SEC to Coaches: Quit Acting Like Officials Should Be Accountable
by wkmille on Oct 26, 2009 2:41 PM EDT
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PrintGoVolsXtra - SEC reprimands Kiffin
With the news that the SEC has again reprimanded Lane Kiffin, this time for criticizing the latest in a string of poor (inexcusable?) SEC officiating performances, I'm getting a little aggravated. These reprimands against Petrino, Mullen, and now Kiffin are ridiculous. How can Mike Slive, in the same breath, admonish Lane Kiffin for failing to adhere to the SEC's code of ethics in criticizing shoddy officiating, when the heart of the issue is frustration with officials who continue to demonstrate that they can't adhere to the SEC's code of baseline competence?
To threaten Coach Kiffin with a suspension for future infractions is laughable. Get off your high horse, Mike Slive. There's no way he wasn't smiling all the way to the bank when Kiffin's baiting of Florida drummed up even more national interest in the SEC over the summer. The officials that work your league are blowing calls and affecting the outcome of games. Why don't you to go huff and puff at them? Suspending the Ark/Fla crew clearly had no effect on the crew that worked the UT/Alabama game. How about getting off Kiffin's back and announcing a new zero tolerance policy for blatant officiating errors?
I get the spirit of the rule. You don't want Coaches whining about close calls. But that isn't what's going on here. The SEC can't expect Coaches to stay quiet while officials are getting it wrong over and over again.
And where's Tennessee's worthless letter of apology? Did Slive include that in the P.S. of his threat to Kiffin? "Coach, chill out or we're gonna suspend you. Signed, Mike Slive. P.S. Sorry the refs blew that call, but what are you gonna do? It's not like SEC football is a billion dollar industry, or anything."
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Not whining
I’m not saying the officiating was the reason Tennessee lost, not at all. Tennessee lost cause they didn’t make quite enough plays when they needed to. I have no illusions about officiating costing the Volunteers the victory.
My point is that the SEC needs to figure this issue out. It’s larger than the missed call at the end of our game. They can’t keep telling the coaches they’re out of line and ignoring the inherent problem. Lane Kiffin didn’t say the officials cost him the game. He merely brought attention to another poor piece of officiating.
To then threaten him with a suspension is a joke, the way I look at it. That’s what I’m getting at.
I gotcha
I wasn’t directing that comment at you exactly.
More at Kiffin. I agree with Slive. You can’t have your coaches complaining publicly about officiating. You just can’t. Those guys have a hard enough time doing their job as it is. If you let the coaches say whatever they want, where does it end? The players?
Just as I believe the league publicly admonishing officials is no good for anybody, coaches doing the same doesn’t do any good either.
Official MCM Hater!
Retire #9!
I think it IS a good thing
The more you try and hide bad officiating (MLB, NBA), the worse it gets. If you are a coach, and you don’t feel the league is doing enough to improve the officiating, then you have every right to say something about it.
There is too much at stake in these games to keep quiet about it.
Kiffin will risk a "reprimand"
if it means bringing greater scrutinty to bad officiating. I don’t blame him
Allow me to restate my position
Tennessee lost that game because of the blocked FG’s. Not the officials.
End of story.
I’m just pointing a few things out for clarity up there ^
I told you we would beat Georgia!! Now, as for those 9 wins in '09......
I got bored and made a blog!! SCS
Sorry to get everyone riled up.
Guess I should have expected all the spirited discussion :) I’m mainly still just aggravated with Slive’s reaction today. Guess Kiffin is doing something right if 11 months into his tenure he’s inspiring fans like me to feel a need to have his back like this.
The poor officiating, either way, is frustrating. No one wants to lose (or win) a game based on bad calls. It cheapens the experience.
But something about Slive’s statement just really rubbed me the wrong way.
Nah, it's all good.
Getting riled up around here doesn’t normally devolve into drivel, and it didn’t today.
As far as officiating goes, though, it might be time for the SEC to pony up and hire officials on a full-time (or at least closer to it) basis.
by David Hooper on Oct 26, 2009 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions
My last word
This is what happened and how it should have been handled:
FG attempt tipped by defensive player in the neutral zone. Ball proceeds past the neutral zone and falls to the ground. Ball is still live. Unsportsmanlike foul occurs. Here, a flag should be thrown. Alabama recovers the ball. Play is now dead. Ref says there was a dead-ball foul, unsportsman-like conduct on #62 of the defense. However, since there is no time left on the clock, the game is over. Alabama fan cheers.
Kiffin is correct in saying that a penalty occured during the course of a play and the refs didn’t call it. That much is obvious.
Redding, the director of SEC officials, never refutes the fact that there was a foul. However, suggesting that officials should overlook any penalty (regardless of it’s impact) is a dangerous precident and a potentially slippery slope. It might not be so serious in this game, but it could be in the future.
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