Blow a call in a college football game, get suspended right ?
Believe or not, wrong. its the wrong thing to do, but its not a suprise. Not at all.
There is a reason why there is so much secrecy around officiating in college football and basketball; to protect the people doing the hiring. If you dont have to worry about scrutiny, why not throw the people you hired under the bus ? Or if you can, just lie about the entire situation and tell everyone it was the right call, or say nothing at all so all the suspicion falls on the game's officials.
In the Oklahoma game, the officials got it wrong according to statements from their bosses, and of course the many Tivo replays. Of course the bosses conveniently left out that the replay official wasnt provided all the angles that TV viewers saw, or that the equipment dosnt provide for freeze frame. Freeze frame is what, a $99 dollar software upgrade ?.
Conveniently leaving out key information that would change the public's expectation of the person actually doing the job is one quick and easy way for management to throw their employees under the bus. Which is exactly what happened here.The result was the suspended replay official being harassed and threatened and suffering physical repurcussions.
His boss should be suspended or fired for not having the balls to take the blame and redirect the public outcry to him/herself.
Thats a huge business lesson to anyone who manages professionals who have to deal with public scrutiny.
Oklahoma fans suggested it was a conspiracy by the Pac 10. The Pac 10 said nothing. When you hear such inflammatory comments without response, its never the work force with the problem, its management. Just ask any PR firm that specializes in crisis management.
When you see problems on a repetitive basis in any profession, the first place to look isnt the people on the job, its the people managing the people on the job.
Should it really matter which conference an official comes from when he/she is selected for a game ? Of course not. Most officials will call a game fairly. But how exactly is "fair" defined ?
From what i can see "fair" in all sports is a little bit different from manager to manager or conference to conference. The only certainty is that officials will do what all employees do, they will strive to make their bosses happy. They will do what it takes to keep their jobs and train to get promoted.
There are a lot of judgement calls in every game, in every sport, in any business. How any given judgement call is evaluated is purely a function of how the employee is managed. Call it mechanics, and those mechanics differ from conference to conference in every college sport. Getting assignments comes down to making the guy/girl in charge happy. As in any business, that always comes first, even at the expense of what fans may consider "fair" or even accurate. You may not believe it. But it happens. All the time.
Who hasnt been in a position where the boss wants to prove who is in charge, facts be damned ? Talk to officials at any level about different calls. You will here the same phrase repeated all the time. "this is the way they want me to call it ", or "they dont want us to call that"
What a great management lesson.
The job of management is to hire the best possible people for a position and put them in a position to succeed. Which means that the hiring process has to be strong. It means the recruiting and training process has to be strong. A workforce of professionals has to have bench strength. There have to be well trained individuals ready to take the place of those who quit, retire, or cant meet the standards of the organization.
It means communication has to be strong so that employees and management can have give and take and work to improve the organiztion and profession. It means the evaluation process has to be strong. Its not simply a matter of tracking statistics as a Pac 10 official said would happen going forward. Statistics are worthless if management doesnt understand how to use them as part of a bigger goal. Managers need to be able to communicate with each employee about their individual needs and design programs to help them improve, or make a change if they cant meet those expecations. And finally, management needs to be open to communications with the outside world as a means of developing strong relationships with its customers and garnering ideas and suggestions that independent eyes and ears offer that might improve the quality of performance.
Thats good business.
Its not what we have seen from the conferences that have been involved with controversies. Of if its there, they certainly havent communicated it to their customers and to their employees that i have communicated with.
In an industry as big and public as collegiate sports, thats a huge mistake. It also leads to some basic qustions.
Why are officials hired and assigned by conference rather than a national organization ? Isnt the current system a formula for lack of consistency and public mistrust ? is resistance by conferences to a single entity for officials just a confirmation of management over quality of work ?
Why are hiring practices and programs not publicized ? Dont they want to attract the best and the brightest officials ? Shouldnt the same professional interviewing , work analysis and hiring techniques applied to other professions be applied by the NCAA to their officials ?
Hey Im just a college football and basketball fan, but sometimes the lack of business 101 principles that any of their business schools teach is worse than glaring and there is no better time than now to make changes.
Or they can wait till the next official who makes a mistake is thrown under the bus and suffers the personal consequences. They wouldnt do that to other professionals under their hire, why do that do that to officials ?
