Collin Chandler Poses Hair Challenge To BYU Coach Mark Pope
May 24, 2022, 1:47 PM
BYU basketball coach Mark Pope put together his best Eminem impression. (Mengshin Lin, Deseret News)
(Mengshin Lin, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball fans won’t see Collin Chandler for two years. The heralded Farmington High star, who earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors, will serve a mission in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling at BYU.
Chandler leaves for the Missionary Training Center in Provo on July 25.
One of the common things for Latter-day Saint missionaries, during their mission call, is that they get low-maintenance haircuts.
I’ll shave my head for 2 years straight if someone can get @CoachMarkPope to grow his out while i’m gone. LMK if cougar nation is in on that
— collin chandler (@collinchand13r) May 23, 2022
On Twitter, Chandler approached the idea of what he might do with his curly locks while on the mission. But it was in the form of a fun challenge for his future head coach, BYU headman Mark Pope.
Chandler wrote, “I’ll shave my head for 2 years straight if someone can get @CoachMarkPope to grow his out while I’m gone. LMK if cougar nation is in on that.”
Since being the BYU head coach in 2019, Mark Pope has always sported a shaved, bald head. But it hasn’t always been that way for Pope. When he was an assistant on Dave Rose’s staff, he sported some hair. In addition, the former National Champion at Kentucky rocked hair during his playing days in the NBA and with the Wildcats.
Pope had some fun with the challenge posed by Chandler. The fourth-year coach shared some photoshopped pictures of Chandler sporting some new cuts with his own question for Cougar Nation.
“What hair cut will @collinchand13r be rocking when he is tearing up the Big 12,” asked Pope.
Cougar Nation, help me out.
What hair cut will @collinchand13r be rocking when he is tearing up the Big 12? #BYUHoops pic.twitter.com/Mout7aRbEz
— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) May 23, 2022
The photoshopped pictures included Chandler with a horseshoe hairline, a bald look, and his current haircut.
Chandler is the 31st-ranked overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2022 class. So if there’s a person to inspire Pope to grow out the hair, it just might be Chandler who picked BYU over the likes of Utah, Stanford, Arizona, Oregon, and Gonzaga.
Chandler is one of three players that has signed with BYU in the 2022 recruiting cycle. The others are Coastal Carolina transfer Rudi Williams and Donda Academy’s Braeden Moore. Both Williams and Moore will join BYU for the 2022-23 season.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
