Lady Vols basketball will have a new look on the court this season with Tennessee's return to Adidas and a sponsored jersey patche for the first time in school history.
But in the jersey reveals and mock-ups of the patches sponsored by Axle Logistics, there has been something missing from the women's basketball jerseys: the Pat Summitt patch.
The circular patch has the Pat Summitt Foundation logo on it, and it has typically been placed above the SEC patch on the chest of the jerseys. The patch's absence from the early looks at the new jerseys isn't a cause for concern, though, and the Lady Vols will still have the Pat Summitt patch on their Adidas jerseys, a Tennessee spokesperson told Knox News on Aug. 20.
The Adidas jersey designs kept an open
space on the right side of the chest for the sponsored patch, which is where the Nike swoosh used to be on the former jersey designs. But the Adidas jerseys have the three stripes logo in the center.
Tennessee announced the corporate-sponsored jersey patches Aug. 18. Axle Logistics is a shipping and transportation company founded in Knoxville by two Tennessee alums. The deal will run through the 2030-31 season and is worth more than $3 million per year, a source told Knox News.
The deal with Axle is only for men's and women's basketball. The Lady Vols will debut their new jerseys in an exhibition against Florida A&M on Oct. 27.
"We are grateful to Axle Logistics for its incredible commitment to Tennessee basketball and for the impact this partnership will have on current and future Lady Vols," Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell said in a school release. "I’m also thankful for the vision of Danny White and the Vol Network in uniting us with an innovative, locally-based company built by UT alums who operate with the same core principles we do."
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Will Pat Summitt patch fit on Lady Vols basketball jerseys with sponsored patch?
