Tim Floyd Outburst Sparks Conference Review
by asalom on Feb 24, 2011 3:33 PM MST
in UTEP Miners Basketball
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PrintLast night's outburst by coach Tim Floyd has gone national. Search "UTEP" on google and see how many news hits come up reporting the incident that took place in the opening minutes of the second half of the Miner's game at ECU. From the USA Today, to ESPN, to CBS Sports, and every other news outlet and blog site in America, everyone has their take on the event. Worse than that though, is the national media using this as an opportunity to take a jab at Floyd. I wont say anything about that, but if you've read the reports you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its pathetic.
Now its time for us here at the Rush to take a second to examine what exactly happened. Although I don't necessarily want to put the video up, I will.
The Situation
As anyone can clearly see, Tim Floyd is obviously upset. What is not shown in any of these videos is how Tim Floyd received his first technical foul. According to Floyd "I was given a warning for having my foot out of the coaching box...I haven't got a technical all year long, so I went back to the bench. Next thing I know, I have a technical." Cue the video. The video picks up after Floyd has received the first technical. Even after this the coach is clearly asking for a timeout, and an explanation. The explanation was never given, the timeout eventually was.
An upset Floyd continues to give the refs a piece of his mind, and eventually receives his second technical and ejection. Now even Floyd has admitted the second was probably deserved. "I guess I probably reacted to the first technical, not really understanding why it was given. I probably earned the second one, but that's part of the game". Following the second technical coach Floyd went absolutely ballistic, approaching the referees in an aggressive manner, showing his disgust for the calls. Eventually a local police officer was called in to intervene.
The Breakdown
First off, I have to say how unprofessional this was not only by the officials, but also Coach Floyd. I love coach's passion in standing up for his team. He's a better man than me, I would've gone off a lot worse. Regardless, he should not have acted in the manner that he did, justified or not. Also, the officials could have done their part to defuse the situation, and they refused to. A simple explanation, and a "coach cool down" would've sufficed here.
Prior to the start of the video referee Jeb Hartness blows the quick whistle to give coach Floyd his first tech, apparently for being outside the coach's box. Hartness can be seen addressing the scorer's table in the opening seconds of the clip. Referee Brian Kersey is the man with the ball, and takes an aggressive approach with Floyd from the get go. Floyd asks Kersey for a timeout repeatedly which Kersey only responds by saying "back off" about five times.
Once the timeout is finally granted, Floyd begins to ask for an explanation from the refs, motioning them over with a hand wave. In the video, no ref speaks with Floyd, and no explanation is given. Floyd then proceeds to let Hartness know of his displeasure with the quick t. Hartness only stares the coach down repeatedly, then gives the coach his second technical and ejection. I will say that again, the refs could have done something to change the situation yet they didn't. Completely unprofessional.
After Floyd has been ejected he rushes toward Hartness to speak his mind. Obviously this is something Floyd shouldn't have done, but there are a couple of things to point out here. First referee Brian Kersey immediately puts his hands on Floyd, and is the one to, in my opinion, prematurely ask for police assistance. The officer was just as bad, you can see it in his eyes that he doesn't like what Floyd is doing. The crazy thing is, stuff like this goes on all the time in sports, and RARELY, RARELY do you see a police officer called on to help. This was completely blown out of proportion in that sense.
Next, comes the ejection of head assistant Phil Johnson. From the video this was completely uncalled for. Johnson is clearly upset, but is not cursing or really even yelling very loud at the officials, yet again referee Jeb Hartness is quick to the whistle and tees up Johnson twice and ejects him. Again, a situation where the referees could've approached coach Johnson and told him to gain control of his bench or he would be ejected too or something. Nothing of that nature took place. They just simply went tech crazy.
One more thing of note. The only official in this video that seems like he's trying to really gain control of the situation, calm Floyd down, and do the right thing is official Steven Pyatt. It just so happens that he is the only one of the three that is actually a C-USA referee. According to statsheet.com, referee Bryan Kersey is typically an ACC and MAAC official, official Jeb Hartness usually does Ohio Valley and Sun Belt games, and Pyatt does C-USA and Ohio Valley matches.
