The men’s basketball program auctioned off five pairs of custom shoes to raise nearly $6,000 in support of cancer awareness charities.

This brought the total amount raised to over $30,000 through four years. Head Coach Brette Tanner personally matched every winning bid up to $1,000 to further the impact of the fundraiser.

Every year the men’s basketball coaches wear custom shoes during a game that are later auctioned off to raise money for different cancer awareness charities as a part of the Coaches vs. Cancer program.

Across the country, college coaches unite to bring awareness to cancer as a part of Suits and Sneakers Week. It calls coaches to wear their “most eye-catching sneakers” on the court to bring awareness to cancer.

During this week the ACU men’s basketball coaches will wear a unique pair of shoes for a game. This year the shoes were purple, black and white with an ACU logo on the side. The coaches wore them at the game against California Baptist University on Jan. 30 before auctioning them off.

The winners of the shoes this year were Keri Flippen, Caden Christian, Sam Ferguson, ACU board member Charlie Onstead and Jason Milwee.

Tanner said the idea of auctioning off the shoes started four years ago when he became head coach. Coaches across the country used to wear suits to raise awareness during games. But after COVID-19, coaches began dressing more casually and stopped wearing suits.

Tanner wanted to still be able to raise awareness as well as raise money for charity. He noticed that the coaches were always wearing sneakers. So, they began wearing the custom sneakers during games in Suits and Sneakers Week.

He said they didn’t know what do to with the shoes after the game. Instead of storing them away on a shelf, they decided to auction them off and donate the proceeds to charity.

Tanner said the program has been able to raise awareness for cancer and money, which also benefits the team.

“I think it’s been a big impact on our program,” Tanner said. “I think it’s something our guys kind of latch onto. It’s kind of fun. It’s what our shoes are going to look like, and we’ve had a different pair every single year, which is kind of cool.”