Looking Back: What Was Wrong with SEC Officiating?

As the college football season comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the year that was in the SEC.  As is the case most years, story lines were not hard to find this season.  Florida and Alabama each garnered a great amount of media attention for their undefeated regular seasons.  Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin drew attention for his off-field remarks.  And Les Miles was criticized for poor coaching decisions.  But there’s another story that caught the eyes of many this season and has yet to completely go away—SEC officiating.

Questionable calls by officials are nothing new.  Every year there seems to be at least one game that is marred by bad officiating.  The rate and inopportune times at which bad calls occurred this year, however, became a cause for concern.  Coupled with the fact many of the bad calls favored the league’s two best teams, Florida and Alabama, the league found itself in the middle of a media firestorm. 

Neither fans nor reporters were shy about sharing their opinions on the matter.  Questioning referees’ competence was a popular topic of many fans and media across the country.  There were others who questioned the integrity of the officials and brought about the dreaded “conspiracy theory.”

Few people attempted to defend SEC officials this season.  The league’s officials made some very questionable calls and made errors on plays that left people wondering what was going on.  So the question is: What was wrong with SEC officiating?  Did officials simply make mistakes?  They are human after all.  Could there have been some truth to this “conspiracy theory?”  Or, was there something else at play here?

Sports writers from all across the country chimed in with their opinions.  Barrett Sallee, SEC Columnist for College Football News , believes that officials simply made mistakes.  “Have there been mistakes?  Sure.  There have been a few.  This year more than most years, the mistakes have been more visible and more inexplicable.”  When asked about if he believes that there is anything to the “conspiracy theory,” Sallee said he doesn’t believe there is a conspiracy.  “It would be terrible business, unethical and impossible to cover up.”

Conspiracy theorists, as a whole, believe that the SEC set up the league’s championship game to feature the top two teams in the country, Florida and Alabama.  They claim that the SEC gains a great amount of recognition and revenue from having such a high-profile matchup.    

This season’s SEC Championship Game drew an 11.1 rating and a 23 share.  Last year’s SEC Championship Game between the same two teams had a rating of 9.4 and a 20 share.  In comparison, the 2007 SEC Championship Game between LSU and Tennessee had a 5.9 rating and a 12 share.  In 2006, the matchup of Florida and Arkansas drew only a 4.5 rating and an eight share. 

The 2009 SEC Championship Game was the highest-rated SEC Championship Game in its 18-year history.  The next three highest-rated SEC Championship Games are the 1992, 1994, and 2008 SEC Championship Games, which all featured Florida and Alabama.  So, there is no questioning that the league gets a huge spike in ratings when the league’s two most recognizable programs face off.  But is the ratings increase enough incentive for the SEC to create a “conspiracy?” 

The SEC and CBS agreed in 2008 to extend their contract, which allows CBS to broadcast SEC football and basketball games.  The deal is worth an average of $55 million per year for 15 years.  The SEC also recently agreed on a new contract with ESPN.  The all-sports network agreed to pay the conference an average of $150 million per year for 15 years in exchange for television rights.

Barring the SEC demanding to renegotiate these television contracts just one year into the new deals, the conference seemingly has nothing to gain from high ratings.  It doesn’t matter if the ratings are 12 or two, the conference will still receive the same amount of money from CBS and ESPN.  Conspiracy theorists claim that the SEC gains recognition when Alabama and Florida face off in the SEC Championship Game.  However, the league has widely been known as the most recognized conference for years.  The conference doesn’t necessarily need to gain national attention from a high-profile game because the SEC already has national attention.

In 2009, the SEC and Atlanta negotiated to extend its contract to keep the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta through 2015.  The terms of this contract are not known, but the 2008 SEC Championship Game had a reported $25 million economic impact in Atlanta.  So this gives an idea how much money Atlanta may be paying the conference.        

The SEC Championship Game has sold out every year except 1995.  The league can’t sell any more tickets than it has been selling for more than 10 years now.  Other revenue that helps the league includes seemingly minor things like concessions at the SEC Championship Game.

If the SEC is set in its contracts with CBS, ESPN, and Atlanta, it appears that the league has no more revenue to gain.  The only logical explanation for conspiracy theorists would be that the television networks push the conference to have Florida and Alabama end up in Atlanta, which of course heavily boosts the ratings.  The conference has nothing to gain, but CBS definitely does.  This “conspiracy theory” will have to be left to be proved or disproved by the reader.

If the “conspiracy theory” is deemed not true, another likely reason for SEC officials’ mistakes this season is just that—mistakes.  It is easy to forget that officials are humans and will make a mistake from time to time.  In an interview with SEC radio personality Paul Finebaum of The Paul Finebaum Radio Network , SEC coordinator of football officiating Rogers Redding, detailed what goes into being an SEC official. 

