\u201cI never thought I would see this reaction to Indiana football,\u201d said Connor. \u201cI always felt like I was part of this secret club because I liked Indiana football more than Indiana basketball. So that\u2019s been really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
It brings the company and its favorite team to Monday\u2019s college football national championship game in Miami, where Indiana \u2014 which until very recently was the losingest program in college football history<\/a> \u2014\u00a0is the heavy favorite to win its first title against the hometown Miami Hurricanes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just \u2026 unbelievable,\u201d said Christa.<\/p>\n Homefield Apparel officially launched over Labor Day weekend 2018, but its origins were a company called Hoosier Proud, which Connor created as a business major at Indiana a few years earlier. What started with state-pride stickers and other merch evolved into Homefield thanks to the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl. Indiana lost in overtime on a controversial missed field goal; Connor channeled his pain into T-shirts that read \u201cThe kick was good.\u201d<\/p>\n The company gradually expanded beyond Indiana shirts and the confines of Connor\u2019s apartment, adding apparel and designs for more and more schools. Homefield went from less than $1,000 in its bank account in 2019<\/a> to more than 30 employees today. But Indiana football has always been the bedrock of the brand\u2019s identity, particularly on social media. Whether it was leaning into the #9WINDIANA hashtag (and merch) during a surprising 2019 season or the usual self-effacement that comes with rooting for the Hoosiers, that authenticity built a loyal following among college football diehards.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we came out as Michigan fans on the (Homefield) Twitter account, we would have never built that kind of following,\u201d said Christa. \u201cBut it was deprecating to be an Indiana football fan. It was charming.\u201d<\/p>\n She knows of what she speaks. Christa grew up a Michigan fan in metro Detroit; her dad played quarterback for the Wolverines. She didn\u2019t attend Indiana, but she and Connor dated all through college, and his love of the Hoosiers became her love of the Hoosiers. (And now their 2-year-old son Jude\u2019s love of the Hoosiers.) Connor remembers Indiana\u2019s late collapse in the Gator Bowl to end the 2019 season \u2014 one victory shy of #9WINDIANA glory \u2014 as tears streamed down Christa\u2019s face.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, What have I done? She was a Michigan fan, dude, and she traded it for Indiana,\u201d said Connor. \u201cI felt like an awful person in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n But as Indiana made its inconceivable climb from perennial bottom feeder to national title contender \u2014 \u201cRags to Roses\u201d as the recent Rose Bowl merch put it \u2014 that passion paid off.<\/p>\n RAGS TO ROSES<\/p>\n INDIANA ROSE BOWL CHAMP MERCH IS HERE \ud83c\udf39https:\/\/t.co\/FyTgF7fyTC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pUxz0cAJOe<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Homefield (@HomefieldApparl) January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Even as Homefield continued to grow, its persona stayed tethered to the Hoosiers, tapping into a long-dormant fan base that rattled to life under head coach Curt Cignetti. Indiana has always been Homefield\u2019s top-selling school by a considerable margin. But in 2024, during an out-of-nowhere run to the College Football Playoff in Cignetti\u2019s first season, the company\u2019s IU merchandise sales were double the year prior. In 2025, further bolstered by wholesome, Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza and an undefeated Big Ten championship, IU sales were 2.5-times more than those 2024 increases. Indiana fans are suddenly everywhere<\/a> \u2014\u00a0many of them wearing Homefield gear.<\/p>\n \u201cI would always tell people, yeah, we\u2019re terrible at football, but I don\u2019t think you understand how big this alumni base is,\u201d said Connor. \u201cPeople have been hungry here for so long for something, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n The past two seasons have delivered, this one in particular, with IU claiming the program\u2019s first Big Ten championship since 1967 with a win over Ohio State in Indianapolis. Then the No. 1 seed in the 12-team Playoff, with blowout wins over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Oregon in the Peach Bowl, and the team\u2019s first national championship appearance. Homefield dropped new merch every step of the way.<\/p>\n \n Connor Hitchcock initially felt bad for influencing his wife to cheer for Indiana football. (Courtesy of the Hitchcock family)<\/p>\n The company is sending nine employees to South Beach for the game and is hosting a handful of branded pop-up events, including sponsoring Indiana\u2019s alumni association gathering. It also has championship apparel ready to launch at the final whistle. Even if Miami wins.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have a lot of Miami stuff ready to go. And it looks great,\u201d said Connor, who will be at Hard Rock Stadium with Christa for Monday\u2019s game. \u201cBut that will be sad. People will be roasting us in the comments.\u201d<\/p>\n He admits they have a lot more designs if the Hoosiers finish this dream run, including a small batch of early prints that will be on sale Tuesday morning at Homefield\u2019s first brick-and-mortar store, which opened in August in Bloomington. Christa, who handles a lot of the design work, teased one with Indiana\u2019s revived bison mascot \u2014 a Homefield favorite \u2014\u00a0and a crown.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s kind of no limit to what we could do. We could probably do three months of merchandise launches,\u201d said Connor, who suspects that a week\u2019s worth of Indiana championship sales could nearly match the 2025 totals. \u201cIndiana winning will be, would be, the most consequential event that has ever happened to this company.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the Hitchcocks remain more dumbstruck by what has happened on the field than to their own business portfolio. Connor rattles off the likes of Antwaan Randle El, Terry Hoeppner, Michael Penix Jr., and the shortlist of bright spots during his otherwise bleak life as an IU football fan. One preceded by decades upon decades of similar despair.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made no sense for me to love Indiana football. It gave you nothing,\u201d said Connor, who had yet to experience a Hoosiers bowl victory in his 31 years on this earth prior to the Rose Bowl win over Alabama.<\/p>\n Now IU has a chance to go 16-0 and punctuate the most stunning turnaround the sport has ever seen. Maybe that any sport has ever seen.<\/p>\n \n The Hitchcocks loved Indiana football before it was en vogue. (Courtesy of the Hitchcock family)<\/p>\n It\u2019s a long way from wearing his Pinstripe Bowl grievances on short, screen-printed sleeves. Connor believes Indiana will pull it off on Monday, win by multiple scores. (\u201cWhich is an insane thing to say.\u201d) And he can\u2019t help but dream of what a future with Cignetti and an awakened fan base might look like, the true hallmark of college football grandeur.<\/p>\n But he and Christa are also making sure to soak it all in and cherish this experience \u2014\u00a0ideally with closets, storefronts and warehouses full of commemorative merchandise.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of this, it was just never in the realm of possibility,\u201d said Connor. \u201cI don\u2019t cheer for Indiana football to win a national championship. I cheer because I love the team, and it\u2019s my school. But now here it is. It\u2019s such a turn of fate. I\u2019ve been very grateful for every step of it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5504-scaled-e1768684713943.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0503-e1768684913824.jpg\")
<\/p>\n