Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Ryan Grooms is in his fifth season as Notre Dame's head football equipment manager. Grooms directs all facets of athletic equipment management for the Irish football team and oversees one assistant equipment manager and 50 student managers. It's his job to have the safest gear on the players and to outfit everyone involved with Notre Dame football from head to toe in Under Armour apparel under the new Notre Dame contract with the company. Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the process of ordering new uniforms and equipment? Grooms: "Under Armour has a completely differ- ent ordering system [than adidas] that I'm learn- ing. We have a very detailed ordering system, and this year is unique because we have to empty our shelves and restock them completely with Under Armour gear. "In recent weeks, we've had a lot of Under Ar- mour samples that I'm using for sizing, and I've had several players come in and look at them. I'm wide open to what the guys want. I try to get them new styles and such to help out with the morale of the team and keep them happy." Blue & Gold Illustrated: How different will the uniforms and other football apparel look with Un- der Armour? Grooms: "Our home and away uniform is not going to change — blue at home, white on the road with gold pants. Under Armour representa- tives will be in to help design the Shamrock Series uniforms. I asked for three renditions, then myself, Jack Swarbrick and Coach [Brian] Kelly will look at the artwork before any decisions will be made. "We are excited about what they will come with." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What happens to the old adi- das uniforms, players' clothes and coaches' apparel? Grooms: "We have some meetings getting ready to take place in the next week or two where we are bringing a bunch of ideas to the table. I can't really comment on it right now because I don't exactly know what route it's going to go yet." Blue & Gold Illustrated: How do you keep all of the football equipment, uniforms and shoes organized? Grooms: "We have a new equipment room with rolling shelving, so it basically looks like the bottom floor of the library. We can move the shelves back and forth, which allows us to maximize the shelf space. "Every player and each staff member has his own shelf space in the equipment room in which he doesn't have access to so we can issue in advance and have everything ready for them." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the system of getting the equipment to away games? Grooms: "My philosophy for packing for road games is if you pack everything, you can't forget anything. So we take a little in excess of what we need to take, but we have a 53-foot truck to use, so I figure why not use it all. "My assistant and I have a checklist that we are very confident in. He goes through it, I go through it and then we go through it together when we pack the truck just to make sure we have everything." — Staci Gasser Five Questions With … HEAD FOOTBALL EQUIPMENT MANAGER RYAN GROOMS Click here to listen to Blue & Gold Illustrated's complete interview with Grooms. ▼ GROOMS