He explained that officials go through a tremendous amount of work each season.  Each summer, the conference brings together the officials for a clinic.  There, officials take rules tests, go through extensive video work and are forced to complete an endurance test to ensure they are in good physical condition.

During the season, officials have film study the night before and morning of each game.  They also take part in a pregame conference the day of each game.  “There’s a lot of preparation that leads up to a game.  They don’t just drive to the stadium and get out of the car and shake hands with each other and head to the field,” Redding told Finebaum. 

During the week, officials receive a training video of about 15 plays from the previous week’s games, which the officials study.  Also, Redding has a conference call with the crew chiefs each Sunday during the season.  They go over what took place in the previous day’s games and talk about issues that need to be addressed. 

Redding said SEC officials come from different conferences, including the Sun Belt, Ohio Valley, and SWAC.  “We’re not going to take anybody in the SEC that only has high school experience.  They have to have some college experience, Division 1, if possible, and certainly Division 2.  Gulf South is a good feeder for us,” Redding said.  He explained that there is an application process to become a league referee and the conference does credit checks, personal references, and football references before deciding to hire referees.

When asked about what stipulations the league has in terms of which referees can work certain games, Redding said, “A person cannot work a game for their alma mater.  They cannot work a game if they’ve played for or played with that coach.”  Redding gave the example of how a referee who played football at Alabama could not work a Mississippi State game because he had been teammates with MSU coach Sylvester Croom at Alabama.

Conference officials are reported to earn between $800 and $2,200 per game plus travel and other expenses. 

The SEC has many procedures in place to help ensure its officials are properly trained and prepared to officiate games.  Whether the conference needs to improve its training and preparation methods, as well as its compensation plan, is a subject for debate.

A final possible reason SEC officials may have struggled this year is bias—whether intentional or not. 

Michael Wilbon, co-host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption and Washington Post sports columnist, does not believe that there was a conspiracy but thinks bias is involved in SEC officiating.  “I believe, strongly, that the SEC, all of the conference and its forces, have created the atmosphere where they, the people in the SEC, want at any cost to have one of their schools represent the conference in the BCS National Championship Game and that feeling permeates everything in the Southeastern Conference,” Wilbon said during Nov. 9’s airing of PTI .

Criticism of the SEC increased when it was learned that replay communicator Dick Burleson worked the LSU-Alabama game.  Burleson, who is not an alumnus of Alabama, has strong ties to the university and has even spoken at Alabama booster club meetings.  Burleson is a replay communicator, meaning he is in the replay booth and has the ability to give advice about calls involving instant replay, but does not rule directly on replays like the replay official does.

Days after the LSU-Alabama game, when Burleson’s name came into the spotlight, his Web site was taken down.

In an email interview with Redding, he said replay officials are referees who have retired from active officiating.  He said the conference selects replay officials for each game in the same manner it selects on-field officials.  That means as long as the referee did not graduate from the school or play with or for a coach, he is eligible to officiate the school’s games.

Since Burleson did not graduate from the University of Alabama, he is allowed to work as the replay communicator for Alabama games.  The conference does not prevent other on-field referees and replay officials and communicators in the same situation as Burleson (meaning they did not graduate from a certain school but may be strongly affiliated with it) from working games in which the school they are connected with is participating.

Marc Curles, head referee of the SEC crew that officiated the LSU-Georgia game, is an alumnus of the Bulldogs’ hated rival, Georgia Tech.

SEC official Wally Hough, who worked this year’s Georgia-Arkansas game, among others, is a former Florida football player and, as of 2007, was president of the Putnam County (Fla.) Gator Club. 

This is not uncommon, either.  A number of SEC officials graduated from SEC schools.  They can referee just about any game not involving their alma mater. 

Many SEC officials live in the Southeast.  Many live in Alabama specifically.  Scenario: A referee graduated from Troy University.  He currently lives and works in Birmingham.  His wife graduated from Alabama and his two daughters currently go to school at Alabama.  Many of his friends went to school there.  He can referee any Alabama game.

Whether officials make incorrect calls intentionally is not known.  But officials may be biased.  After all, officials are human.  Outside influences may inadvertently affect their performance on the field.  There is an old accounting principle that states one must be independent in fact and appearance.  Perhaps the SEC should take note of this principle.

Many questions arose this season about SEC officiating.  Whether there is a conspiracy, whether officials are not satisfactorily trained, or whether there is bias can continue to be debated.  We may never know the answers to these questions.  One thing is known, however.  With the new contracts the conference signed recently, the league has the ability to put all of these questions to bed.  Unfortunately, to date, the league has done nothing.  And until it does, these questions will likely remain, and the SEC will continue to have a black cloud hanging over its head.