Let It Grow: Mendenhall’s ‘Playoff Beard’ An Inspiration For UVA Players

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Don’t know how close attention fans have been paying to Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s beard, but it would be difficult not to notice after a month of growth.

Despite his wife Holly’s disapproval, Bronco is hoping the beard keeps growing for at least one more month and change.

“It’s a playoff beard,” Mendenhall declared at Monday’s presser.

We all thought that was the case, but he confirmed that he hasn’t shaved since Virginia has been on its three-game winning streak, which started Nov. 2, after the Cavaliers beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

“I framed the finish of our season four weeks ago as the playoffs,” the UVA coach said. “This is the fourth week. The beard stays as long as we’re winning.”

Mendenhall, a self-confessed baseball lover, is following the tradition of many Major League Baseball players who don’t shave during the playoffs.

Not all college football coaches would be bold enough to copy that superstition, so Mendenhall’s players like what their coach is doing. One of those players is senior linebacker Jordan Mack.

“There’s very few times when I see him grow out the beard,” Mack said. “Last time I saw it was my first year at fall camp. It’s pretty fun to see him take on that mentality and focus and sacrifice his wife’s wishes for us.”

Oh, and about those particular wishes …

“I think Holly has mixed feelings,” Mendenhall smiled. “It’s just fun. There’s no real significance other than just one other thing to celebrate the successes of our team, acknowledge a tangible and visible thing from the head coach, kind of from a baseball perspective of playoff tradition.”

“But I thought that was the right way to frame the finish of our year. With the chance to get to the Coastal championship, each game became more important than the next. The players have taken it that way, so I’m paying the price with my attempt to grow a beard.”

So, as long as Virginia keeps winning, it means that if the Cavaliers beat Virginia Tech on Saturday and advance to the ACC Championship game against Clemson on Dec. 7, there’s a chance they’ll end up in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.

Mendenhall might more resemble a werewolf than a football coach by then, but he’ll take it.