Shorter Rogers Redding: it’s not that SEC officiating has gotten worse, it’s that the coaches are complaining more.
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UPDATE: Nick Saban doesn’t have time for this ref-bashing shit.
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UPDATE #2: According to David Parry, the former supervisor of Big Ten football officials and the national coordinator of College Football Officiating, it may be a technology problem.
“… One of the problems that may be out there starting to surface is some of the monitors in the replay booths are nowhere near as sophisticated as those who have high-definition at home. (The replay official) is probably looking at a monitor that’s 5 or 6 years old and doesn’t have all the technical advantages that we purchase for ourselves.”
Jesus, guys, go down to Costco and blow a few bucks on some decent sets. It’s not like you can’t afford it.
Get The Picture 
Senator, I posted this pretty much after the thread died, but I thought it was pretty interesting and worth review:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4626266
“WAC football replay official Michael Goshim was suspended for one game beginning this weekend, conference commissioner Karl Benson announced.
Goshim was in the replay booth for last weekend’s game between San Jose State and Boise State. The suspension was based on a play in which a runner was ruled short of a first down and was confirmed by the replay booth after a review. However, after further review, the runner clearly made the first down and the call should have been reversed.
‘The WAC expects the same type of performance from our instant-replays officials as we do from the on-field officials,’ said Benson. ‘And while errors are going to occur — both on the field and in the replay booth — when they do, there must be accountability. Instant replay is used to get it right on the field and in this case the official had a chance to reverse a call at a very critical time in the game and did not. Thus, he will be suspended for his next assignment.’
In 2003, the WAC suspended an entire crew for a series of mistakes at the end of a game between San Jose State and Hawaii.”
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This was my favorite quote from the article:
“He said officials don’t concern themselves with the past.”
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Meaning that not only are they not historians, they also do not learn from their past calls that are bad so that they may always have a never-ending supply of magical flags. God Bless The SEC.
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Context in which he made those comments is very revealing – down in Gainesville and in reference to Spikes. His statement that “officials don’t concern themselves with the past” is simply an outrageous lie. Anyone who saw Penn Wages & Co. repeatedly hose us in last year’s Cocktail Party – a game which we surely would have lost anyway – is well aware of that. The very fact that he feels at ease stating such a brazen falsehood is only the latest log on the fire. Things aren’t going to change in the SEC Referees’ Office until Slive – who cannot even pretend to be unaware of what is going on – finally gets embarrassed enough to do something about it. That is why every piece of national coverage about this festering abcess on the face of SEC football is a Good Thing.
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No. Slive will not change, even with embarrasment. Things will not change in the SEC Referee’s Office until Slive is gone. He is part of the problem. The SEC needs to fire Slive.
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Tonight on “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon got into a lengthy discussion about the most recent blown call by SEC refs–this time the disallowed interception in the LSU-BAMA game that robbed LSU of the chance to win the game. Wilbon asked,”Why do these calls always go in favor of the favored team?” He then answered his own question by saying,” I think that everyone in the SEC is so focused on getting one of their undefeated teams into the BSC title game because of the money that they are all subconsciously favoring Alabama and Florida.” Kornheiser then said, “You mean a conspiracy?” Wilbon then said, “I didn’t say that–you did.” People are taking notice on national TV that something is rotten the SEC.
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If you can recall the games in the ’60s, that might not be far from the truth. More games were not televised than were, even for top teams. There were good athletes on any team, but not nearly so much as now. It seems totally reasonable to me that as the number of great athletes has expanded and every play is recorded in some viewable media so that coaches can provide evidence of what they only previously suspected, more coaches will complain. Meanwhile, the SEC has old, not particularly athletic, part time officials trying to keep up. It was bound to happen.
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So this year’s SECs officiating is on par with the past per Mr. Reddick with his GT degree. Let’s see…has there ever been a coach fined $30,ooo…has there ever been an officiating crew suspended for flagrant calls in two separate games…has there been this much video and audio about the SEC as there has been this season…how many articles have there been written about the strange and bewildering calls by such immature group of men. The latest episode happened in the Alabama – LSU game. No conspiracey but it sure happens against the opposing teams playing Tide and Gators. Just how dumb of a comment can someone make considering they a degree from a university. Mr. Reddick needs to go, go now, and avoid a delay of game penalty.
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“the coaches are complaining more.”
Which can only lead to the awesomeness of the coaches brought it on themselves:
Mike ‘we have good officiating in the Southeastern Conference — if not the best in the country, then it’s right up there’ Slive Gag Order weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy buster that was first deployed against Urban but is now being readied for launch against Lane…
http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/10/slive_sec_conspiracy_theories.html
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That is so rich. Redding is saying: who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?
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IMO, all officiating crews should answer to one place. I hate to say this, but that place should be the NCAA. Conferences controlling officiating is ridiculous. Secondly, would it be that hard to make officiating a job that you can hold no longer than 5 years? That would keep these old, slow and blind officials from continuing on. Officiating should be a young man’s job, since the officials are, in fact, trying to keep up with YOUNG MEN!
