Coach wants better ref's

[BOBBYMO]

Coach wants better referees
Dave Murphy of Metro State hopes the RMAC beefs up its evaluation of officials in women's game

By Theresa Smith (Denver Post)


Dave Murphy has reached his boiling point. For years, he's complained to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference administrators about unsafe conditions in women's basketball that he attributes to subpar officiating.

As coach at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs from 1998-2002 and at Metro State the past four seasons, he says the problem has persisted.

"I hope we don't get to a point where a kid loses a season or a career because of injury," Murphy said. "This is continual. We've talked about it and nothing gets done. And I'd be saying this if we were 0-10.

"They tell us they don't call the fouls because they want to keep the flow of the game, but if the fouls are called the kids will stop fouling. If you have seven kids in foul trouble midway through the first half, they'll stop and the rest of the game will be clean. Women's basketball should not be a thug atmosphere."

The elbowing spree by Fort Hays State's Ashlee Gustin last season left RMAC player of the year Diana Lopez of Regis with a concussion. Gustin was suspended by her athletic director for one game, and RMAC commissioner J.R. Smith issued a letter of reprimand.

Smith said the member schools within the RMAC, not the conference office, have decided not to pay for referee evaluators, a common practice in Division I. As a result, the RMAC relies on two unpaid evaluators who attend some games and an online evaluation the coaches are asked to complete after each game.

"Why are we not having officials evaluated?" Murphy asked. "We need to know the number of correct calls, that they are keeping the game safe, and emphasizing the points of emphasis."

Colorado School of Mines coach Paula Krueger is uncomfortable evaluating referees.

"I feel that some times when you fill those things out and you're honest, your team could be punished -later," she said.

Krueger is not as concerned as Murphy, though she wants improved officiating.

"Am I concerned about the safety of my athletes?" she asked. "No. But I do think the officiating could be better. There are financial limitations, but if we want to have more consistent officiating, there needs to be education, improvement and evaluation. And the money should be found."

According to Krueger, when metro area teams travel to small communities, the free-throw shooting disparity can be lopsided. But is it a reflection of visiting players being aggressive or hometown officiating?

When Regis sustained its first conference loss, 83-66, on Feb. 10 at Nebraska-Kearney, it was limited to eight free throws; Kearney shot 32. When Metro lost at Kearney, it shot 19 free throws; the home team shot 29. Mines put up only eight free throws to Kearney's 23, and the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs shot 14 free throws to Kearney's 33.

"At the Division II level, whether it's due to budget or geography, it's been really hard to come up with a consistent system to hold people accountable," Regis coach Linda Raunig said.

[JRutledge]

I always find it funny that coaches think fouls are going to solve all problems, but they complain the most when we call fouls in the first place. Then coaches try to get you banned because you called fouls. Is it not foul counts that they complain about? Is it not coaches that complain how many FTs a team shot?

Peace

[zebraman]

I was reading the sports page in the local newspaper a few days ago and the Seattle Sonics had started out the game with 7 fouls against them and only one against their opponent. The Sonics coaching staff was whining about the disparity and Danny Crawford said to them in reply, "that don't mean nothing!"

Now I'm not sure I would have used those exact words but Danny was right. It don't mean nothing! We just call the fouls. It's the players who comitt them. We might miss a call now and then but we aren't so bad that we're the reason that the foul count gets so lopsided.

I have no idea what the quality of officiating is like in that Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, but using free throw disparities as "supporting documentation" is just plain ignorant. Just maybe the losing team sucks and they play crappy defense.

Z

[dave30]

Sounds like a whiner to me. These are college officials. I doubt if they just walked in the gym one day and decided to officiate. They obviously know their job or they wouldn't get college ball.

If you call it too tight, you hear, "LET THEM PLAY !!"

If you let them bang a bit, you hear, "SOMEBODY IS GONNA GET HURT OUT THERE, THIS ISN'T FOOTBALL !!"

If you call it ANY way, you hear, "CALL IT BOTH WAYS !"

You can't please anybody, so don't even try. Just do your job the best you can and the coaches will take care of themselves.


Coach wants better referees..............how about a follow-up story............Referees want better basketball !

[Edited by dave30 on Feb 22nd, 2006 at 01:58 AM]

[Dribble]

As soon as I read the title of this post, I KNEW I was going to say, "Refs want better coaches!" If these unprofessional comments are a reflection of a coach, then I hope I'm not assigned to that coach's games because you know for sure that you're in for a long night when someone has a prejudice against the refs before the game even starts.

Danny Crawford is a stud...I'd love to be able to drop that line. He's absolutely right...the foul count being skewed doesn't mean a rat's behind. Usually it's the team that is playing a more aggressive D (press, traps, on-ball pressure), lesser skilled and/or poorly coached (thus, the team isn't adapting to the call selection) that end up being on the "wrong" end of the foul count.

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by dave30
These are college officials. I doubt if they just walked in the gym one day and decided to officiate. They obviously know their job or they wouldn't get college ball.

