You have to be pretty special to be a Jordan school. I think this is what Donati went to Chicago to wrap up last summer.
Maybe talks began in summer of 2022
Fun twitter speculation involving the Frogs tonight …UCLA AD responded then deleted a tweet of Miyagi nodding yes that Donati was in Chicago setting off all sorts of TCU to Big Ten speculation But it turns out the UCLA AD was apparently prematurely welcoming the Frogs to the Jordan brand...
forum.killerfrogs.com
And earlier, from a Drew Davison FWST interview of Donati in December 2018–
On if switching from Nike to Jordan Brand is an option: “We’ve had zero conversations about going to the Jordan Brand. It’s owned by Nike, but they don’t want you wearing Jordan shoes and a Nike swoosh shirt. Frankly, the Nike deal is better for us because there’s more Nike gear than Jordan gear.
“Anything is possible, but I don’t see it. To me, I’m incredibly happy with what Nike is doing for us. We’re not discontent with where we are. Things can change in the future, but we’re pretty content with where we are with Nike. We’re a proud Nike school and have been with Nike since the early 2000s. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.”