What type of training do the officials receive during the summer and season ? Is it a fulltime focus during the offseason and off days, or is it a camp for a couple days ? I realize that for some this is a weekend occupation while they work other jobs, but given that some with a full schedule, particularly in basketball can make more than 150k per season, I think its a reasonable question for fans to ask if the officials their teams count on are fully trained.
Suspending Officials ? A business lesson
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Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Great points about management and responsibility. Sometimes we're so hung up on blame we forget about backing the guy in the trenches. An organization, whether a sports league or any other business, has invested time and money finding and training its workers. Firing them for your mistakes, or even just driving them away by hanging them out to dry, is a waste.
Watch NFL Total Access (NFL Network) on Wednesday nights during the season. Mike Periera, Director of Officiating comes on and discusses unusual/controversial calls from that week. While there may have been calls that have been deliberately avoided, he never throws his guys under the bus. Just about every answer comes down to 'this is what they called based on what we told them to call' (and it doesn't change from week to week, either). Sure, the NFL has been known to "apologize" to teams for occasional blown calls, but the ref in question is not left swinging in the wind, and updated guidelines are prominently sent out to all the crews immediately. I know all the pro sports try to keep their officials as well-trained and directed as possible, but the NFL actually puts their mouth where their money is...
Posted at 3:57PM on Sep 26th 2006 by Llarry Amrose
3. Reports say the official had all the replays that were available on TV and that is standard. In a situation this blatant, you have no choice but to suspend the official. And firing his boss is just insane....should you be "fired" if Dirk accidently calls a timeout when your team has none and you lose the game because of it...of course not. Each person has to be held accountable for their own actions.
Posted at 4:13PM on Sep 26th 2006 by Wes
4. Yeah, saying nothing during a crisis and while under public scrutiny is like saying, "I'm guilty and I dont know what to do. So, I'll just hide until it all goes away cause I don't have the balls to deal with it." No pun intended. Actually, the pun was stragetically planned and executed.
5. any person that learns from his/her mistakes is much more valuable to an organization, than a person who didn't make a mistake yet.
Posted at 7:37PM on Sep 26th 2006 by bobby
6. Hey Mark. Good article on basic integrity or lack thereof. Something very seldom seen in business any more. It seems like the higher up you go in the food chain the less responsibility is acknowledged unless of course everything is going well. It has created a system of "find the queen" when some one higher up has to acknowledge a mistake and as someone said earlier. Expertise is acknowledging and learning from past mistakes, If you never make mistakes and anyone that has swung a golf club knows, you never really get better at your craft.Its a tough way to learn but its usually the way that best sticks in your mind. I bet there are alot of people out there that know how to cut shrink wrapped items open with out bleeding now too. :) Thnanks for the thoughts.
Posted at 9:12PM on Sep 26th 2006 by Frankie from Lawnside
7. "Of course the bosses conveniently left out that the replay official wasnt provided all the angles that TV viewers saw, or that the equipment dosnt provide for freeze frame. Freeze frame is what, a $99 dollar software upgrade?."
Couldn't have said it better! More often than not, bosses have less expertise than the people they manage.
Posted at 9:33PM on Sep 26th 2006 by fast eddie
8. "Couldn't have said it better! More often than not, bosses have less expertise than the people they manage."
Try finding 5 bosses that have more expertise than their employees!!!! I guess Cuban has more expertise than any of his players.....
Posted at 11:03PM on Sep 26th 2006 by jray
9. in the age of tivo, these officials have a much harder job. back in the day, instant replay wasn't even around - now millions of fans can instant replay as much as they want.
Posted at 7:13PM on Sep 27th 2006 by coupon man
10. Mark, I certainly agree with you about the lack of integrity or responsibility in the conference offices. Officiating has long been an insider network and knowing your job wasn't as important as knowing the right people. Coaches and players are constantly held accountable for their errors in the game but officials have had no repercussions until now.
As for Riese not deserving the blame, however, you are wrong on that one. There are several versions to this story, depending on what Riese has to refute.
