Athens — Fear the 'stache no more.

Hundreds of University of Georgia students, including those who carried signs at the Bulldogs' basketball games bearing the phrase "Fear the 'Stache" in honor of coach Dennis Felton, watched the Bulldogs' coach get his mustache shaved off in the Tate Student Center plaza Friday afternoon.

In January, Felton promised the students he would shave off his mustache if Georgia won an SEC Championship this past season. The Bulldogs won the SEC tournament title in Atlanta last month.

"To be honest, I seriously don't remember making that promise," Felton, clad in a red jacket, told students gathered around a grassy patch between the student center and the UGA Bookstore. "I've had this mustache since it first came when I was 3 or 4."

Felton's personal barber, Vernell Wilson of Wilson's Hair World, did the deed. It took a surprisingly long time, considering the pencil-thin style of mustache Felton wears.

But Wilson, who cuts Felton's hair at least once a week, said he never had shaved anyone outdoors, encircled by a couple hundred students with a grunge rock band playing in the background.

"I've never touched his mustache," Wilson said. "He's real particular about it. So this was an honor, and there was some pressure."

The clean-shaven Felton emerged to a roar from the students who had SEC championship T-shirts, posters and Domino's pizza, then led them in a cheer of "Let's Go Dogs," complete with the barking.

The mustache-less Felton looked at least 10 years younger.

"It makes my head look bigger," said Felton, looking at an image on a photographer's camera. Asked whether he'd remain 'stacheless, he said, "I'm going to play it by ear."

Rising senior Billy Humphrey, one of several players who showed up, doubts Felton will keep it off.

"I think the fans will want it back," he said. "A bunch of them come to the games with fake 'staches on."

Felton then made one more promise. If the Bulldogs win the national championship — not just next year, but ever — he's shaving his whole head.

And that, he said, would be one heck of a sacrifice.

"I look really bad with a bald head," he said. "I've got a pointy head; I look like a joke."

For now, the 'stache will have to do.