I'm not sure you can safely assume that. In areas with a shortage of officials, an assignor may take whoever s/he can get and hope to train them along the way.

[cmathews]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

I'm not sure you can safely assume that. In areas with a shortage of officials, an assignor may take whoever s/he can get and hope to train them along the way.

I work the a little bit in the RMAC in football. This conference is a feeder for the Big 12 and the Mountain West, at least in football. The officials that I have worked with are certainly not someone who walked off the street. As for basketball, I haven't worked any RMAC games. I have however been to a couple camps that they use to select officials. I do know a couple guys that got picked up last year. They certainly are very capable officials, and I would be surprised to learn that they stepped in and were the best officials in the conference. So by that logic I am pretty sure that they have qualified officials. With that said however, I fear it won't be long and Chuck's point will be true more often than not....

[tomegun]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

I'm not sure you can safely assume that. In areas with a shortage of officials, an assignor may take whoever s/he can get and hope to train them along the way.

Chuck, sometimes your posts make so much sense I think you are from the Midwest!

[BloggingRefGuy]

The foul count disparity reminds me of a game I did a few years ago. Partner and I were totally on the same page--which is to say we called a billioin ugly and merited fouls on the visiting team, whose coach was whiny and annoying about it. They had 8 fouls at the end of the first quarter. She called me over and said this:

"8 fouls in a quarter. That's ridiculous!"

The only answer I had was this:

"I wholeheartedly agree, Coach."

But I don't think she got that my meaning was different from hers...

[jeffpea]

The response that I tend to use is pretty simple and straight-forward: "Coach, your team has to stop fouling."

I worked a game recently where the visiting coach complained at half-time that the home team was fouling on every possession......the foul count was H - 8 and V - 3!

In the same game the home team coach complained about the foul shot disparity - Visitors 33-48 and Home 22-27. After reviewing the game tape, the Visitors got the ball into the lane on 25 of 44 possessions in the 2nd half/OT as compared to the Home team - 11 out of 50 possessions.

Generally speaking, the team that gets to the FT line is the team that aggressively attacks the basket and creates more opportunities. By the way, I believe the NCAA did a study several years ago that showed that the team who shot more FT's won the game 75% of the time.

[Stat-Man]

In the men's game last night (NCAA-M), the second half turned into a whinefest. The reason: The team foul count was Guests 7, Home 0 at one point and changed to 7-1 in the final minute of the game. (But the foul that was called against the home team was a very obvious one, so it wasn't called as a so-called "make up").

The visiting men's coach, who for most of game yelled at his team for their inconsistent performance, quickly focused on the referres for the remainder of the game once he saw the 7-0 team foul count. He even tried to jaw at our men's coach, at one point mentioning something like "You're getting all the calls." To his credit, our coach ignored him.

After the final buzzer, visiting coach now makes a production out of getting the referee's names and so does his scorekeeper, who circled the names on the final boxscore in a big red circle.

But I guess when your team is 4-19, the head coach has been fired and you're the interim coach, blaming officials is that much easier (albeit misguided). =P

[Edited by Stat-Man on Feb 22nd, 2006 at 11:08 PM]

[mplagrow]

I think we've all seen those games. The worst I ever had was about a 14-0 foul disadvantage going late into the 3rd quarter. The visiting team obviously shot bonus in the first half. The home coach was beside himself. I wanted to stop the game and explain to him, "Maybe if your kids would start driving the lane like the other team is, and stop pretending they were 3-point shooters, you'd get the fouls!" Too bad they couldn't HIT a 3-point shot. There was no reason for the other team to even come out on them. Naturally, their defense was as bad as their offense, hence the fouls.

At the end of the 3rd, when we finally had a foul on the visiting team, I was afraid to call it because I was waiting for, "Oh so NOW you're going to start calling them????"

[Forksref]

"Coach, your kids are so quick that your opponent can't catch up to your kids to foul."

"Coach, they have to get close to a player to foul."

"Coach, your team is playing more aggressively. Your opponent is sitting back in a zone."

"Coach, I don't use a quota system."

"Coach, I'll even it up. They'll get the next 5 fouls."

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by Stat-Man

After the final buzzer, visiting coach now makes a production out of getting the referee's names and so does his scorekeeper, who circled the names on the final boxscore in a big red circle.

I like to give them my business card. I list my occupation as "Crazy Lunatic Who Does Not Respond Well To Criticism".

I've never had a coach not believe me.

[Texas Aggie]

>>but if the fouls are called the kids will stop fouling<<

This is the biggest bunch of BS in the world. Almost without fail, its the opposite.

What his real complaints are:

1. Not enough fouls called on the other team;
2. Too many fouls called on his team;
3. His team can't match the aggressiveness of the other teams and he wants the other teams penalized for it;
4. He doesn't feel he has enough control over his team to a) teach them how to play agressive but under control and b) get his kids to play under control when they must do so.