1)In his "poor little me" interview Riese said he only had one "frame" that was hard to see and inconclusive so he couldn't make a ruling. Also, he was being pressured from the field to make a call so didn't have time to look at it well. Yet, the field official stated there was conclusive video evidence that the receiving team touched the ball and therefore it was Oregon first down. Already someone lied - either Riese when he said it was conclusive yet he couldn't see anything, the field official when he made up his own review call because Riese couldn't make one, or Riese again in the interview to gain more sympathy.
2) Per the ABC technician, the booth was provided all the replays seen on tv and they were logged as properly received by the equipment. This is supported by the Pac-10 commissioner's original statement that Riese had "ample views" to get the call right. The network had no problem with the late decision as it was good drama and there was enough time before the next game started. Also, Riese called down to the ABC truck during the review asking how to work the equipment, i.e. to fast forward, reverse, and freeze frame. This wasn't the first time a call had been reviewed in the game, let alone the season. He was even able to pinpoint the yard line a receiver went out of bounds in one play. Why did he suddenly not know how to operate it the equipment? And what happened to the replay technician in the booth (who is assigned by the member institution, Oregon, per Pac-10 review procedures) who is there specifically for instances like this?
3) In the latest stories in The Oregonian, it's back to the "only one view" line but this time that view is the one from the Autzen stadium video feed just as it was seen on the scoreboards. But again according to the ABC truck, they were told earlier in the game that this feed was no longer working in the booth and that the ABC cameras were all the replay officials would have to use for review now. Guess during that specific play at the end of the game, the feeds magically switched.
The conference management certainly has culpability here but please, let's not declare Riese innocent and victimized just because he puts on a pitiful old man act for the media. If the truth ever gets told about what went on in that booth and over the line to the field official, this will look bad for all of them. It wasn't errors, blown calls, or failed technology that led to this debacle, but concious human decisions to make the wrong call for the wrong reasons.
Posted at 7:27PM on Sep 27th 2006 by Stephanie
11. I agree that hiring is an overlooked process. I find that 90% of applicants can be screened out before they ever walk in the door based on their resume and cover letter.
Posted at 7:30PM on Sep 27th 2006 by Miley Cyrus
12. Mr. Cuban, that was brilliant and timely.
Posted at 8:50PM on Sep 27th 2006 by Redmond
13. As a PR Major, I've been taught to not only throw people under the bus, but to push them into the ground first. Then take their wallet before the cops come.
But seriously, officiating is not a flawless process. BUT IT SHOULD BE. This is not a desk job, and frankly, some of the referees I see out there are too old for one. There should be a review process like there is in many jobs where heads will roll if calls are blown. In the case of the Oklahoma game, I think the only problem is, not enough people's jobs are gone. Not only should the official be suspeneded (and hopefully spending his time to freshen up on the replay booth technology), but his boss should be fired. Not the right replay angle? No pause feature? Give me a break. Like Mark said, welcome to the 2000's, even VCR's have a pause button. That's the fault of the officials boss, not his.
Way to go Pac - 10, you've blown one of the best inter-conference games Oregon has had in a long time. Strength of schedule should be great when this matchup contract expires.
Posted at 8:58PM on Sep 27th 2006 by Joah
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Posted at 10:29PM on Sep 27th 2006 by Prismatico
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17. There should be a review process like there is in many jobs where heads will roll if calls are blown. In the case of the Oklahoma game, I think the only problem is, not enough people's jobs are gone. Not only should the official be suspeneded (and hopefully spending his time to freshen up on the replay booth technology), but his boss should be fired. Not the right replay angle? No pause feature?
18. You seem to have an aversion to the mandatory apostrophe.
Posted at 11:00AM on Sep 28th 2006 by Fred Silva
19. I agree, that whenever there is a problem in any business, it is always the system that is really to blame. Whether it's the hiring system, for hiring someone incompetent or the training system, or the feedback cycle for not providing a method of continual improvement.
20. Great post -- I couldn't agree more.
Good managers put their workers in a position to succeed. When success occurs, they give credit to the workes. When failures happen, they should shoulder the blames themselves instead of passing it on to the worker.
Posted at 12:09PM on Sep 28th 2006 by JJ
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1. I'm not so sure about the "not having all the angles" business. The ABC crew has denied that quite loudly and even insinuated that the official didn't know how to operate the equipment (which IS the bosses fault though).
Posted at 2:41PM on Sep 26th 2006 by W. Paul Franks