SI: Fran McCaffery Calls Official a 'Cheating Motherf-----' After Loss to Ohio State

[WoodburyTim]

When the refs are told to call everything, it's easier for them because, wait for it, they call everything. When they are told to let them play, then it becomes more subjective on where you draw the line. Nobody likes the first because the disjointed, stop and go pace but people hate the 2nd when they dont seem to get the same calls and defensive leeway. Tough job but, yes, some of it seems horrid and one-sided.

Like Steve Kerr said yesterday aftergetting into it with Ken Mauer, not sure why anyone would want the job. I think BB is the hardest since it's gotten so physical.

Basketball officiating is the hardest sport to ref, because of the nature of the sport. Just read the Tim Donaghy article on ESPN. The guy fixed NBA games for several years, but technically never had to make calls that were "incorrect." Any contact is technically a foul, so calling anything isn't right or wrong.

 

[Rouser]

The Big10 reffing has deteriorated to the point to absurdity. Good on Fran to call it out.

Good for Fran? Are you kidding me? Fran did not call anything out.. any "substance" in his message is lost when you go the route of a profanity laced tirade. Poor judgement. Poor leader. Poor example for his team. Poor look for program.

There are other more constructive ways to call things out. There are plenty of things I don't like that happen at work or at home. A profanity laced tirade will not change anything. All it proved for Fran is that he is an A-Hole.

I agree that refs have been bad this year, but his reaction way over the top.

 

[GoodasGold]

The Big10 reffing has deteriorated to the point to absurdity. Good on Fran to call it out.

Not Good. McCaffery has long had anger management issues. This latest episode is quite Bobby Knight-ish in its style and vehemence. It’s one thing to call out an official on his general competence or eyesight, but to suggest he is cheating or otherwise dishonest; not to mention labeling him a fornicator of his own mother...oh my gosh! I hardly know what to say.

 

[LongLiveMilesTarver]

View attachment 6026

This is simply marvelous.

And I also love Fran. He is easily my favorite Big 10 coach and probably the only one I like more is Huggy Bear.

 

[howeda7]

Not Good. McCaffery has long had anger management issues. This latest episode is quite Bobby Knight-ish in its style and vehemence. It’s one thing to call out an official on his general competence or eyesight, but to suggest he is cheating or otherwise dishonest; not to mention labeling him a fornicator of his own mother...oh my gosh! I hardly know what to say.

Can you imagine being his kid and scratching the car?

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Can you imagine being his kid and scratching the car?

His 4 star son is choosing to play for him.

 

[GoodasGold]

Did he have a choice

 

[cjbfbp]

Good for Fran? Are you kidding me? Fran did not call anything out.. any "substance" in his message is lost when you go the route of a profanity laced tirade. Poor judgement. Poor leader. Poor example for his team. Poor look for program.

Agreed. It's particularly ridiculous after a game his team lost by 20 towards the end of the season where his team currently has a 20-7 record. He can't blame the refs for a 20 point loss and, given his season so far, he doesn't have much reason to be bitter.

 

[GopherVotary]

Basketball is the worst officiated sport. It seems like one-third of games are won by the team that gets the calls (usually the home team) rather than the better team.

 

[#2Gopher]

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta announced on Wednesday a two-game suspension of head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery for unsportsmanlike comments directed at an official following Iowa’s loss at Ohio State Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. The suspension includes Iowa’s next two games versus Rutgers (Saturday) and at Wisconsin (March 7).


The Big Ten Conference supports the University of Iowa’s suspension and announced that the institution will be fined $10,000 as a result of violating the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy, in addition to issuing a public reprimand.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

This league needed the next Bobby Knight for a long time.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Good for Fran? Are you kidding me? Fran did not call anything out.. any "substance" in his message is lost when you go the route of a profanity laced tirade. Poor judgement. Poor leader. Poor example for his team. Poor look for program.

There are other more constructive ways to call things out. There are plenty of things I don't like that happen at work or at home. A profanity laced tirade will not change anything. All it proved for Fran is that he is an A-Hole.

I agree that refs have been bad this year, but his reaction way over the top.

I'm not gonna get all outraged and self-righteous because it is the coach of one of our rivals. You can go ahead though.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Our coach said F you to the officials after a game, and Fran used the same colorful language, but he crossed the line when he called them cheaters. For that reason, the suspension is legit.

That said, I do think a coach is justified crossing the line once in a while. Just last Friday, my daughter's teammate ripped off this vault:

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As noted, it was the first time in NCAA Division 3 history that anyone had successfully performed that in a meet, and she nailed it...and was only given a 9.6. That should easily have been a 9.8 or more, and everyone in the national community is dumbfounded about the scoring of it. Those two-tenths were roughly the winning the margin of the dual meet. Our coach went ape-shat at the judges, who made a notation on their scorecard that her behavior was unacceptable. But it needed to be done. Now the league and its officials are on notice. If Shadae hits that thing again, it's going to be properly scored, and that might be in the regional or national championship meet. If coach Becky had NOT crossed the line, I'd be disappointed.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Our coach said F you to the officials after a game, and Fran used the same colorful language, but he crossed the line when he called them cheaters. For that reason, the suspension is legit.

