While known today as The Green Wave, from 1893 to 1919 Tulane Athletics teams were known as “The Olive and Blue.” The eye-catching colors of olive green and sky blue have long been and continue to be a staple at Tulane.

Thanks to the minds of Tulane’s equipment managers, these unique color combinations have led to a new surge of uniform creations this year, which have garnered plenty of attention.

Tulane uniforms, particularly those of the football and basketball teams, have undergone an overhaul this year. The unveiling of new designs and color combinations caused the uniforms to achieve a level of popularity that was unforeseen by Tulane Athletics and the equipment staff that helped design them.

Each uniform drew inspiration from different sources. One of the biggest influences for football was new Athletic Director Troy Dannen’s revival of the “Angry Wave” logo. The image was on the side of the Green Wave’s helmets this season and will be featured more prominently in the future.

According to Assistant Equipment Manager Devin Charles-Hubbard, former outfits also served as inspiration as the equipment team sought to “[bring] the past back into the uniforms.”

“On the football uniforms, we brought back a few things like the Angry Waves and the stripe pattern on the helmets and pants,” Charles-Hubbard said.

Members of the equipment staff such as Charles-Hubbard, Head Equipment Director Lyle Williams and Assistant Equipment Manager Tim Patterson bounced ideas off each other before finishing the design.

The new elements, as well as different color combinations like dark green and gray, rocketed the uniforms to national popularity. One of the best-received color combinations was the sky-blue jersey with white pants, which Tulane football wore for its game on Sept. 24 against University of Louisiana-Lafayette. SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt tweeted at Tulane Equipment’s Twitter page praising the new uniforms the following week, writing “just wear what you wore last week forever.”

ESPN featured the football uniforms again in Sam Strong’s article, “Best of the unis” on Oct. 22. Strong praised the Angry Wave logo in particular and credited Athletic Director Troy Dannen for bringing it out of retirement.

It isn’t just ESPN that is giving Tulane uniforms attention. SB Nation also talked about Tulane’s bright blue uniforms just before its game against UL-Lafayette. On Twitter, UniAuthority ranked Tulane’s helmet fifth-best in the country and ranked its overall uniforms as tenth-best.

“You go through the creative process of choosing what you want, then the ‘I like this’ or ‘I don’t like that’ phase … ,” Charles-Hubbard said. “Not saying we didn’t think it wouldn’t look great because we thought it was, but to know others loved it as much as we did is a really good feeling.”

In contrast to the “blast from the past” theme of the football uniforms, Charles-Hubbard said that the basketball uniforms drew their designs from different sources.

“… After head basketball coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. was hired, Nike contacted us … coach Dunleavy, along with our Head Basketball Manager Gabe Delatte and Nike, decided on the basketball jersey designs,” Charles-Hubbard said.

The designs themselves connect back to Tulane and the New Orleans community. Featured on the backs of the uniforms are streetcars with the words “Big Easy” and the Tulane insignia on the bottom.

“The inspiration [for the design] was to find something we could put on the back of the basketball jerseys that would represent the university and the city,” Charles-Hubbard said.  “Coach Dunleavy and Gabe went back and forth to find something unique.”

On Nov. 9, ESPN’s Uni Watch noted Tulane’s new streetcar uniforms as one of the outfits to watch for during the beginning of the college basketball season.

As for the other sports to come this year, Charles-Hubbard said that baseball has also received a revamp for its 2017 season. Changes include the addition of a ‘W’ on the jersey since Tulane has become a Wilson baseball school, different cleat combinations and, yes, the Angry Wave featured on the baseball cap.

Charles-Hubbard predicts that the future will hold even more exciting combinations for Tulane uniforms.

“We are always looking forward to the future to add new elements to our designs,” Charles-Hubbard said. “I guess you guys will have to wait and see what we break out next for Tulane Athletics.”