Why did the Gophers’ bowl game become famous for dunking coaches in mayo?

Shane Beamer was the first to experience the new ritual, and he emerged from it lightly scathed.

“I got hammered in the back of the head from the cooler — and then came the mayo,” Beamer, the South Carolina football coach, said while chuckling in 2021. “I may have a concussion. It was awful. ... I have mayo in my pockets, I think.”

Mike Locksley followed in 2022 and came away laughing and none the worse for wear.

“Thanks for the mayo bath,” the Maryland coach said. “It’s good for my complexion.”

Neal Brown got his turn last year and embraced his dousing.

“I feel cold, I feel wet, I feel like a winner,” the former West Virginia coach said.

All three guided their team to victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. Their reward: As winning coaches, they had a 4½-gallon bucket of Duke’s Mayo dumped on their head as part of the postgame celebration.

“The mayo dump has become one of the — for lack of better terms — more iconic moments for college football’s postseason, which is certainly exciting for us,” said Miller Yoho, director of communications and marketing for the Charlotte Sports Foundation, which puts on the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

On Jan. 3, it might be P.J. Fleck’s turn to experience the gooey mess. The Gophers (7-5) face Virginia Tech (6-6) on the first Friday of the new year, looking to extend their bowl winning streak to eight games. They’re 7½-point favorites and are aiming to improve to 6-0 in bowls since Fleck took over as Minnesota’s coach in 2017.

If ever there was as postgame ritual that meshed perfectly with a coach, it’s the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Fleck, who has an exuberant personality and who crowd-surfs on his players in the locker room after every win. He’ll gladly take his medicine should the Gophers win.

“Absolutely,” Fleck said. “Make it double.”

There are 35 bowl games outside of the College Football Playoff, and they’re all trying to gain attention. The bowl in Charlotte started in 2002 as the Continental Tire Bowl, then became the Meineke Car Care Bowl in 2005 and the Belk Bowl, named after a local department store chain, in 2011.

When Duke’s Mayo took over as sponsor in 2020, organizers were looking for a hook. They took note of traditional Gatorade baths and the French fries bath that the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl used.

Because the inaugural Duke’s Mayo Bowl happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials did not hold a mayo dump that season, and Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst was doused on the field with white Gatorade, Miller said, rather than mayo. Beamer was the first victim with the condiment, and the cooler handlers bumped his head before globs of mayo dropped on him.

The handlers stirred the mayo more vigorously the past two seasons to make it pour freely. Locksley came prepared, wearing a Noggin Boss oversized baseball cap that took the brunt of the first wave of mayo. He relented, taking off the hat and allowing the last few dollops to fall on his bald head. Last year, Brown had his turn with no issues.

In addition to the new ritual, each winning coach is given a check for $10,000 to donate to his favorite charity.

“Certainly, this has spread like wildfire for Duke’s Mayo, and the way they’ve embraced college football, and the fans has been incredible as a sponsor,” Miller said. “… Every coach loves winning. I don’t know if they like the mayonnaise part, but they do love the celebration.”