Oklahoma State University Athletics
Up Close: OSU Equipment
May 13, 2010 | Cowboy Football
May 13, 2010
By Stefan Nolet
Two of college football's most generous donors to their respective alma maters are Oklahoma State's T. Boone Pickens and Oregon's Phil Knight.
Pickens has donated some $265 million for the OSU Athletic Department, which helped pay for the West End Zone renovations in the stadium that bears his name. The West End Zone houses a new weight room, new training room, a new football locker room and a new equipment room.
Knight, who is the co-founder and chairman of Nike, has donated about $230 million to Oregon's athletic programs.
The link between the two billionaires can be found in the OSU equipment room. The OSU Athletic Department has a deal with Nike for its athletic equipment.
Equipment manager Wes Edwards, who has been in Stillwater for four years, said most every OSU sport receives a certain amount it can use to buy equipment.
"It's on a dollar-based system," Edwards said. "The department gets so much product based on how much the product costs at wholesale."
As far as football, Edwards said the Nike equipment has not only helped the players improve, but also helped them be safer out on the field.
Part of the deal with Nike got the Cowboy football team black uniforms they wore against Colorado last season. It was the first time the Cowboys had worn black uniforms since 1994.
"We've got the black, orange and white uniforms," Edwards said. "We're able to get the athletes what they need to practice, what they need to work out in, what they travel in, cleats and weight room shoes, so we're able to take care of the athletes the way we need to."
Part of taking care of the athletes is player safety. The trend in football, both in college and professional, is an effort to reduce the number of concussions. Edwards said the technology in helmets for preventing concussions has improved vastly during the past 10 years.
The equipment room has Schutt and Riddell helmets because different brands fit players differently.
"It's important that the helmet fits," Edwards said. "It doesn't matter how much technology is in the helmet, if it doesn't fit, you're going to get hurt. So that's what we strive for, to get the best fit on each athlete, whether it's the latest and greatest helmet or if it's a little older technology but it fits him better, that's what we'll put him in."
Not only is the fit of the helmet important to the staff in the equipment room, they work hard to make sure every piece of equipment fits each player perfectly in order to help prevent injury.
Each semester, Edwards, along with his assistants Matt Davis and Justin Williams, fit every player for equipment, including helmets, shoulder pads, pant pads and shoes.
"We take a lot of pride in our fitting process," Edwards said. "When a freshman comes in during the summer, we'll spend however long we need to with him to get him the right shoe and we'll get him in the right shoulder pad, then we'll get him into a helmet.
"We won't just throw a guy into something and say, `Make it work.' It's our job to make sure it fits in protecting that athlete."
The new equipment room is located next to the football locker room and is nearly three times larger than the old equipment room. Edwards said the extra space has helped with organization.
"We're able to put stuff in a certain spot and know that it's there," Edwards said. "We went from about 3,500 square feet to about 12,000 square feet, so stuff's not just crammed in corners and other parts of the stadium.
"Everything we have is in this room and that helps a lot. It's helped us to be more organized and to service the players even quicker."
