The Road Back To Championship (and Sneaker) Success For UCLA's Women's Basketball

It took a minute, but destiny finally arrived for UCLA’s women’s basketball team on Sunday night when they won their first NCAA championship. While the school did have a national championship in 1978 from the pre-NCAA days, it has been a long road to get back to the top. Led by seniors Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, and Lauren Betts, the Bruins dominated South Carolina wire to wire and finished the job with a 79-51 win, the third-largest margin of victory in a women’s championship final.

The timing could not be better for Jordan Brand, which became UCLA’s official outfitter in 2021 and signed Rice to one of its first NIL deals the following year while she was still in high school. Known for their impeccable timing when it comes to dropping celebratory ads as soon as the final buzzer sounds, you knew Jordan had something ready to go for the championship occasion. Shoutout to Bruin alumnus and Jordan signature athlete Russell Westbrook, but more importantly, legendary coach John Wooden and his pyramid of success.

Unlike other women’s college basketball blue bloods like UConn (Nike), Tennessee (adidas), and South Carolina (Under Armour) where you can picture in your mind the jersey and the brand as they raise their trophies and cut the nets, UCLA’s brand history has a little bit more variety to it. From Ann Meyers leading the Bruins to their 1978 national championship in adidas to the days when even LA Gear was on the feet of the team in the 90s to Jordan Brand refreshing the school’s identity in the 2020s, UCLA’s sneaker journey feels like a journey through sneaker history itself.

1978: AIAW Championship Season In Adidas

The Bruins’ 1978 championship run was led by Ann Meyers, a foundational figure in women’s basketball if not a shoo-in for its Mount Rushmore. She was the first woman to sign a college athletic scholarship when she did so with UCLA in 1974 and the first woman to sign a contract with an NBA team as the Pacers brought her for a tryout in 1979. Meyers, alongside Anita Ortega, an inductee to the school’s Hall of Fame in 2002, and Denise Curry, the school’s all-time leading scorer, wore adidas during their championship run. While UCLA was an “adidas school” per se, enforcing whatever exclusivity wasn’t high on the priority list, as some players wore Converse as well.

1980s-1990s: Brand Hot Potato

UCLA’s partnership with adidas would continue into the 1980s. Besides being a track and field legend and prominent Nike athlete in the 90s, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was also a hooper, playing for the team from 1980 to 1985 in sneakers like the adidas Top Ten. After their run with adidas ended, UCLA would sign deals with PUMA and Converse before going full-time with Reebok in 1993, which would span the rest of the decade. Interestingly, there are pictures of the women’s team wearing LA Gear Catapult, likely a result of a gap between contracts.

1999-2017: Return To Adidas

Jordan Brand might have something to say about it especially in light of recent success, but when most people associate UCLA with a sneaker brand, the most likely candidate prior to Jordan was adidas. From 1999 to 2017, the three stripes branding was all across the Bruins’ uniforms and sneakers. Thankfully, the women’s team would start to reach a level of parity with the men’s side as they also got signature product and player exclusives, starting with the adidas KOBE 1 (now known as the adidas Crazy 1) in the early 2000s to blue and gold colorways of the adidas D Rose line. As a fan of the adidas Pro Model, I have a special place in my heart for any of the patent leather editions, and UCLA's baby blue pair was no exception.

2017-22: The Under Armour Era

In 2016, UCLA announced that it was ending its partnership with adidas. There was a 12-year extension offer, but the school declined in favor of a massive 15-year, $280 million deal with Under Armour, the largest in college sports at the time. It was a splashy move by both parties, as Under Armour was riding high thanks to increased sales and the once-in-a-lifetime signing of Steph Curry while UCLA was moving on from a partner who had become synonymous with the school, at least in sneaker circles. Unfortunately, the partnership would be short-lived as Under Armour terminated the deal in 2020, with a settlement being reached in 2022. In a little bit of history repeating itself, some players like Michaela Onyenwere were already foreshadowing what was to come…

2022-Current: UCLA Jumps Over To The Jumpman

While the school was dealing with the Under Armour split, UCLA would enter into an agreement with Nike and Jordan Brand for six years and $46.45 million beginning in 2021, with Jordan outfitting the football and basketball programs. Knowing a thing or two about generating attention to a partnership, the brand wasted no time delivering player exclusives to UCLA athletes that blew up on social media. Some of the standout pairs include the Air Jordan 1, Air Jordan 4, and the Air Jordan 6. On the court, Jordan NIL athlete Kiki Rice would wear the current slate of Jordan signature and takedown models, while receiving her own exclusives like an Air Jordan 38 Low that’s inspired by cherry blossoms. For the national championship game, Rice wore an Air Jordan 4028 UCLA PE with the shroud pulled down and the team logo prominently displayed.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com