Nike to Adidas: Penn State with potential shocking brand switch underway

For over three decades, Penn State has been a Nike school, starting back in 1993. On3's Brett McMurphy reported that the Nittany Lions are now awaiting approval from their Board of Trustees to switch apparel brands to Adidas.

Penn State to potentially shift brands after longtime Nike partnership

Penn State could re-up its deal with Nike, but per McMurphy's report, the 32-year partnership may be coming to an end.

In 1994, the iconic Nike swoosh was placed in a much more visible location on the jerseys' chest that sparked attention from commentators, viewers, and fans. It stayed there ever since. The Nittany Lions wore the brand for much longer before 1993 and 1994, though. In 1983 under Joe Paterno's coaching, the team switched out its cleats entirely. The Adidas and Spot-Bilt cleats were donated and the Nike cleats entered the program's picture.

Nike also donated $400,000 to Penn State libraries in January 2011 and named a child care center after Paterno. The former head coach was a longtime friend of the brand's founder Phil Knight, who defended Paterno in January 2012 after the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Athletic director Pat Kraft Adidas-switch pattern from Boston College

"Penn State Athletics is conducting a Request for Proposal (RFP) for its future apparel partnership and evaluating various opportunities," the Penn State Athletic Department said in its statement. "This process will enable Penn State Athletics to identify the best partner to support our student-athletes, coaches and fans."

When athletic director Pat Kraft was at Boston College in 2021, the Eagles entered their partnership with Adidas. BC was previously an Under Armour school, but under Kraft, football exclusively switched to Adidas. Only recently in 2025 did football move to New Balance as the rest of the school's sports did in 2021.

Despite rumors circulating that this shift is underway as the Nittany Lions await pending approval, a source, as reported by 247Sports, said that the McMurphy report "is WAY too premature."

If a potential new brand partnership shift does follow through at Penn State, it'll be the second major school Adidas flipped. Tennessee was the most recent to make the drastic switch, signing a 10-year deal with Adidas in August. Getting notable SEC and Big Ten names to leave Nike behind would be significant for the brand.

Adidas released the six additional schools as part of its college shoe collection that launched last month. According to USA TODAY's Dylan Reffe, Arizona State, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi State, North Carolina State and Washington were the final teams to round out the collection as of Sept. 1.