Neal Brown shares story behind Duke’s Mayo Bowl bath, hatred of mayonnaise

Neal Brown, like so many who dislike mayonnaise, really dislikes mayonnaise. But if his West Virginia team was going to win the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl against North Carolina, he had a date with a celebratory mayo bath.

And win the Mountaineers did, 30-10, but Brown was ready for his douse in the condiment, a plan in place to don a rain jacket shortly before the act. But it was all foiled by an unlikely suspect, as Brown recalled to On3’s Andy Staples.

“I thought I had a great plan,” Brown said. “I had a raincoat. I had one of our assistant equipment managers who’s kind of my guy, and I told him to take — I felt pretty good about winning the game. So I’m usually a visor guy, wore a full hat because I didn’t want it in my hair. And then I tell Austin, our assistant equipment manager, I’m like, ‘Hey, take the raincoat out there. The minute we win the game, give me that raincoat as soon as I’m coming off the podium.’

“So I’m thinking, ‘Hey, I’m going to wear the raincoat during this.’ I’m the same thing, I can’t stand the smell of mayonnaise, I don’t like the texture of it, anything. Well, Wren Baker, our athletic director, takes the raincoat. And then I had to go to Plan B. So if you see the pictures, I’ve got my sweatshirt like pulled tight around my neck so it doesn’t run down my back.”

Staples noted Brown was fortunate to have not been hit in the head by the cooler holding the mayonnaise, as had happened to Shane Beamer the year prior. And Brown, like the winning Mayo Bowl coaches who preceded him, wasn’t a fan of being covered in the mayonnaise for long.

He did his requisite, brief interview for TV and quickly headed to an awaiting shower.

As for the wardrobe?

“It was a good learning experience. So they do the mayo dump, I had to do a quick interview there for like 30 seconds and I hustled to the locker room, threw those clothes in the trash, never to be seen again,” Brown said. “Showered and so I made it as painless as possible.”

Even as a mayonnaise hater, Brown did make sure to make one thing clear: Duke’s makes plenty of other sauces he happily enjoys. Just not the mayo, and a bath wasn’t going to change that.