Pitt Panthers: Steve Pederson Nixes Pitt Script Combat Uniform

Chas at Pittblather.com provided Pitt fans with an insiders' look at the dialogue between the University of Pittsburgh and Nike in developing the Pitt combat uniform for the 2010 Backyard Brawl.

In New York City last week as part of the press contingent previewing the new Nike uniform, Chas had a chance to talk to Aaron Cooper, the guy who designed Nike's Huarache sneaker.

The perplexed look on Aaron's face told Chas all he needed to know about the Pitt administration's antipathy for the script and colors from the past.

And the guy most opposed to anything old school is Steve Pederson, Pitt's AD.

Nike gave athletic directors input in combat uniform design, but Mr. Pederson never broached the subject of Pitt script and old school colors.

In case you didn't know, a vocal group of Pitt fans support bringing back the Pitt script logo and the blue and gold shades proudly worn by Pitt football teams from the '73 through the '96 seasons.

Regular updates from this group are posted on Pittscript.com. 

In 1997 Steve Pederson changed the moniker from "Pitt" to "Pittsburgh" and the colors from royal blue and mustard yellow to Navy blue and Vegas gold.

The Nike combat uniform would have been the best chance to see Pitt script on the helmets.

A hard-edged script and other modifications would be okay with Pittscript.com fans as long as the essence of the venerable logo was there.

There are still traces of Steve's Beelzebub persona, dictator in his first go round at Pitt and such an authoritarian and out-of-touch leader at Nebraska he was run out of town by a mob screaming for his scalp.

For the record, Steve resurrected Pitt's athletic program both pre-Nebraska and post. He continues to labor behind the scenes promoting the university and all of its teams.

Steve is doing great things at Pitt. Selling out Heinz Field for the 2010 college football season is no small task in Steerlerville. An additional gesture, a tweak of the uniform here and there in the spirit of the great Pitt teams of the seventies and early eighties, would take Mr. Pederson and the Pitt football program to even greater heights of adulation and monetary support.

If just for one game, he should allow a retro script and old school colors.