Georgia Tech may well have two struggles that extend into eternity. One is against its archrival from Athens. The other is getting its shade of gold right.
The latter will require some work, specifically with the paint job on the McCamish Pavilion court. After considerable time and effort spent on selecting an ideal shade of gold to be used uniformly in athletic department branding, team gear and fan apparel, the result for Cremins Court didn’t quite turn out right after the floor was re-painted with the new Tech gold and word mark.
The gold used for the “GT” logo at midcourt, the lanes and sideline borders seems to have a greenish tint, especially so in broadcasts.
“On TV, it definitely looks a little different, and some of it is lighting, some of it is TV, so that’s something that, once we get through this season, we’ll play around,” athletic director Todd Stansbury told the AJC.
The Tech men have two more games on the floor as presently colored – Wednesday night against Pittsburgh and March 3 against Boston College. The women’s team also has two more home dates – Thursday against Clemson and also March 3 against Florida State.
The challenge with getting the desired shade of gold – which is based on the paint scheme of the Ramblin’ Wreck – has long been troublesome as the same gold can appear different depending on the type of fabric or material used, whether it’s a sweatshirt, football helmet or hardwood floor. Whether it’s viewed in daylight or under stadium lights or indoors vs. outdoors can also be factors.
While griping about the usage of school colors is hardly the province of Tech fans alone, they have been known to pay particular attention to the matter.
Stansbury said he has heard from fans, but he realized the issue before anyone had to tell him about it.
“The first time I went in there and the lights were on,” said Stansbury, a proud Tech alumnus himself. “I said, ‘Are we sure we’re using the right PMS?’ ”
Stansbury has been through it at other jobs. When he was AD at Central Florida, the athletic department painted the basketball court to look like an outdoor blacktop court and Stansbury said that “we looked at that thing every which way because I knew that sometimes you can be challenged by the material it’s on.” At Oregon State, the school’s orange sometimes looked red.
For the record, the paint on the court is the right PMS (Pantone Matching System) – 4515.
“It doesn’t necessarily translate,” Stansbury said. “So, yeah, we’re going to have to figure that thing out.”
