It’s probably not what you think it is. If you ask Irish fans their thoughts on Notre Dame’s uniforms I bet a majority would mention the changes and abundance of alternates worn over the last decade, or generally how things are different now compared to the past. While this is true, it only partly explains the Irish uniforms in modern times. Here are some figures to put things into perspective:

Brian Kelly has coached in 129 games for Notre Dame. When the Irish kickoff against Wake Forest this fall on September 26th Kelly will surpass Lou Holtz for the most ever games coached in school history.

Over the last 10 seasons, the Irish have worn 11 true alternate uniforms or 8.5% of all games. I’m not including the subtle changes to the road uniform in the 2018 College Football Semifinal or last year’s home uniform fauxback but if you wanted to include those it bumps things up to 10% of all games.

This makes sense when you think about the ‘policy’ the school has adopted–mainly standard uniforms for all games except for roughly once a year either in the Shamrock Series game or more recently for Senior Day. For 2010, 2012-17, and 2019 Notre Dame only wore a single alternate uniform. For 2011 there were the ‘Under the Lights’ throwback worn at Michigan and for 2018 there were the green jerseys worn for Senior Day against Florida State when both years also included a Shamrock Series alternate.

While these alternates drum up controversy from a very vocal minority of fans it’s the other 116 games played under Kelly in the standard uniforms that is interesting to me from a historical perspective.

This is a legacy of Brian Kelly that may not be appreciated until he’s gone.

If we take the Notre Dame jersey for example, it’s largely been unchanged (except for some very minor details which we’ll get to below) for the past 10 seasons. The only major switch stretching all the way back to the beginning of the 2004 season is changing out the TV numbers on the sleeves for the monogram logo.

Fans probably remember a standardized uniform for the Holtz era but even that only lasted from 1986 until 1991, just 6 years! The current sets are right up there with the Parseghian era and late 40’s through the 50’s era for the longest uninterrupted streak in school history.

To be fair, it hasn’t always felt like an uninterrupted streak when you look beyond the jersey. The helmets were given a makeover in mid-2011, the pant color was changed to mustard in 2012, the pant belts changed from blue to gold in 2014, a variety of blue/gold/white cleats have replaced the traditional black cleats, and various colors of base layer tights have definitely given the uniforms a much different look than past decades.

Nevertheless, since switching to Under Armour we are talking about minuscule changes to the jerseys. The 2014 jersey was from UA’s “Renegade” line featuring a slightly arched stomach seam and wide seams from the arms to neck. The following season, Notre Dame switched to UA’s “Armourgrid” jersey with a “V” pattern seam on the stomach and smaller seams that ran across the chest and then back towards the neckline.

The Irish remained in the “Armourgrid” jersey for 4 seasons but made one much more noticeable switch for the 2016 season by changing the player numbers to the school trademarked “Leahy” font.

Kizer in the 2015 Fiesta Bowl jersey and the 2016 Leahy font.

The Leahy font is noticeably thinner and less chunky than its predecessor. The space inside of the “4” on Kizer’s jersey is a big differentiation as are the top and bottom of the “1” numeral.

This past season, Notre Dame switched to a new jersey called “Airvent Armourgrid” an edition that wasn’t part of Under Armour’s 2019 catalog so the Irish may have been one of the programs to receive them a year early.

In the case of Ian Book, the added captain’s patch on his right chest is the best way to quickly figure out if a photo is from 2018 versus 2019. For most other players, we aren’t so lucky. For example, there will be virtually no way to distinguish between a 2015 picture and upcoming 2020 picture of Shaun Crawford unless you have the opponent in the shot.

Barely perceptible changes to the 2019 jersey. 

If you look closely from 2019, Under Armour created a more breathable section down the flanks of the jersey, altered the mid-section seam, and changed the shoulder seam so the UA logo fits snugly beneath it.

With 4 years remaining on the Under Armour contract will we see any significant changes to the Notre Dame jersey? That contract likely means less than the presence of Brian Kelly who has shown across two separate vendors that he prefers a very traditional and less fussy standard uniform. It may take years after he’s gone–and a new coach begins adding their own touch–for this legacy to be remembered in its proper historical context.