Five Questions With Jason Freeman

By Jeff Greenberg, GoHeels.com

1. How did you get into the equipment field and what has kept you in it?
"I started as a student manager at UNC in the spring of my freshman year, in 1995. I thought it would be a great experience to work with the football team and applied for the job with Dominic Morelli, who was the head equipment manager at the time. I just fell in love with the whole team atmosphere and being part of something bigger. I grew up playing sports and was never going to be big enough to play at this level, but this allowed me to still be part of the football program. So I stayed on during my whole time as a student at UNC. You come to college not always knowing what you want to do or what career you want to pursue. After working in this job and being around football I knew this was the career path I wanted to pursue. I was lucky enough to not only get an internship here at UNC, but to also get hired here after the internship was over. That's rare in this business to get your first position at your alma mater. I feel very fortunate to have spent my career at the school I love."

2. What do you think has changed the most in the equipment world in the 20 years you've been doing this job?
"The biggest change I've seen is how much everything around college football has grown. First, the coaching staffs and the support staffs are much bigger than they were in the 1990s. So there are a lot more people we have to outfit with apparel for their jobs. In terms of the equipment, the technology in every area has advanced tremendously in the last 20 years. For example, helmet technology advances have been incredible.There is a helmet company now that can come in and take a 3-D scan of a player's head to custom-fit their helmet to the exact contours of their head. That helmet will only fit that particular player. That's just amazing. Even the apparel is more advanced now. We have a lot more uniform combinations than we did 20 years ago and the players love that, but that's not all. Everything is lighter so the players aren't weighed down as much with their clothing and uniforms. I remember we used to practice and play in these heavy uniforms that weighed so much. They just soaked all the sweat in and held it which made it so heavy by the end of practice or the end of a game that it would wear you out. Now this new material is so light and breathable and it's all made to wick away moisture from your body. It all helps to make you faster and lighter and less tired at the end of a game or practice. Finally, I think the players' knowledge of the technology in all of the equipment and apparel is at a higher level from the first day they step foot on campus. They've all used it coming up through high school and they already know what the latest equipment is that they want to use and what works best for them."

3. Are the players or coaches superstitious at all about their uniforms?
"Not so much in my opinion. They wear whatever we put in their locker. Now I will say they know what they like to wear and what they don't like to wear. I think that's more of a comfort thing and then it's also more of an 'I want to look good' type of thing. You know, guys want to look good or look cool in the uniforms when they're playing on TV. It's more of the 'look good, feel good, play good' mentality than it is superstition. They're into personalizing the uniforms more to be unique or maybe look like certain players in the NFL. Then the comfort is a big thing as well because as I said earlier, they want to wear something that's light and that doesn't hinder their speed or their motion. That's another area where the advancement in technology has come a long way. Cleats, for instance, are very different from the old days. The old shoes were heavy and clunky. The new cleats, even for the lineman are very light-weight shoes. They have calculated the specs on which cleats work for which positions based on the size of the players at that position. So there's some science-driven customization as well. Once we know what each player likes, we always customize their gear the same way for every practice and every game. The same goes for the coaches. Each coach is different in what they like to wear for games and what they like to wear for practice. They all have a certain look they stick to in most cases. Like the players we figure those preferences out from head to toe and tailor everything to those preferences. For both the players and the coaches we want to make sure everything is in their locker and is set up all nice and neat. All they have to do is show up, get dressed and go to work."

4. How many man hours does it take you and your staff to get ready for a game?
"It takes a small army. Myself, Travis Hipps (Assistant Equipment Manager), Mike Mangili (Equipment Room Assistant), and eleven students work to keep this machine running. During the football season the full time staff have no days off during the week at all. Whether it's for an away game or a home game there is always something to do for every game at all times. We are at every practice and game. We get to the stadium four hours before kickoff and are there for about four and a half hours after the game. For an away game we have to start packing for it soon after the previous game ends because we want the truck to arrive well in advance of the team. So we may start packing the extra equipment trunk, the extra cleat trunk or the coaches' rain gear trunk in an effort to stay ahead of schedule. Depending on what uniform and helmets we're wearing that week dictates what we have to prepare in terms of game gear. We start loading the truck by Tuesday and hope to have it done by Thursday with the players' bags being the last items loaded onto the truck. When we get to the location of the game we try to unload everything Friday morning at about 9:30 a.m. It usually takes us about two and a half hours to set up the locker room. Our goal is to have the players' and coaches' lockers look exactly the same. Every locker must be uniform in how it looks. The morning of the game we get there early again to then set up our sidelines before the team arrives for warmups. When the game is over the cycle starts all over again for us to get ready for the next game. The prep work for games never stops."

5. Speaking of game uniforms, how far in advance are the uniform combinations chosen for each game?
"The first thing we do when we try and set up the season schedule for uniform combinations is work with our marketing department. We try to figure out what promotional activities they plan on doing for different games and plan accordingly around those events. That's important because for instance, in order to wear white at home you have to send correspondence to the opposing team and get their permission. So in any case, you want to know ahead of time about those things in order to get it cleared. Next we get Coach Fedora's opinion because he's the final decision maker. He's easy to work with on that because his main preference is keeping with the traditional school colors in whatever we do. We'll try and decide what we think looks best and keep things fresh. I try to get maximum input and then try to mix and match our combinations because that's what gets our guys excited. Sometimes in the past I've even checked in with the quarterback and got his preference because his eyes might do better with a certain contrast in colors from the opposing team's helmets. I also like to get the seniors input because it's their last games at home. I love doing fan votes on Twitter (@UNCEQUIPMENT) because our fans' input and support is important to me and I feel like we're representing UNC on national television so why not incorporate what our fans like seeing? We like to surprise the guys with different things like the blue face masks at Virginia or the chrome helmets in the past because they go crazy over it and it hypes them up. We'll always center everything around our Carolina blue but it's fun to mix it up. Our colors really work so well in any combination, but I personally love when the helmet matches the pants. My favorite at home is the white-blue-white combination. I think it's a sharp look. This is one of those areas that is completely different than when I first got into the equipment world."

Bonus: How has the new Jumpman deal changed your job and what has the reaction been?
"I think it's been an awesome deal all around. They have been so in tune with what we need, what we want and what fits our program. It's already been a great partnership. We actually started working with them before the deal was announced publicly because we usually start ordering everything a year in advance of each season. So they've been working closely with us since last season in designing what we wanted for this upcoming season. The gear is outstanding and has all the new technologies I mentioned above so the players are happy with it. Plus, you're talking about UNC and Michael Jordan. Is there any other school that matches his brand better? I don't think so. If you're a UNC fan, coach or player, you're excited to have Michael Jordan and the Jordan brand be a part of Tar Heel football. I think everybody in the program is excited about it."

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