That said, I do think a coach is justified crossing the line once in a while. Just last Friday, my daughter's teammate ripped off this vault:

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As noted, it was the first time in NCAA Division 3 history that anyone had successfully performed that in a meet, and she nailed it...and was only given a 9.6. That should easily have been a 9.8 or more, and everyone in the national community is dumbfounded about the scoring of it. Those two-tenths were roughly the winning the margin of the dual meet. Our coach went ape-shat at the judges, who made a notation on their scorecard that her behavior was unacceptable. But it needed to be done. Now the league and its officials are on notice. If Shadae hits that thing again, it's going to be properly scored, and that might be in the regional or national championship meet. If coach Becky had NOT crossed the line, I'd be disappointed.

As a Gopher womens gymnastics season ticket holder, I would have scored this a 9.6

 

[Bad Gopher]

As a Gopher womens gymnastics season ticket holder, I would have scored this a 9.6

There's some good discussion in the comments to the tweet including by some D1 people, and there is some difference of opinion, but the consensus is that it was low. The tough part is that we see lesser vaults being scored equal to or higher than this. In total context, the scoring was out of whack.

 

[GopherJake]

There's some good discussion in the comments to the tweet including by some D1 people, and there is some difference of opinion, but the consensus is that it was low. The tough part is that we see lesser vaults being scored equal to or higher than this. In total context, the scoring was out of whack.

I went to my friend's daughter's high school gymnastics meet a few weeks back - my first ever. I asked him how the scoring works - he didn't really know. This vault you are showing is really well done - to the totally untrained eye. But I'm guessing it's nothing, in terms of difficulty, to a vault at the Olympics and what not. How does the scoring work? Is there a "dumbed-down" version of what constitutes a 9.6 in high school vs. D3 vs. D1 vs. Olympics? Or how does that all work? I'm sure this vault is great, but I am guessing - guessing, I said - it would be a fairly low difficulty - and lower scored vault, were it in the Olympics. Is this wrong? Can you shed any light?

 

[Bad Gopher]

I went to my friend's daughter's high school gymnastics meet a few weeks back - my first ever. I asked him how the scoring works - he didn't really know. This vault you are showing is really well done - to the totally untrained eye. But I'm guessing it's nothing, in terms of difficulty, to a vault at the Olympics and what not. How does the scoring work? Is there a "dumbed-down" version of what constitutes a 9.6 in high school vs. D3 vs. D1 vs. Olympics? Or how does that all work? I'm sure this vault is great, but I am guessing - guessing, I said - it would be a fairly low difficulty - and lower scored vault, were it in the Olympics. Is this wrong? Can you shed any light?

I'm by no means an expert, but all divisions of NCAA are supposed to be the same scoring scale. College and high school are similar in that the base line is the beginning value of the routine, from which deductions are taken. Obviously, though, a routine that has a beginning value of 10 in high school would have a lesser beginning value in college. That makes it tough for some high schoolers who are capable of big, college-caliber skills but don't get the credit they should get because the beginning score can't be more than 10. That was my daughter, who won the HS championship on bars but was told by the best bars judge in the state that he wished he could give her more credit for her clear hip handstand, but he couldn't. The obvious strategy is to do something not too difficult (but still having a start value of 10) but do it precisely and tightly.

Chaney Neu of Champlin Park just won the state vault championship, getting a historic perfect 10, but her feet were slightly apart at the landing. I would've given her a 9.9, but I would have been attacked and killed by an angry mob after the meet.

Olympic-level stuff is another deal altogether. (I've heard second hand that Maggie Nichols of Oklahoma U and formerly of the US national team said that Shadae Boone's vault ought to have been scored higher. No matter what, I'm always going with what Maggie says.)

(Sorry, mods, for letting this go off on a mini tangent.)

 

[Otis]

I'm by no means an expert, but all divisions of NCAA are supposed to be the same scoring scale. College and high school are similar in that the base line is the beginning value of the routine, from which deductions are taken. Obviously, though, a routine that has a beginning value of 10 in high school would have a lesser beginning value in college. That makes it tough for some high schoolers who are capable of big, college-caliber skills but don't get the credit they should get because the beginning score can't be more than 10. That was my daughter, who won the HS championship on bars but was told by the best bars judge in the state that he wished he could give her more credit for her clear hip handstand, but he couldn't. The obvious strategy is to do something not too difficult (but still having a start value of 10) but do it precisely and tightly.

Chaney Neu of Champlin Park just won the state vault championship, getting a historic perfect 10, but her feet were slightly apart at the landing. I would've given her a 9.9, but I would have been attacked and killed by an angry mob after the meet.

Olympic-level stuff is another deal altogether. (I've heard second hand that Maggie Nichols of Oklahoma U and formerly of the US national team said that Shadae Boone's vault ought to have been scored higher. No matter what, I'm always going with what Maggie says.)