The Conclusion
We all know that incidents like what happened last night have no place in college sports, or sports at all for that matter. It was far from the worst "meltdown" (if you can even call it that) that I've seen, and in a way was somewhat understandable, but still should not have happened. The question is why couldn't the refs just walk over to Floyd like you see sooooo many times, and give him an explanation and warning? Also, why wasn't this game officiated by a C-USA crew? I'm no expert on how referees are assigned to different games, but you would think that a conference game down the stretch of the season would be officiated by a crew of that conference. A C-USA crew might have handled the situation a little differently. Apparently, just as Pyatt tried to.
On top of this all, was the officiating that ensued after the technicals had happened. This crew took complete advantage of the Miners and began whistling every foul on the Miners, stuff that was not called on the other end. The Pirates were in the double bonus with about 17 minutes left in this game. Granted, there were 4 technicals, but 6 personals in three minutes says everything you need to know. In the end, ECU shot 45 free throws, compare to 17 for the Miners. Throw out the technical foul shots, and you've still got about a 20 shot disadvantage. Most might say don't complain about the refs, and I usually don't, but last night was the exception to the rule.
This tape, and the incident itself are now under review by Conference USA. Hopefully, they will see the same things that I have pointed out here. Sure Floyd was wrong in losing it like he did, but the officials could have done their part to calm the situation. That's what they are paid for right? To control the contest? Apparently they didn't feel that was part of their duties. Again, even after the outburst by Floyd, you would think these officials might try to call this game even. Look at the stats, they didn't at all. I said in a comment earlier, and I'll say it again. I don't expect C-USA to come back, and say the officials were wrong in what they did, or how they called the game. It's just like getting a speeding ticket. You can plead your case all you want, but the judge always takes the cop's side. All we can hope for is better officiating down the stretch. I'm not asking for any special treatment or help, just fair and consistent officiating, cause these last two crews have been absolutely pathetic.
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As far as the referees go
Hartness had officiated a couple of C-USA games prior to last night’s contest, Kersey had officiate one C-USA game, and Pyatt more than a dozen.
Interesting
Here is a blog post with some very interesting parallels to my post here on the rush.
http://istonygreeneonthetake.blogspot.com/2011/02/curtis-shaw-effect.html
Just reported that CTF has been reprimanded by the Commissioner....
No suspension or report of what, if anything, occured on the officiating side of things.
Great research
You’re doing the work that USA Today, ESPN and CBS Sports should be doing. It’s a shame to think of all the money wasted when they can’t even investigate something like this beyond a YouTube video.
You are right on with your conclusions.
What gets my attention though is how only one of three officials assigned to this game — a game in the last part of conference play — has ever officiated a UTEP game. WTF is that about?
I remember in the old WAC there were a group of officials, always the same. I’m not sure how it worked, but all I remember is that every game had a veteran lead official who knew and had a relationship with both teams.
Is this another C-USA weakness? And a possible explanation to the overall suspect officiating league wide this season?
Well I'm really sure what to say
I can guarantee you we won’t see Jeb Hartness officiating any more UTEP games.
Great work Asalom!.....
I’ll tell you what really concerns me about this officiating crew is the fact that they’re a mish-mash of officials as you pointed out. This completely explains the lack of cohesion and consistency we’ve seen all season in this conference. It’s no wonder I’ve found myself compaining about officiating for the better part of this season when I rarely have in the past. I don’t like blaming officials for losses although I do believe they do assist in determing eb and flow and momentum shifts. What happened last night is, as you stated, “an exception to the rule”. I expected CTF to be reprimanded by the league, as he was, and doubt we’ll ever hear of any disciplanary action waged on the officials even if it is handed out.
I have watched the video multiple times, and it is clear that Floyd lost his temper, but the Media is blowing this WAY out of proportion.
Some things that I would like to point out are that he doesn’t throw his jacket into the stands, he throws it on the ground. He NEVER initiates contact with anyone, he is touched by the official, and the cop. The officials NEVER did anything to diffuse the situation, they stood by and watched.
What I find upsetting about this is that the Media is using this as a reason to take jabs at Floyd. They weren’t there, they most likely weren’t even paying attention to the game, and the only REAL media coverage is coming from a biased market. Anyone who watched the game knows that the officiating was VERY SKETCHY. The Free Throw margin SHOULD be enough evidence, but apparently the National media can’t do math?
I have also seen a bunch of idiots say that Floyd cost us the game… HOW? It seemed pretty evident to me that we were much more energized and were playing with a lot of intensity after that. The reason we lost is because we weren’t allowed to play defense. ECU only made 8 Field Goals in the second half, hte rest of their points came off of Free Throws.
