During Thursday's ESPN broadcast of "The Pat McAfee Show," ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit reacted to the Yellowhammer News report that SEC referee Ken Williamson had been "permanently suspended from officiating conference games."
The suspension reportedly followed an SEC review, during which the conference deemed nine of 11 complaints against Williamson and his crew in the Auburn-Georgia game earlier this month valid.
Herbstreit acknowledged that he was "pro-referee," but called the SEC's decision "an eye-opener." He added that he was "interested" to see what holding the official accountable would lead to.
"I hate blaming referees or umpires per game. But with that being said, I do think that if a guy has consistently had rough outings where a league or a conference has to call a coach or call an athletic director and basically apologize for a miss, and that that happens at a regular rate, then I think this is, as you said, groundbreaking. Can you guys remember anything like this where a guy in the middle of a season is asked to, like, take a seat? I've never heard of anything like that.
"You talk about holding players and coaches and everybody accountable, referees have always, never really had to deal with that. Maybe in the off-season, but not in season. So I think it's an eye-opener. I'm a referee guy. I'm pro-referee. I think they, they you know, fans, get way too emotional about it. But I'm interested to see what this leads to, and if we end up, you know, this is kind of like that first example, and now you start to see it more and more, not just in college football, but all around sports.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every day.
