In "Ivy Style: Radical Conformists, " out last month from Yale University Press, fashion scholar Patricia Mears traces the history of the modern sportcoat to the interwar years, when Princetonians liberated tweed jackets from their matching bottoms.
Another collar that goes well with a sportcoat sans tie is the semi- or medium-spread collar as both "stand up on their own without a tie, " and don't flare out.