Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Duane Bailey is looking to switch apparel providers for the University of New Haven’s Division II teams after being hired in June. The school’s contract with Adidas will be up at the end of this academic year.

One of the larger contenders Bailey is looking at is Under Armour. Bailey has had a long relationship with Under Armour after changing his previous school, the New York Institute of Technology, from Nike to Under Armour.

“In all honesty, what I have found with the folks at Under Armour is they’ve been very much in tune with the student athletes,” Bailey said. “They are very much willing to be a partner with an institution – it’s not just a dollars and cents game with them. They truly ask what you need.”

He clarifies that the department, in association with the university’s business office, is currently in the exploration phase and looking at a number of apparel providers because what it comes down to is “which company can provide the most for our student athletes.”

“In today’s college world it’s about who can get the most for their students and at the best possible price,” he said.

Some student athletes are ready for a change. Meredith Michel, a member of the field hockey team said, “For my four year career here it’s always been Adidas and I personally haven’t been a fan of the equipment they have given us.”

Dealing with lack of equipment in field hockey, not receiving defensive gear and mouth guards, to lacrosse finally being given their own shafts last season, Michel is hopeful that a new provider will offer her teammates and peers higher quality equipment.

Sam Errera, a sophomore on the softball team, is excited for a change in equipment and uniforms; having worn Under Armour before, she prefers it to the Adidas apparel she has been provided. Errera is eager to see what kind of designs a new provider will have for the university and to see how New Haven’s brand may change.

Bailey says nothing is official with a change in apparel providers but he is, “hopeful that maybe by the beginning of the new year we will have a decision in terms of the direction we are going with this.”