Soccer Culture

Since its debut on March 31 in Toronto, Robert Warzycha has earned style points among the Black & Gold faithful for the sleek black Adidas jacket he's sported on the touchline. Every time the Crew head coach wears the jacket, tweets begin to roll in from fans asking where they can purchase the latest piece of outerwear in Warzycha's wardrobe.

The bad news for Crew fans: Warzycha's jacket is the only one of its kind that exists.

When I asked Warzycha about the jacket's origins, the Crew head coach replied, "It's one of a kind. I can't say."

To learn more of the jacket's mysterious beginnings, I consulted defending MLS Equipment Manager of the Year Rusty Wummel for answers.

"It's a one of a kind jacket," Wummel explained. "When the whole line changed over, because everything goes through a cycle and it will change over again in the next couple of years, that jacket was a prototype presentation suit jacket to be used for travel, appearances, and also for games."

"Somewhere along the way, that jacket was switched to our yellow hoodie jacket," he continued. "It was a prototype jacket that never made it through production"

The Black & Gold is currently undefeated in the five away matches (Toronto, Portland, San Jose, Seattle, and New England) that Warzycha has worn the jacket. Though Warzycha claims he's not superstitious, he admits he'll have the jacket handy during the summer months when it won't be needed due to the 90 degree temperatures currently blanketing Columbus.

"Some of the guys wear scarves even in the summer," Warzycha said with a laugh. "I'm at least going to have (the jacket) in the locker room."

Whether or not the jacket is responsible for the Crew's success doesn't take away from the jacket's flair.

"Superstition or not, we're doing well as a team right now," Wummel said. "But it is a cool jacket."