Ladies And Gentlemen, Allow Me To Introduce You To The New King Of College Basketball
Every so often I see something in this sport that takes my breath away. Could be a dumbass ref making a horrible call. It could be a halfcourt buzzer beater. It could be Florida Atlantic making a Final Four and not losing one person to the portal. But this? This tops them all. Let's run through the checklist here:
Bolo tie? CHECK
Incredible mullet? BIG TIME CHECK
Striped shirt that every kid in the 90s wore for a picture/every mid-level manager has? GOT THAT ONE
Multiple pockets on said shirt? DOUBLE CHECK
Coaches at what sounds like a made-up Division III school? SURE DOES
Ladies and gentleman, this is Xavier Webb. He might as well be a young Tom Penders with more style. You wanna talk about transformation? This is what he looked like a few short years ago:
The man needs to be highlighted because, well, look at him. Sul Ross State is a real school, I promise. According to their Twitter they made the 2004 NCAA Division III Final Four, which frankly, more successful than Indiana so they are worth talking about. The biggest shock here is the man isn't wearing a hat of some sort. Throw a stetson on that bad boy and we're really cooking with gas, especially if the mullet is flowing underneath.
We live in a world where people are begging for college basketball coaches to be characters. People want to go back to the days of Tark, Pitino, John Thompson, Rollie, Carnesecca, Crum, Knight, etc. Well, I would argue we do have that, those guys just haven't won titles yet. I'm talking about guys like Muss, Tang, Cooley, Shaka, Mick, etc. Well let Xavier Webb coach a blue blood and we're onto something here.
So much talk about coaches wearing suits or 1/4 zips or polos on the sidelines. Personally? I say go the other way. Go the way of baseball and make these guys dress in full jerseys. It's so outrageous that we deserve in every sport besides baseball. It's gotta be that or dress like Xavier Webb. Only two acceptable answers for me.
Sul Ross State is moving up to Division II next year, one step closer for our guy making the big leagues.