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It would certainly seem that more uniform standards should be applied, including handling screw-ups. I vote for the WAC model for that.
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+1.
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For each controversial call, check the win-loss records of the teams going into the game.
Then see how many calls go in favor of the team with the best record.
Then take a look at the discrepancy of the bowl payouts and see how important it is to get a second team into a BCS bowl.
Each BCS bowl game has a payout of over $17 million split between two conferences.
The other bowls split from $300K to $5 million.
When you realize a $6.5 million payout is riding on an official’s call, you will know why this is happening in each of the major conferences.
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Yup.
Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt.
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yeah definitely. im sure its a conspiracy. definitely
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What does “im” mean?
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“UPDATE: Nick Saban doesn’t have time for this ref-bashing sh!t” especially when it’s ref bashing over calls that go his way.
Wait until he plays Florida in the biggest game in college football ever, this year’s edition of The SECCG, and the calls don’t go his way as Urban gets some good payback calls to make up for his fine. Then Nick will have time for some ref-bashing sh!t while he waits for the rematch of the Tide’s asskicking by Utah or some other non-big boy in the Sugar Bowl as Orrin Dapper Dan Hatch eagerly awaits the bowl game as he partys down, way down, in the Quarter with Lady GaGa and Rep. Country Joe Barton as they are licking their chops or something…
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Slive can dance around it all he wants but the media have taken up the cause and they will be watching and criticizing the SEC every step of the way.
The SEC might as well do away with replay, its a waste of time and money. The overturn rate is a laugh and the good ole boys of the ref fraternity don’t ever what to make their brothers look bad. The replay rule is can I uphold the call without looking totally stupid, mostly stupid is acceptable.
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The technology excuse is lame. If they don’t have high quality video that we have at home, then how can they overturn calls without the mysterious “irrefutable evidence”?
Case in point: Ole Miss v. Auburn. Ole Miss interception called on field. TV replays indicate that Ole Miss player caught the ball. Replay officials overturn call. If the technology is not there to allow them to see all the different angles, how can they conclude the call should be overturned? Similar calls abound.
Instead of circling the wagons, why won’t the SEC adopt a philosophy of more transparency? Why not make the officials subject to post-game interviews, like the amateur athletes who aren’t getting paid for performing (at least not . . . you know what I mean)?
I’m not sold that it’s a conspiracy, but I’m not sold the other way either. At a minimum, there is a great deal of incompetence and inconsistency. The whole system of ref’ing needs to be scrapped and re-built from the bottom up. Full-time officials, paid well in order to cut down on perceptions of corruption, would be a start. Hire Ed Hochuli or someone as the chief. A little diversity in the ranks of the refs might go a long way to cut down on criticism that the old white guys don’t want to see young black men celebrate (Georgia fans, you with me on that?) in a manner that violates their sensibilities.
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“I’m not sold that it’s a conspiracy, but I’m not sold the other way either”–Amen. I’ve kept pushing the “look here” angle because the BCS system has created a massive conflict of interest that would not rule out compromised competition.
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One other comment re Slive: I saw him speak at a bar association dinner several years ago. It was really built up, with alot of buzz and excitement about it. Unfortunately, it was, without a doubt, the single worst, and most boring presentation I’ve ever heard in any forum, including legal seminars.
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Yes, the SEC has been embarrassing for many years, and the responsibility for this is on Slive, Redding, and his predecessor Gaston. Gaston is gone, Redding should be fired immediately, and Slive should be if he doesn’t fire him. But put away the conspirarcy talk, it is just incompetence that has been building for 10+ years.
The only way to turn this around is to take the responsibility away from the conferences and have a central office handle the management and assignment of officials. That can either be an independent association or the NCAA office. You would have to begin with the current officials from all conferences (but assign them outside that conference and break up the crews), and begin replacing the worst, and training all others. The position would remain part-time as the salary and travel costs would be enormous for the number of crews required for the 120 teams in D1. To allow manageable travel costs and time, divide the US into three zones, north and south, with one east of the Mississippi, one mid-continent area, and one west of Texas. Use the standard, “cannot be affiliated in any way with a school” playing in the assigned game.
Most of these refs do a good job, but most crews have a weak link and that is where you begin. The idea of throwing out the old guys is just ignorant. Few of these errors have anything to do with age or conditioning. Getting rid of the most experienced is exactly the wrong way to begin turning things around. Nothing wrong with punishing taunting, or showboating, refs just need to apply the rule as intended, and consistently across all crews. It really isn’t that hard if a responsible manager demonstrates visually what will be tolerated and shares that with all coaches via video. Plenty of room for players to be happy and celebrate without looking like the NFL. I also would put a camera on every goal line in every station in the country. It is ridiculous how many times there is no good angle on the one area which determines scoring.
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+10. One of the most intelligent posts I have ever seen.
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P.S. I do not endorse either that there is a conspiracy or that the problem is only incompetence. I have not seen sufficient evidence to form a conclusion. With that caveat, this is a great post and a very good idea.
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AND NOW WE KNOW….
The person that Rogers Redding has a professional crush on is David Parry! Redding is trying to emulate his hero!!!!!
What total garbage spoken.
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