With a new football coach, a new head men’s basketball coach, and a new women’s basketball coach, the Florida Gators athletics program is officially starting a new chapter. Thus, we figured it was time for In All Kinds Of Weather to do the same- and that’s why we unveiled a new logo last month.
This logo was the result of over a year’s worth of meticulous planning, conceptualizing, and brainstorming by yours truly, Neil Shulman. To everybody who suggested that IAKOW develop a new logo because the old one looked outdated- I heard you. A new logo had been on my mind for years, actually; it was just a matter of timing, making certain that the new logo incorporated all the elements I wanted it to incorporate without these elements taking away from the overall logo itself, and finding the perfect creative team to develop this new logo with.
The goal in creating this new logo was to devise a new look that was unique to the In All Kinds Of Weather brand while simultaneously embracing and commemorating various moments and components that comprise the Florida Gator athletics program’s rich history. As a result, fifteen different Easter Eggs were strategically hidden in plain sight throughout the new logo.
Without further ado, here they are, in counter-clockwise order:
1: State of Florida
The scale pattern in the middle of the logo is shaped like the state of Florida, for obvious reasons. Not only is the state outline on the logo to notate the fact that UF is the flagship university and athletics program of the Sunshine State, it’s also a link to our past logo, which featured the state outline.
2: Rally Cup
The small cup-shaped scale below and to the left of the state of Florida outline is a tribute to the “Rally Cup,” the forgotten catalyst of the Gator baseball team’s first ever national championship. In Game One of the 2017 College World Series Championship Series against LSU, Florida pitcher Garrett Milchin had an empty paper cup knocked out of his hand by assistant coach Lars Davis. The cup flew over the dugout railing and onto the warning track beside the dugout on the playing field. Before anyone could retrieve it, Florida’s offense suddenly broke open a scoreless tie and exploded for three runs in the fourth inning. Milchin and fellow pitcher Alex Faedo then deemed the cup to be a “Rally Cup,” ordering everybody to leave it where it sat on the field. Thanks in part to the lucky Rally Cup (or maybe the fact that the Gators outplayed LSU?), Florida won that game, 4-3, to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three championship series. Faedo and Milchin brought the cup back to the ballpark the following night and the Gators blew LSU away, 6-1, to claim their first ever national championship.
3: Gator… food
The rest of the orange scales adjacent to the Rally Cup and the state of Florida outline are shaped like a skeleton, or a small string of bones, a reference to what’s supposed to happen whenever another team faces the Gators. Although the chant of “Gator Bait” was banned in 2020 by President Kent Fuchs due to horrid racial imagery, and while it goes without saying that this horrid racial imagery has no place in college athletics, the idea behind the phrase that Florida defensive back Lawrence Wright championed in 1996 is something that all Gator fans can agree on- if you ain’t a Gator… a skeleton is all that’ll be left of you by the time the Florida Gators are done with you. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.) Nobody who ever chanted that phrase in the context of cheering on the Florida Gators did so with any appalling racial ideology in mind, and so while that two-word phrase may be offensive to some because of its other meaning, the Florida Gators-related meaning behind it that Lawrence Wright introduced to us will live on in our logo.
4: Elements of weather
The two nostrils of the alligator are shaped like a drop of rain and a bolt of lightning. Meanwhile, the outline to the left of the eye is shaped like a cloud and a shining sun peeking out beside it. These various elements of weather symbolize the very mantra of our brand: “in all kinds of weather.”
5: Gatorade
Additionally, the lightning bolt serves as a double Easter Egg, as it also pays homage to Gatorade, one of the University of Florida’s most famous inventions.
6: Urban Meyer’s timeouts
The scale patterns on the alligator’s left arm shaped like a pair of T’s (as in, the letter T) are a reference to the two timeouts Urban Meyer called toward the end of the 2008 Georgia game. The year before, Georgia’s entire team had rushed the field to celebrate a touchdown in a game they would win, 42-30. The following year, Florida got its sweet, sweet revenge. The Gators were leading 49-10 with less than a minute to go, but instead of taking a knee and ending the game, Meyer forced Georgia players and coaches to sit there and take the beating for a few minutes longer by giving Emmanuel Moody a few extra carries and calling the two timeouts he had left in between.
