nike is going to provide for us. And it's just really exciting."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
