Friday, October 30, 2009

SEC To Head Coaches: Criticize The Officials, Go On Double Secret Probation

SEC football fans have noticed that the football officials aren't very good (Georgia and Arkansas fans know this quite well.) Even SEC head coaches are frustrated with the level of incompetency from the dudes in striped shirts.

SEC Bylaw 10.5.4 requires that coaches, assistant coaches, players, support personnel and others associated with the institution’s athletics program refrain from public criticism of officials. Twice Tennessee head coach Lance Kiffin and once Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino violated this bylaw and were properly slapped on the wrist.

So what does the SEC do? They decide to get tough on the coaches. No more reprimands for violating SEC Bylaw 10.5.4, from this point forward all violations of that SEC Bylaw will be enforced by suspensions and fines, effective immediately.

SEC head coaches you've been warned.

“There are proper channels available for head coaches to use when communicating officiating concerns to the Conference office,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in a release from the conference.

Even if an assistant coach or other support personnel violate SEC Bylaw 10.5.4, the head coach pays the price.

Our take at OSG HQ and our satellite offices is that SEC head coaches are just expressing the same opinion that fans are. You think after cashing checks worth billions of dollars from your TV partners you would invest more into your football officials.

Double secret probation is next.

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