SPRINGDALE — Trey LaValle looked as if he had just finished filming a commercial for Gillette razors, his face clean shaven aside from a patch of hair on his chin.
His once scraggly beard was gone. It got washed down a bathroom drain, and for the first time in seven months his entire face was exposed to sunlight.
Springdale High’s offensive line coach can recall the last time he shaved prior to last Monday. In fact, he knows the exact date. It was Feb. 28, and he hadn’t trimmed his facial hair until a week ago.
“You get some comments here and there. ‘How long are you going to let that thing go?’” LaValle said, smiling. “I was aiming for a year, and unfortunately I couldn’t make it. Seven months was about the limit.”
Imagine Grizzly Adams without his beard. Picture San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson clean shaven. LaValle didn’t look recognizable at first without his NHL playoff beard.
Springdale’s players are the reason their assistant coach decided it was time to finally shave. Had the Bulldogs won Sept. 14 at Bixby, Okla., LaValle would no doubt still look like a lumberjack on the sidelines.
“I don’t want to come off as superstitious,” he said. “But guys didn’t play well upfront, (so) just change up the routine, change up the look.”
Springdale’s offense had a rough night at Bixby, and the offensive line struggled with picking up the rush. Quarterback Will Whatley was repeatedly sacked, and running back Deandre Murray had trouble finding holes to run through for much of the night.
The loss snapped Springdale’s fast start to the season, and after a pair of lopsided wins over Batesville and Tulsa (Okla.) Central, it was back to the drawing board for the Bulldogs. Three nights later, LaValle shaved off his beard.
It was his way of getting a fresh start. After all, his beard had lost its luster.
“It kind of equated it to Samson. The longer it got, the better those guys played,” LaValle joked. “They just had an off night, so cut it off.”
Two years ago, several Fayetteville assistant coaches agreed not to shave during the team’s deep run through the Class 7A playoffs. After three weeks, offensive coordinator Zak Clark had a dark, scraggly beard with flecks of gray around the chin.
However, as soon as the Bulldogs lost to Bentonville in the state championship game, “No Shave November” came to an end and razors touched skin. None of the assistants had a beard even close to LaValle’s.
And now that’s gone, too.
LaValle said he didn’t ask his wife’s opinion on whether he should keep his Pittsburgh Steelers look or get rid of it. He just walked into his bathroom, and he was in there for so long shaving that his wife wondered if he had gotten lost in the shower.
“She was kind of shocked (Monday) night when I walked back into the bedroom after I had cut it off,” LaValle said.
LaValle said he has no plans to change up his look after every Springdale loss. He doesn’t intend to grow a handlebar mustache or a Fu Manchu if the Bulldogs get on a winning streak. That’s too much work.
So LaValle didn’t even consult with his wife before getting rid of his beard? Nope, and he doesn’t see why he’d need to.
“It’s my face,” LaValle said, laughing.
Alex Abrams is the assistant sports editor for NWA Media. Email [email protected].