Uni Watch, in collaboration with Athletics Admin and UTEP (University of Texas El Paso), proudly announce the UTEP Miners Fan Edition Uniform Design Contest – a groundbreaking opportunity for fans to create the first-ever fan-designed uniform for men’s basketball in the NCAA. Fans can submit uniform designs for both the UTEP men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The winning designers will each receive a $1,250 cash prize, and have their design showcased in a conference game during the 2025-26 UTEP men’s and women’s basketball seasons.
In collaboration with Uni Watch, UTEP welcomes submissions that include different themes, nicknames, or creative flair. Contestants can submit a maximum of two (2) designs and are encouraged to provide a brief explanation if their design incorporates an alternative concept. Submitters will create a uniform top and shorts.
“We are thrilled to announce our first-ever fan-designed uniform contest for men’s and women’s basketball,” UTEP Vice President and Director of Athletics Jim Senter said. “This gives fans the opportunity to tap into our rich basketball history and put their own unique stamp on the program. We can’t wait to see the designs, and we look forward to putting the winning submissions on an Adidas uniform this upcoming season.”
Submissions or questions can be sent to jersey@utep.edu. Athletics Admin, an athletic contract and consulting service, will be assisting in this campaign. Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, July 8th.
“UTEP is a powerful brand with a rich, championship-winning history,” said KC Smurthwaite, COO and consultant at Athletics Admin. “We’re thrilled to partner with Miner Athletics and excited to see the submissions that will help elevate the UTEP brand through the first-ever men’s basketball fan design contest.”
All qualifying design submissions are subject to appearance on Uni Watch and UTEPMiners.com for promotional purposes.
The contest is open to designers of all levels. Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, August 5th. Finalists will be promoted on UTEP Athletics’ social media platforms as well as Uni Watch, providing creatives with the opportunity to showcase their brand and work to hundreds of thousands of followers. Finalists will be required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with rules and guidelines consistent with UTEP policies and procedures prior to the announcement.
The winning set of uniforms will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting the UTEP men’s and women’s basketball programs.
- The design must incorporate UTEP Athletics branding. Creativity is encouraged, but the design should remain professional and collegiate.
- Variations or alterations to any current or former logos will not be accepted. The winning design must comply with NCAA men’s and women’s
basketball uniform guidelines. - UTEP Athletics reserves the right to make design modifications to the winning design as needed to comply with conference and NCAA regulations.
- Alternate theme names are approved for submission (i.e. 915 or Texas Western). It’s highly encouraged to provide an explanation if the submission is an alternate name.
- Two (2) submissions per individual.
- Submissions should be sent to jersey@utep.edu.
- UTEP Athletics staff and student-athletes will choose one winning design for both men’s and women’s basketball.
- The winning jersey design will become the property of UTEP Athletics.
- Designs may be submitted as .jpg, .png or .pdf files. Please keep to one (1) file/attachment if emailed. Please provide any social media handles or websites for promotional purposes.
- Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, July 8th.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Uni Watch on the first UTEP Miners Fan Edition Uniform Design Contest,” UTEP Vice President and Director of Athletics Jim Senter said. “We’d like to thank Phil Hecken for his interest in this project, and for helping bring worldwide attention to the Miner brand. We can’t wait to see the designs, pick the winners, and watch our men’s and women’s basketball teams take the court in early 2026 in some exciting new threads!
Just to clarify — designers can submit a TOTAL of two different uniform concepts — designers do not need to specify whether the concepts are for MBB or WBB. UTEP will apply once the winning designs have been determined.
If you have any questions, you can contact jersey@utep.edu or post your question(s) down in the comments below.
Good luck to all participants!
Texas Western is the better brand identity. UTEP has not ever won anything meaningful in the major sports and I think most associate with losing. It has no juice
Where can I find a good uniform template?
This should be a lot of fun. I love the Miners logo and being so close to Mexico there should be plenty of inspiration from south of the border in some of the designs that will be submitted. I am very bad at uniform designing myself so I will just applaud any effort made by fellow UW readers.
“Creativity is encouraged, but the design should remain professional and collegiate.”
– Well, at this point, I guess professional and collegiate are synonymous when it comes to amateur athletes and athletics. At least UTEP is being honest about it. ; )
May be a silly question (if there are such things!) but slight contradictory statements:
– Variations or alterations to any current or former logos will not be accepted.
– Alternate theme names are approved for submission
Does this mean we have to use the existing UTEP logos, or can choose to create and brand new alternative logo to go with the alternative name?
(e.g. minor league baseball alternative names go the whole hog with a new logo and complete rebrand for a couple of games, so is this what they are suggesting as an option, or is it a case of still using the existing logos with the alternative name?)
Hi Andy,
I think that’s a question best left to UTEP to answer. Shoot them an e-mail to the addy listed above (and if/when you get your reply, please post it here!)
Thank you for quick response – I have now emailed asking the question.
I had a response: “an alternate name is permitted, alternate logos are not.”
Feels like it would be harder to craft an alternative name without the logo, but glad I checked & might help others going down a wrong path.
Thanks!