Good story.
John Steppe
Oct. 22, 2023 11:42 am
IOWA CITY — The Iowa-Minnesota final score is final.
Nothing will change the Big Ten officiating crew’s game-altering invalid fair catch call on Iowa’s Cooper DeJean — the one that took away a potentially game-winning touchdown.
“The plays aren’t going to change,” said Bill Carollo, the Big Ten Conference’s coordinator of football officials, during the Big Ten’s football media days in July.
But in cases of controversial officiating calls, coaches have some recourse in the days following a game to at least get further explanation from the conference.
Carollo said on any given week, he will hear from “probably all of” the conference’s head coaches on calls where they have frustrations or want further clarification. Some will “never send it in if they lose,” though.
“Some send a lot in,” Carollo said. “Some send very few, and we have one that just texts me and says, ‘Are you available?’ I go, ‘Yeah, let’s talk about it.’”
Carollo asks coaches to be selective, as he is not going to go through “20 plays from 14 different teams.” He requests a 24-hour cooling off period -- “don’t call me from the locker room” -- and will then personally give them feedback often on the same day they reach out.
As Carollo goes through plays that coaches deem worthy of further review, he will often agree with the coach rather than his officiating crew.
“I usually agree with the coaches about 58 percent of the time last year,” Carollo said.
Carollo said officials make about 5.8 mistakes per game.
“People make mistakes — players and coaches, and we’re right there with them,” Carollo said.
However, missed calls where the officials erroneously called a penalty are a rarity. Most of the mistakes, Carollo said, are “no-calls.”
“When they throw the flag, they’re right about 95 percent of the time,” Carollo said.
Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz took exception to the officiating in Saturday’s Iowa-Minnesota game, airing frustrations about it for a significant portion of his postgame news conference. Ferentz said it is “really hard to accept the explanation that we got” for DeJean’s invalid fair catch.
Carollo said in July that coaches “should not be going public” with their officiating frustrations.
“Once in a while out of frustration on Monday or Tuesday — whenever they have their press conference — they’ll say something, and I’m dialing them up real quick,” Carollo said. “And the conference is too. … It just isn’t healthy for the game.”
That being said, Carollo has plenty of respect for Ferentz.
“Kirk Ferentz is one of the best in my opinion,” Carollo said. “His father-in-law was an NFL referee. … He got married into a referee family. But they all have issues, and they’re under tremendous pressure. I get it.”
“I’m still not sure who makes the final decision,” Ferentz said after the 12-10 loss. “I know we go to Pittsburgh for analysis. And my theory there is the more people get involved, probably the more screwed up things are.”
The Big Ten started operating the replay center this season. (Other major conferences already had replay centers in place.) The temporary location is in Pittsburgh until the permanent replay center in Chicago is ready.
The way the Big Ten uses its replay center in Pittsburgh is “very similar to the NFL model,” Carollo said in the summer.
“And I’ve hired some people from the NFL to run this for me,” Carollo said, “and some people that have college experience that know the rules and know replay.”
The replay center is “in addition to,” not in lieu of, the replay official in the press box. The “replay person at the stadium” is the one with the final say.
“They’re in a listen mode,” Carollo said. “If they’re going down the wrong path, and they’re going to make a mistake, they will call and say check the high end zone shot, do this. Or if they’re going to snap it right away, they’ll say, ‘stop the game.’”
Director of Officiating for the Big Ten Bill Carollo speaks during an NCAA college football news conference at the Big Ten Conference media days at Lucas Oil Stadium, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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What can happen after Big Ten officiating crew makes controversial call
Obviously ‘the plays aren’t going to change,’ but coaches often get clarification from conference
John Steppe
Oct. 22, 2023 11:42 am
IOWA CITY — The Iowa-Minnesota final score is final.
Nothing will change the Big Ten officiating crew’s game-altering invalid fair catch call on Iowa’s Cooper DeJean — the one that took away a potentially game-winning touchdown.
“The plays aren’t going to change,” said Bill Carollo, the Big Ten Conference’s coordinator of football officials, during the Big Ten’s football media days in July.
But in cases of controversial officiating calls, coaches have some recourse in the days following a game to at least get further explanation from the conference.
Carollo said on any given week, he will hear from “probably all of” the conference’s head coaches on calls where they have frustrations or want further clarification. Some will “never send it in if they lose,” though.
“Some send a lot in,” Carollo said. “Some send very few, and we have one that just texts me and says, ‘Are you available?’ I go, ‘Yeah, let’s talk about it.’”
Carollo asks coaches to be selective, as he is not going to go through “20 plays from 14 different teams.” He requests a 24-hour cooling off period -- “don’t call me from the locker room” -- and will then personally give them feedback often on the same day they reach out.
As Carollo goes through plays that coaches deem worthy of further review, he will often agree with the coach rather than his officiating crew.
“I usually agree with the coaches about 58 percent of the time last year,” Carollo said.
Carollo said officials make about 5.8 mistakes per game.
“People make mistakes — players and coaches, and we’re right there with them,” Carollo said.
However, missed calls where the officials erroneously called a penalty are a rarity. Most of the mistakes, Carollo said, are “no-calls.”
“When they throw the flag, they’re right about 95 percent of the time,” Carollo said.
Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz took exception to the officiating in Saturday’s Iowa-Minnesota game, airing frustrations about it for a significant portion of his postgame news conference. Ferentz said it is “really hard to accept the explanation that we got” for DeJean’s invalid fair catch.
Carollo said in July that coaches “should not be going public” with their officiating frustrations.
“Once in a while out of frustration on Monday or Tuesday — whenever they have their press conference — they’ll say something, and I’m dialing them up real quick,” Carollo said. “And the conference is too. … It just isn’t healthy for the game.”
That being said, Carollo has plenty of respect for Ferentz.
“Kirk Ferentz is one of the best in my opinion,” Carollo said. “His father-in-law was an NFL referee. … He got married into a referee family. But they all have issues, and they’re under tremendous pressure. I get it.”
Replay center
The Big Ten’s replay center was not immune from Ferentz’s extensive postgame critique of the officiating.“I’m still not sure who makes the final decision,” Ferentz said after the 12-10 loss. “I know we go to Pittsburgh for analysis. And my theory there is the more people get involved, probably the more screwed up things are.”
The Big Ten started operating the replay center this season. (Other major conferences already had replay centers in place.) The temporary location is in Pittsburgh until the permanent replay center in Chicago is ready.
The way the Big Ten uses its replay center in Pittsburgh is “very similar to the NFL model,” Carollo said in the summer.
“And I’ve hired some people from the NFL to run this for me,” Carollo said, “and some people that have college experience that know the rules and know replay.”
The replay center is “in addition to,” not in lieu of, the replay official in the press box. The “replay person at the stadium” is the one with the final say.
“They’re in a listen mode,” Carollo said. “If they’re going down the wrong path, and they’re going to make a mistake, they will call and say check the high end zone shot, do this. Or if they’re going to snap it right away, they’ll say, ‘stop the game.’”
Director of Officiating for the Big Ten Bill Carollo speaks during an NCAA college football news conference at the Big Ten Conference media days at Lucas Oil Stadium, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
.....................................
What can happen after Big Ten officiating crew makes controversial call
Obviously “the plays aren’t going to change,” but Big Ten coaches often get clarification from the conference after controversial calls.
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