the BACKSTORY
Nike conducted a meeting with members of the Oregon Football team nearly a year and a half ago to gain insight and inspiration for a possible future uniform release. The meeting led to a conversation regarding the topics of innovation, dedication, and who at Oregon is the epitome of those ideals...
...the conversation was quick and the decision was unanimous.
BEHIND ANY GREAT SUPERHERO IS A MENTOR THAT HELPS AN INDIVIDUAL ASCERTAIN GREAT POWER.
The BACKBONE
One of the most overlooked elements in the success of Oregon’s student-athletes is Jim Radcliffe (Coach Rad), now in his 30th year as the school’s head strength and conditioning coach and 32nd overall. He not only plays a significant role in the Ducks’ football program as the designer of the year-round conditioning calendar but also has been quick to aid the athletic development of athletes in the sports of baseball as well as men’s and women’s track & field.
MUCH LIKE BATMAN HAS LUCIOUS FOX, OREGON ATHLETICS HAS COACH JIM RADCLIFFE.
THE "RAD"
In the aforementioned Nike meeting, players spoke to Coach Rad's ability to get the best out of them by developing their individual strengths, increasing extreme transitional agility and helping them achieve unbelievable speed. Although his innovation and methodology were often unique in nature and practice, his blue-collar ethics and never-changing look of wearing a grey heather tee were also cemented into a student-athlete's pillar of success in his or her training with Coach Rad.
Hence, the name for this uniform...The Rad.
IT'S NOT WHO I AM UNDERNEATH BUT WHAT I DO THAT DEFINES ME.
BULLETS OVER BOWLING BALLS
"I like to use the term 'bullets'. Bullets are better than bowling balls. We want the ultimate athlete, so to speak. The blend of all those things, not just one thing. Power, to me, is more about just being strong and fast. It's about being very agile and having transitional agility. Good, smooth, and fast transitions." - Coach Rad
Citius. Altius. Fortius. = Faster. Higher. Stronger.
While he has long been one of the integral components to the program’s success – as often credited by both past and present Oregon student-athletes – his work and innovation are now recognized as one of the overwhelming contributions to the fast pace the football team has employed for the past seven years.
THE MENTOR
During his tenure as the longest among his counterparts within the Pac-12 Conference, he has established himself as a highly-respected teacher, mentor and author. An active clinician throughout the world, he is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities regarding exercise for the development of strength, speed and agility.
In addition to overseeing a strength and conditioning program that was named one of the top 10 in the country in 2013 by Bleacher Report, Radcliffe was included on a list of the 65 most influential strength coaches of all time, as well as one of three national finalists for FootballScoop’s Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year award in 2010.
Radcliffe, who guided the receivers during much of the 1999 fall camp, furnishes the student-athletes with a wide variety of exercise through weight training and lifting systems, and is a noted authority in the field of exercises dealing with the improvement of speed and quickness.
THE IMPACT
Ask any Oregon current and former student-athlete and they will tell you Coach Rad's dedication to the program gives them the motivation to become even greater athletes. This uniform was replicated to honor him and fit his style, attitude and innovation - three things Oregon is known for.