7: Heather’s Sunflower
The sunflower-shaped scale is a tribute to Heather Braswell, a diehard Florida Gator softball fan who tragically passed away at the age of 17 from brain cancer- but not before befriending the 2014 Gator softball team, which invited her into the dugout and declared her an honorary part of their team. Yellow is the official color of pediatric cancer awareness, and after the team befriended Heather, players began wearing yellow sunflowers in their hair to honor her. Ten weeks after Heather’s tragic death, the Gator softball program claimed its first national championship and dedicated the title to her; the following year, the Gators won it all over again, and dedicated that second title to Braswell as well. The tradition of wearing sunflowers in players’ hair during games has been passed on from season to season, and still continues today.
8: The Oh-Fours (and their coach)
The twelve square-ish scales, six per row, symbolize the Gators’ back-to-back national championships in men’s basketball in 2006 and 2007 with the exact same starting five: Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey. The sixth scale on each row is for Billy Donovan, the head coach and mastermind of those teams.
9: Tim Tebow’s jump passes
The four orange scales on the alligator’s hind left leg are shaped like footballs to symbolize the four jump pass touchdowns Tim Tebow threw in his career with the Gators: against LSU in 2006, Kentucky in 2007, Tennessee in 2008, and Oklahoma in the 2009 BCS Championship Game.
10: Palm and pine
The scales on the alligator’s hind leg are shaped like palm and pine trees blowing in the wind, a reference to the line “where palm and pine are blowing” from the song, “Hail, Florida, Hail.”
11: Southern Seas
Similarly, the adjacent scales on the bottom/right side of the alligator are shaped like waves in the sea, a nod to the very next line from the same song: “where southern seas are flowing.”
12: 40 national championships (aside from football and men’s basketball) and counting
There are 40 scales on the alligator’s back and tail, one for each of the 40 national championships that the Florida Gators have won in all sports aside from football and men’s basketball. Though football and men’s basketball are the most popular sports, and thus, the two that generate the most significant revenue, Florida is the #EverythingSchool. Football and men’s basketball may be the face of Gator athletics, but the other fifteen sports- and the 40 national championships they’ve won- are the true backbone of the #EverythingSchool. There is also ambiguity about a possible 41st scale that blends into the back row of scales. This is to represent the future. Hopefully, Florida will win additional national championships in all sports, but at this current time, we don’t know exactly when, or how many, or in which sports. So that potential scale (or not scale?) is left as a mystery for now.
13: Crystal balls (football and men’s basketball national championships)
The hex color for the main blue on the alligator’s body is #002cb3, a nod to the two crystal balls- or national championship trophies- in men’s basketball, and the three crystal footballs- or national championship trophies- the Florida Gators have won in football. Florida and Michigan State are the only two schools to have won multiple national championships in both football and basketball, and Florida is the only school to have done so since 1970.
14: Florida 52, FSU 20
The hex color for the orange is #ff5220, a direct reference to Florida football’s 52-20 obliteration of FSU for the 1996 national championship. No matter what transpires in the Florida-FSU rivalry between now and the end of time, 52-20 will remain the ultimate bragging right, and will live on forever in our logo and branding guide.
15: 1984, the best Gator football team that no one remembers
The hex color for the darker blue on the alligator’s body is #001984, paying homage to the Gators’ 1984 football team- the team that put Florida on the map. After Charley Pell was fired in disgrace following a 1-1-1 start- and the conclusion of an NCAA investigation- Galen Hall took over, and led Florida to a perfect 8-0 record, the school’s first SEC Championship, and according to Sporting News and the New York Times, a national championship. The SEC retroactively voted to take the conference crown away from Florida, but not before the Gators had made their impression on the nation. That team laid down the outline for what Gator football was supposed to be, and is notated as the outline color of our logo.
