When Georgia Tech begins ACC Tournament play Thursday in Greensboro, N.C., the Yellow Jackets likely won’t lack for motivation in their pursuit of the team’s first conference championship since 1993.
But coach Josh Pastner was willing to add an extra dollop of incentive.
“If we win the ACC championship or the national championship, the guys can cut off my hair if they want, whatever they want to do to my hair,” Pastner told the AJC.
Tech is the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will play the winner off Wednesday’s Miami-Clemson game in a quarterfinal matchup.
The offer stems from multiple players braiding their hair during the season, including guards Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe and forwards Khalid Moore and Jordan Usher. In a February interview with Alvarado on Pastner’s weekly TV show on Fox Sports Southeast, Tech voice Andy Demetra relayed a suggestion from a fan that the curly-haired coach should be the next one to braid his hair. Delighted with the idea, Alvarado responded that Pastner should have his hair braided if the Jackets were to make the NCAA Tournament.
While Pastner raised the target from an NCAA bid to either an ACC title or a national title, he’s evidently game. He did clarify that it would have to be after the season and that any styling would have to be “within reason.”
For players or Pastner, any near-term tonsorial work will be complicated by the bubble that Pastner has sought to create for the team for the duration of the postseason, as a positive COVID-19 test or close contact with someone who tests positive could derail the Jackets’ run.
Pastner initially agreed to allow a barber or stylist to take care of players’ hair after he or she had tested passed COVID-19 tests. However, he changed his mind when considering how the Kansas City Chiefs came close to having about 20 players and staff members quarantined before the Super Bowl (including quarterback Patrick Mahomes) when a barber who came to the team facility tested positive. Likewise, NBA stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid missed Sunday’s All-Star game in Atlanta in contact tracing after their barber tested positive.
“So I came down and I said, ‘Guys, the barber is out. We can’t do it,’” Pastner said. “We just can’t afford that in terms of (risk).”
Pastner’s compromise was to buy clippers and let players cut or style each other’s hair. Pastner said that center Rodney Howard has some haircutting experience.
“I said, ‘OK, Rodney will be our barber,’ and all the guys are like, Who’s going to go first?” Pastner said.
Pastner wasn’t sure if Howard’s range of expertise included braiding.
Pastner’s offer is similar to one made in 2013 by then-Louisville coach Rick Pitino to get a tattoo if the Cardinals won the national championship, a promise he followed up on.
“I think the guys like my long hair how it is right now, so I’m not sure if they want it braided,” said Pastner, perhaps thinking wishfully.
