WACO, Texas — Before Baylor was cutting down the nets as national champions, Jackson Moffatt was stuck at home during quarantine.
Like so many of us, he had let his hair grow long and a little unkempt. His girlfriend suggested he turn it into a fashion statement: a mullet.
Moffatt rocked the mullet on campus by himself before he started to work on convincing his teammate Matthew Mayer to join him on the adventure. At first, Mayer shrugged it off, but eventually Moffatt found the right words to get him on board.
"I told him to pull back his hair and let me look at his ears," Moffatt said. "When he did, I said 'Look at those ears! Those are some nice ears!' From that point on, he was in."
The turning point came just before Baylor's trip to Austin to take on Texas.
"In warmups, I went up to him and said, 'Enjoy your haircut, because it's the last game you'll ever play with it," he said. "And we laughed, but it literally was. Two days later we went and got his mullet."
When Mayer paraded around campus the next day, he did not quite get the reaction he expected.
"I guess I thought the world revolved around me," Mayer said. "So, I thought everybody was gonna be like 'OH YOU GOT A MULLET.' But, really everybody was just like, 'Oh wow. A new haircut. That's crazy."
After the Bears win over West Virginia to clinch the program's first Big 12 Championship, the Mullet Bros. gained national attention, popping up on national social media outlets across the country.
The pair garnered even more notoriety after Moffatt began shooting Tik Toks from inside the NCAA Tournament bubble. The videos offered a glimpse at life inside the bubble and garnered millions of views.
The mullets were a symbol of this Baylor team: business up front and on the court, but a party behind the scenes.
"That's really just who we are," Mayer said. "We weren't trying to set a tone for anything. We were just being ourselves. The whole Mullet Bros. thing was just for fun. It wasn't a publicity stunt or trying to be famous."
When you ask them who has the better cut, both are hesitant to give an answer.
"I'd say it's hard to judge, because Matt has more of a Bieber-esque mullet. It has a little bit more flow to it," Moffatt said. "Mine is more like Tom Cruise, you know?"
The mullets were on full display as the Bears took the court in their National Championship battle with Gonzaga.
Moffatt, recruited as a preferred walk-on, played just 22 minutes all season. But, because of Baylor's massive lead late in the game, he was able to play in the final minute of the Bears' historic run.
"I've grown up watching it every year, so to be a part of it and be on the court as the buzzer went off and to look up and see 'Baylor Bears, National Champions' up on the jumbotron... it was just a dream," he said.
Now, the pair are focusing on their futures. Moffatt is studying for the MCAT, while Mayer is testing the NBA Draft waters.
He said there is still a 70 percent chance he returns to Baylor next season.
Both Moffatt and Mayer say they plan to keep the mullets.
