About the Study
The College Football Uniform Study (CFUS) is an ongoing project to understand the motivational impact of uniforms in modern college football. Uniforms help generate revenue through licensed apparel sales and can enhance players’ performance through innovations in materials and design. But uniforms can also have important intangible effects by enhancing the University brand, attracting recruits, and “pumping up” players. Fans enjoy arguing about the impact of uniforms, generating a number of informal hypotheses about whether uniforms help or hurt their teams’ performances. CFUS researchers collect and analyze data to find the evidence that supports or refutes fans’ assertions. CFUS is “serious fun.” We take the research seriously, but the project is all about enjoying the fun side of college athletics.
CFUS consists of two separate studies, the Alternate Uniforms Impact on Scores study and the Twitter-based Recruits’ Interest in Alternate Uniforms study.
The CFUS research team
Charles E. (Chuck) Stokes - Principle Investigator
Dr. Stokes is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Samford University and an avid sports fan. He learned to love college sports by cheering for the Clemson Tigers while growing up in SC, and now he and his family can often be found cheering on the excellent student-athletes at Samford. His primary research is varied, including investigations into how children’s spiritual lives are affected by their parents’ divorce and why youth from certain religious groups are less likely to attend college. The CFUS study is a fun way to involve Samford students and, eventually, any interested fan in actual social research.
Courtney Allen, Dylan Jedlovec, and Caleb Punt are serving as student research assistants on the project.
Dr. Darin White, Director of Sports Marketing and Professor of Marketing at Samford University, is a consultant on the project and his blog, The Business Side of Sports, is the primary venue for disseminating the study's findings.
Dr. Tom Woolley, Senior Associate Provost and Professor of Statistics at Samford University, is an analytical consultant for the study.