I just hope our team comes out and plays hard for their Coach and for themselves. It would be fun to shut some people up.
GO MINERS
"BCS does not apply to basketball. It's football. You can't tell me Memphis is a mid-major. You can't tell me UTEP, with its history of players, crowd attendance and NCAA Tournament berths, is a mid-major. Same for Gonzaga and St. Mary's - it doesn't apply. These are high-major programs that can play. All we can do is win games and hope others recognize. … We should pass the eye test - if anybody ever watches us." - Tim Floyd
by jakeprobst on Feb 24, 2011 5:49 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
Sucks for you guys,
but don’t go too far into conspiracy. It is a coach in a smaller conference on a team that is pretty under most people’s radar that got dragged off by the police. Without a name everybody sees a clip of this. Yeah maybe it gets a few extra seconds with CTF’s name, but what do you expect. As long as this is an aberration, and I am sure it is, as long as he wins his rep will be rebuilt. I am sure he learned a lesson both in self control and how petty an individual can be in a given minute.
Stupid Llamas!.
by otisnixon'sparty on Feb 25, 2011 2:19 AM MST reply actions
It's not so much a conspiracy,
Just one man that took advantage of his whistle. I’m not saying coach Floyd didn’t deserve to get ejected. I’m sure he did. But, those refs could have helped the situation, and they refused to. Official Jeb Hartness just stares coach Floyd down while he’s obviously upset. What do you think staring him down is going to do? Calm him down? No, he did it, cause he knew Floyd would be even more pissed, and then he could eject him. Or how about Kersey getting all brave with Floyd, pointing his finger in his face, and taking a step towards him, all while aggressively telling him “back off”, “back off”. Why not coach, calm down or you’re getting your second one? Why not give him his timeout like he’s asking for instead of just saying back off??? When do you EVER see officials act like that with coaches? NEVER….How about after Floyd is gone, walk over and talk to Johnson? No, the first thing he says again hardass Hartness tees him up twice, and ejects him too Are you serious?
Total BS.
And don’t forget that instead of letting it go, the refs then went on to call the game completely one-sided the rest of the way.
"BCS does not apply to basketball. It's football. You can't tell me Memphis is a mid-major. You can't tell me UTEP, with its history of players, crowd attendance and NCAA Tournament berths, is a mid-major. Same for Gonzaga and St. Mary's - it doesn't apply. These are high-major programs that can play. All we can do is win games and hope others recognize. … We should pass the eye test - if anybody ever watches us." - Tim Floyd
Yep I don't see the "conspiracy" side of things....
One thing I can say about the vast majority of Miner Nation is that we are pretty educated and objective about the nuances of the game and there usually aren’t many extremes or conclusions that we leap on when it comes to our programs. We’re the first ones to point out our failures and usually with a bigger stick than anybody outside of our fan base. As a Miner fan you learn early on to live on both sides of performance (success and underachievment) and unfortunately are more accustomed to the latter when it comes to football. All this being said, what was witnessed in the this specific game was obvious, extreme and inappropriate. This sentiment was echoed by many of our players and although they’ve suffered losses in the past, they have never voiced any blame for a loss an anybody other than themselves and their lack of focus, tenacity, intensity or preparation. I repeat, they have NEVER blamed anybody other than themselves…..until Wednesday. They know the difference between getting a fair shot and falling short versus not receiving a reasonable, impartial and unbiased opportunity to compete on an even playing field. Again I reiterate for those nay-sayers, you don’t have to believe me or the Miner pundits, simply visit the boxscore.
You're right on MinerMike
And the more I watch the video, the more ridiculous it seems to me. I can see how people hear the reports “Tim Floyd loses it” or whatever wording they use, and then watch edited clips, but when you watch this video its complete garbage. Especially Johnson getting ejected. Fine Floyd deserved it, but wtf does Johnson do???? At first he’s a little loud, but in the end he makes a simple comment, and that idiot Jeb Hartness goes and tosses him.
Without a doubt....
And one of the biggest problems is that most are reporting on a 2:48 second snipit of a video and some very shoty analysis of the event in question. As I wrote on the CBS Sports site, most are being shown a photo of a tree and are making a determination of how big the forest is. You can’t do that and be expected to render an educated, sound and credible opinion.
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