Bear Down Wildcats

In the wake of a tumultuous couple of weeks for Pac-12 officials, the league's coordinator of football officiating has resigned.

The Pac-12 announced Tony Corrente's resignation in a statement Wednesday night, citing personal and professional reasons.

"Under Tony's leadership, our program made great strides in improving the quality, accountability and consistency," commissioner Larry Scott said in the statement. "While it's unfortunate that Tony has decided to leave us at this time, I want to express my appreciation for his contribution, and for leaving our officiating program strong and headed in the right direction."

Pac-12 officials have come under fire the past couple of weeks following a series of high-profile, questionable calls and non-calls in several games. It spilled over Saturday in Colorado when coach Mike MacIntyre was seen screaming at officials and following them off the field following the Buffs' 36-31 loss to Oregon State. The tirade earned MacIntyre a $10,000 fine and a reprimand from the league earlier this week.

Corrente had served as the Pac-12's officiating coordinator since 2011 and is an NFL official who worked last season's AFC Championship Game. He missed part of the 2012 season after being diagnosed with throat cancer.

Jim Blackwood, who has more than 20 years as a college conference coordinator and 10 years as an NFL replay official, will serve as interim coordinator for the remainder of the season. He previously served as the instant replay supervisor under Corrente.

The league will conduct a search for a permanent replacement after the season.

azcat49 wrote:F - ing Larry Scott is so corrupt. The sooner the conference rids itself of this guy the better.

He must be bitter knowing he has to ride the coat tails of Arizona in football and basketball. He must be throwing up in his mouth everyday. Hope he chokes on it

Katzenfreund wrote:profootballtalk.com:

According to Dave Mahler of 950 KJR in Seattle, Corrente resigned Wednesday morning due to perceived issues stemming from the conference blaming the officiating in losses for Oregon, Stanford and UCLA.

The three teams were perhaps the conference’s best hope to gain entry into the four-team college football playoff this year. With those teams losing, the odds for a playoff berth have been significantly reduced.

Since...

a) the unsportsmanlike call had not prevented Arizona from winning by a FG instead of a TD and...
b) punished an act specifically mentioned in the NCAA rule book (Rule 9, Section 2-a-1-h) and was...
c) preceded by a series of egregious calls against the 'Cats...

...these events add to the perception that the Pac-12 by order of Larry Scott rigs its conference games, favoring market size (UCLA vs. Arizona BB) and program pedigree (Oregon, UCLA vs. Arizona, Utah FB). This is seriously fcked up.

PieceOfMeat wrote:Is anyone really surprised by the implications of all this? I mean, obviously from this thread, none of us are....but what about people outside of our little group of knowledgable posters?

catgrad97 wrote:, for all of the commish's weakness for large-market L.A.,

Good For You wrote:Since Arizona is now the Pac-12's best positioned team with regards to making the playoff, do we now start getting more calls in our favor? Somehow I doubt it.

Good For You wrote:Since Arizona is now the Pac-12's best positioned team with regards to making the playoff, do we now start getting more calls in our favor? Somehow I doubt it.

MountainCat wrote:

Good For You wrote:Since Arizona is now the Pac-12's best positioned team with regards to making the playoff, do we now start getting more calls in our favor? Somehow I doubt it.

This will be the game that Scott will decide to make a personal visit just to make sure that the refs are calling the game fair and to make a point to the rest of the Country. You know with the head of Refs in the Pac 12 stepping down, someone needs to take action!