Drake, I've seen you work (although not closely enough to hear you interact with players/coaches) and I don't see a trace of arrogance in your game.
My guess is that the people who make that claim know or can tell that you have worked at much higher levels and
assume that your decisions are made from a "because I said so" mentality.
But it's also possible that there is something very small that you do without realizing it. People who know you don't think anything of it, but people who don't know you pick up on it and have a negative reaction to it.
An example, a D1 ref on my board tells this story. Earlier in his career, maybe at a camp or a low-level college game, he got observed. And the observer told him that when he called a foul, he tended to "furrow his brow" for lack of a better term. Probably b/c he was concentrating on the fouler and shooter. But it made him look
mad every time he called a foul. He didn't even know he was doing it. And the players would pick up on it and think that he either had it in for them, or had a chip on his shoulder. He had to consciously work on not looking
. Maybe there's some little thing like that in your game that you're not aware of.
As I said, my guess is that's not the case. It's a case of people not knowing what they're talking about and looking for something to complain about. But next time you're on tape, it might be worth a look.
Chuck