Bruce Pearl says growing beard has led to new nickname from Auburn players

How many of us tried out new hairstyles in the midst of quarantining in 2020? Or maybe you’re like Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl, and just see how well your beard can grow.

Pearl’s beard surfaced when he started speaking to the media ahead of the Auburn basketball season, and now even has its own Twitter account.

Pearl says Auburn players have certainly taken notice of the beard as well, and are letting him hear about it.

Bruce Pearl on the pandemic beard: “It’s more of an age-60 beard … When I turned 60, I wanted to see would it come in gray, salt-and-pepper, darker … Let’s put it this way: the players are calling me Papa Smurf”

— Jordan D. Hill (@JordanDavisHill) November 17, 2020

For a recent look at Pearl’s beard, here’s an appearance he made with the media in mid-October.

Not bad, right? There were certainly worse facial hair situations to come out of 2020.

Although, I’m not sure “Papa Smurf” was the nickname Pearl had in mind.