"...while the haircut was a "health" issue, it also served as a subconscious team building exercise"
RZ1, a very thoughtful and thought-provoking post!
I mentioned above that my son's college coach does not want long hair on his team and that quite a few players responded with buzz cuts. The coach is a younger guy, early 30s. But he absolutely values and promotes the "team" attitude, and after reading your thoughts above, I think it all fits together. This youngish coach took over the team partway through my son's freshman year, and the next two years has brought in LOTS of transfers and greatly enlarged the roster. That could be a recipe for divisiveness and attitude problems, but my son reports that this year's team is one of the most cohesive he has ever played on. All the new coach's recruited players seem to have "team player" attitudes (besides being good players). I am starting to see the connection!