(Sorry, mods, for letting this go off on a mini tangent.)

If only they used environment and conditions to help with the assessment of gymnastics scoring. Kerrie Strug for instance was working a9.8 composite vault with a possibly broken (definitely sprained) ankle and being the final competitor on the last apparatus with the Gold medal on the line, which should have bumped her highest possible score up to a 20.0!

All she did was nail it!

 

[Holy Man]

Good for Fran? Are you kidding me? Fran did not call anything out.. any "substance" in his message is lost when you go the route of a profanity laced tirade. Poor judgement. Poor leader. Poor example for his team. Poor look for program.

There are other more constructive ways to call things out. There are plenty of things I don't like that happen at work or at home. A profanity laced tirade will not change anything. All it proved for Fran is that he is an A-Hole.

I agree that refs have been bad this year, but his reaction way over the top.

Got it, but I might be more sympathetic to Fran than you. He intended the tirade to be private, not public. He could have done it on the court or in the press conference, but didn't, which suggests it was not just losing his cool and he knew exactly what he was doing. This has been a terrible year for refs and not just in our games. I'm in with the theory that the "names" get the breaks, and that's just terrible. I diddn't see the game and one of Fran's issues is that he goes off so frequently that you can't tell the difference between mere posturing and authentic indignation. This appears to be indignation. In the end, he's really hurt his team.

By the way, his wife is a pretty firey woman as well. She went off in a press conference a couple of years ago. That might be rough on the gene pool for their kids.

 

[GoodasGold]

Got it, but I might be more sympathetic to Fran than you. He intended the tirade to be private, not public. He could have done it on the court or in the press conference, but didn't, which suggests it was not just losing his cool and he knew exactly what he was doing. This has been a terrible year for refs and not just in our games. I'm in with the theory that the "names" get the breaks, and that's just terrible. I diddn't see the game and one of Fran's issues is that he goes off so frequently that you can't tell the difference between mere posturing and authentic indignation. This appears to be indignation. In the end, he's really hurt his team.

By the way, his wife is a pretty firey woman as well. She went off in a press conference a couple of years ago. That might be rough on the gene pool for their kids.

Is that what Frannie told u? And u believed him

 

[Goldteam]

Is that what Frannie told u? And u believed him

I wish more would do what Fran did. The officiating is an embarrassment to all humanity in these games.

These officials just walk off the court, collect their worthless game checks, and go screw up the next game with who the hell knows what the heck they will call.

By the way, I haven't seen a ton of Iowa, but how the hell are they ranked 22nd? They seem as soft as a babies bottom.

 

[GoodasGold]

I wish more would do what Fran did. The officiating is an embarrassment to all humanity in these games.

Well, u can too! Next time ur at the Barn, as the game is ending get yourself in a lather - red face, veins bulging - and as the refs are leaving the court scream profanities and accuse them of cheating you, your team and all humanity. Go ahead, give it a try...I think you’ll enjoy it!

 

[LesBolstad]

Well, u can too! Next time ur at the Barn, as the game is ending get yourself in a lather - red face, veins bulging - and as the refs are leaving the court scream profanities and accuse them of cheating you, your team and all humanity. Go ahead, give it a try...I think you’ll enjoy it!

Yes! Do this next time Kelly Pfeifer is reffing and tell him what a F'd up call he made at Nebraska and cost us a NCAA birth!

 

[GoodasGold]

Kelly Pfeifer assumes a primary role as the problem solver for all client needs. He is committed to helping financial institutions deal with regulatory, network and security issues. Not only does Kelly provide a professional and helpful line of communication for the client, he also participates in social engineering testing. He is a master of disguise and an accomplished dumpster diver.

Kelly double majored in Elementary Education and Business Finance. He began his career at Wells Fargo where he was twice named their top performer. He enjoys helping with Special Olympics and Junior Achievement. Kelly is a Division I men’s college basketball referee.

 

[MennoSota]

He refs like he's officiating a special olympics game... [emoji41]
(Side note: The most fun I've ever had at a sporting event was at the National Special Olympics many years back.)

 

[Goldteam]

Well, u can too! Next time ur at the Barn, as the game is ending get yourself in a lather - red face, veins bulging - and as the refs are leaving the court scream profanities and accuse them of cheating you, your team and all humanity. Go ahead, give it a try...I think you’ll enjoy it!

you didn't just compare me to a big 10 coach, did you?

Well thanks, bud!

These idiot refs are determining futures of coaches with their poorly officiated games.

 

[Goldteam]

Yes! Do this next time Kelly Pfeifer is reffing and tell him what a F'd up call he made at Nebraska and cost us a NCAA birth!

That's my whole point. These clown officials are determining future employment of people based on their ineptness.

If my employment was on the line, I'd be glad to unload. I don't think sitting in the stands that I care enough, but for the sake of the players and coaches, get your schit together, officials.