[TDDance234]

Interesting tidbit..

Liberty had a special guest in attendance during Wednesday’s practice. Eric Lautenbach, a VP of Nike and its Director of College Basketball Sports Marketing department, was on hand. Lautenbach, a friend of McKay, was in the South to visit three schools. The schools were Duke, Liberty and North Carolina.
Nike, which has partnered in a small capacity with Liberty basketball since the Jeff Meyer era, has become a full-fledged supplier and sponsor of Flames basketball with the hire of McKay. Lautenbach acknowledged to the team that there is something very special happening with Liberty basketball and that Nike wants to be a part of it. That acknowledgement led to Liberty becoming a Nike school last spring.

http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... 1&TeamID=6

[SuperJon]

As for Nike, the entire team got brand new Air Force Ones in Liberty colors the other day from Nike's director of college sports. He flew in from the west coast to visit three schools: North Carolina, Duke, and Liberty.

[LUconn]

Scorcho: we need an emoticon of a guy patting himself on the back.


maybe that's what this guy is trying to do


But anyway, does this really mean anything? It's not like we're going Oregon on anyone. Now we're just gonna get free stuff and look like everyone else.

[SuperJon]

If there was that emoticon, I would've used it, and I never use them.

It just means we're going to get a lot of really nice stuff. McKay and this guy are pretty much BFFs. I got a feeling that we're going to get some nice stuff without having to pay for it. It may not be a big deal to us as fans, but it's probably huge for recruiting.

[Fumblerooskies]

As usual, Supe sees the big picture...RECRUITING. Athletes like "stuff."

[SuperJon]

The guys on the team love the gear they have now. They've got sleeveless Nike dri-fits as well as long sleeve ones that have the Liberty basketball logo on them and everything. They're really nice shirts.

[TDDance234]

I think the bigger thing is the bigwig of Nike is down south just to visit Carolina, Duke and... Liberty. That's an impressive list to be on.

[LUconn]

Hmmm, I sorta disagree about the recruiting aspect. We're in a position that it certainly doesn't hurt us, which should be our main goal. But unless we're getting some really cutting edge stuff that nobody else has (as in the Ducks football unis) I don't think it'll matter too much. I mean, we're not even getting the "elite" Nike gear. (tight shirt, giant shorts). Not that I know of anyway. Don't get me wrong, this is something that we have to do to keep up with the Joneses but I don't think it puts us in a better position recruiting-wise, than the Jones.

[SuperJon]

We're not wearing the SOD uniforms, but we're getting top of the line practice gear and shoes.

[bigsmooth]

this partnership will do nothing but help liberty basketball. the gear looks great too.

[JK37]

It absolutely helps recruiting. In every home visit a coach makes, a bigpart of the presentation is always about the gear, and while other companies offer many more perks, LU has used a McKay connection to become one of the few schools that get some of Nike's rare perks. (Nike tends to offer little help to most of the programs who wear their gear. Only the biggest get these 'perks'. Other companies offer a lot more, like a lot more free stuff, for wearing their brand.)

Certainly, this helps in the budget. And the more Nike you can show to a recruit that they will get each year as a player in the program, the more it does help. Gear is a big deal to recruits.

[Hold My Own]

these kids are getting 13 pairs of shoes a year....13!!!!!!!!

[Cider Jim]

Somebody help me with the math...

13 pairs of shoes X 15 players = 195 pairs of shoes

How much would a pair of these shoes normally cost if you had to purchase them in a store? And do the coaches get shoes, too?

[LUconn]

aren't Nike kicks normally in the $100+ range? I'm a $15 Starbury man myself.

[Hold My Own]

Somebody help me with the math...

13 pairs of shoes X 15 players = 195 pairs of shoes

How much would a pair of these shoes normally cost if you had to purchase them in a store? And do the coaches get shoes, too?

I cant speak of the Nike deal b/c I havent seen the contract or asked about it but yes, every other deal I've seen the coach's get just as much as the players but most of the time more....think of it like your the owner of a business and these sales guys come in with the freebie's for you just to make sure your happy with their business...coaching has some perks!


Also, I dont think ALL of them were basketball kicks..I think a few casual kicks were thrown in...but only a few if any at all...their premium basketball shoes will run you in the $150 range

[TIMSCAR20]

Somebody help me with the math...

13 pairs of shoes X 15 players = 195 pairs of shoes

How much would a pair of these shoes normally cost if you had to purchase them in a store? And do the coaches get shoes, too?

I cant speak of the Nike deal b/c I havent seen the contract or asked about it but yes, every other deal I've seen the coach's get just as much as the players but most of the time more....think of it like your the owner of a business and these sales guys come in with the freebie's for you just to make sure your happy with their business...coaching has some perks!


Also, I dont think ALL of them were basketball kicks..I think a few casual kicks were thrown in...but only a few if any at all...their premium basketball shoes will run you in the $150 range

Coaches get an account to order from the Nike catalog. We had that when I was coaching 12 years ago. McKay gets a lot of free stuff too. He clowned me at flames club last week for trying to get some nike shoes from him. People thought he was joking but it was a true story

[JK37]

Somebody help me with the math...

13 pairs of shoes X 15 players = 195 pairs of shoes

How much would a pair of these shoes normally cost if you had to purchase them in a store? And do the coaches get shoes, too?

I cant speak of the Nike deal b/c I havent seen the contract or asked about it but yes, every other deal I've seen the coach's get just as much as the players but most of the time more....think of it like your the owner of a business and these sales guys come in with the freebie's for you just to make sure your happy with their business...coaching has some perks!


Also, I dont think ALL of them were basketball kicks..I think a few casual kicks were thrown in...but only a few if any at all...their premium basketball shoes will run you in the $150 range

They run around $150 at retail price. Nike isn't losing anything by giving them way.

And like I was referring to earlier, if you can tell a recruit that he will receive 13 pairs of Nike shoes each year, that DOES help recruiting!

[Cider Jim]

I was sitting with SCAR at the Flames Club luncheon, and McKay made some kind of joke about how the shoes SCAR was asking for wouldn't make him be able to jump any higher. Evidently, McKay hasn't been around long enough to hear about the infamous ETSU game; or, McKay understands the toll that aging can take on the body of someone as old as SCAR.
+ =

[jcmanson]

McKay understands the toll that aging can take on the body of someone as old as SCAR.
+ =

or someone as out of "game shape" as Scar.

[TIMSCAR20]

McKay understands the toll that aging can take on the body of someone as old as SCAR.
+ =

or someone as out of "game shape" as Scar.

You are both right. Although I will say that running on the treadmill all this time made me have some stamina. Too bad it does nothing for your skill level...I wonder if we will get the Jumpman 23 stuff. I really like Jordan's gear.