Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne would like to reapply an old Big Eight policy to Big 12 officiating, according to a story from the Omaha World Herald on Friday.Osborne added Thursday that at next week's league meetings he'll try to gain support for coaches to be able to ask the conference to "rest" an official because of repeated substandard work."If you feel somebody has really not measured up," he said, "you could request that he not work any of your games the next year."
Osborne also added that he expects his suggestion to go over, "like a lead balloon."Coaches are not allowed to talk about officiating; therefore giving them no recourse if they believe the same referee has done a poor job repeatedly.
One example of a Big 12 referee that has raised the ire of Husker coaches (well specifically Bill Callahan in 2005) is Steve Usecheck.
Just to refresh your memory and this is just one example, Callahan showed his displeasure with Usecheck in a 2005 31-24 loss to Oklahoma raising his index finger and quickly drew it across his neck as Usechek jogged away. The incident occurred after Sooner running back Kejuan Jones scored on a 17-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put the Sooners ahead 31-17. Callahan argued that officials missed a holding call on the play. His discussion with Usechek, and the subsequent gesture, was televised by ABC.
In one respect, I could not agree more with the sentiment that referees should be benched if a coach has no confidence in them. After all, this is not union work. For one, it seems like every referee has a different idea of “holding” and “pass interference.” In baseball, every umpire seems to have a different idea on balls and strikes. In basketball, every ref seems to have a different idea of what a foul is.
The big questions, however, are who would be the person to decide whether a ref should be benched or not? Would there be a panel of other refs who look at job performance or would the government try to stick their hands in that also?
I also think there should be a limit on how many times a coach can make this request, say one time per year or two – max. Think about it, if a team is say 2-10 and thinks it is getting an unfair shake every week, the pool of referees is bound to dry up in a huge hurry.
I once had a conversation with a former high school-league commissioner who theorized that anyone on an emotionally thinking level claims that the quality of officiating has declined in recent years, but they fail to realize one thing.
Given the abuse referees take, people are not beating the door down to become one. That statement makes almost too much sense, because who in their right mind wants to deal boorish behavior? Let's face it, for the most part, refs only hear from people when they are mad. How often do you hear someone say, "Good call, ref," and mean it genuinely as opposed to carrying a biting undertone? Very seldom.
Before I go any further, if you think the ref is "out to get your team" after most every call that goes against your team, you are out to lunch. On the other hand, if you are one of these self-righteous people who gets on your high horse and always claims that a coach or athlete is "whining" when they address a call, you are equally out to lunch.
Heck, if you're a coach, athlete or fan, it's your right to disagree with a call that goes against your team because criticism is fair as long as it's valid. After all, people are human.
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