Want some mayo with that? A behind-the-scenes look at the Duke's Mayo Bowl mayonnaise bath
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Imagine having 5 gallons of mayonnaise dumped over your head.
Well, that’s exactly what the winning head coach of the annual Duke’s Mayo Bowl receives as a “reward” for winning the game at Bank of America Stadium, a tradition born in 2021 as Duke’s Mayo looked to carve out its unique niche in the college football bowl world.
Each year, the mayo dump trends on social media — and college football fans just can’t seem to look away, no matter how disgusting the idea is to some observers.
“I think with my bald head the mayo should just slide right off," joked Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck, whose team will play Virginia Tech on Friday night in the bowl game. "I might have to do a little pre-dumping of the mayo just to make sure it does slide off. I have my own strategy just in case, but I can't let me secret out."
There's plenty of preparation that goes into the annual mayo dump.
Staff members begin by pouring five 1-gallon containers of mayonnaise into a large Gatorade-sized cooler around the start of the fourth quarter. Then, they take turns briskly stirring the mayo for more than 25 minutes with a large wooden stick.
“That changes the consistency just a little bit so it's more pourable,” said Duke’s Mayo brand director Rebecca Lupesco. ”Some people think we add water. There's no water added, it's just straight mayonnaise. We just stir it up. It can be a workout."
As tradition has it, the winning coach is seated on a chair on the field after the game and two workers will raise the cooler and pour the mayo over his head.
It's a process that needed to be refined over time.
In 2021, one of the handles on the cooler shifted, causing South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer to get bopped over the head with the bucket after being doused in mayo. That issue has since been addressed and the handles have been fortified to make them immovable.
“Since that incident we now pick our mayo dumpers very carefully,” Lupesco said with a smile. “Last year we did a mayo combine where 10 people were selected to come in and compete. They had to do deadlifts with buckets of mayonnaise and catch footballs with mayo on their hands. We had to make sure these people were strong enough."
This year's mayo dumpers remain a surprise.
But they will be adequately trained first, Lupesco said. She said the two pourers will practice by dumping multiple buckets of mayo over a “dummy coach" earlier in the day, with an emphasis on making sure they lift the cooler high enough above the coach's head so no one gets hit in the head.
Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said he's not a big fan of mayonnaise, but would gladly accept the bath if it means a Hokies win.
“It will be like, ‘c’mon and give it to me! I want that sucker!,'” Pry said. “The players and my family have had a lot of fun watching other coaches get dumped on. So I hope we are that fortunate.”
Former West Virginia coach Neal Brown was last year's recipient of the mayo dump after his Mountaineers' 30-10 blowout win over North Carolina — a moment he'll almost certainly never forget.
“I feel cold, I feel wet. ... but I feel like a winner,” Brown said while covered in mayonnaise.
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