http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100652&ran=151683

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"ACC official supervisor, a relatively thankless job By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot © March 6, 2006 RALEIGH - John Clougherty sat courtside at halftime of a one-sided basketball game. North Carolina State led Florida State 46-27, but the score was of little interest to Clougherty. He was focused on the performance of the officials working the game: Jamie Luckie, Sean Hull and Raymond Styons. At the top of a legal pad, Clougherty had written "10-8" - the number of fouls called on the Wolfpack and Seminoles, respectively. Below that he scribbled "Jamie 8:05," marking the time of a foul call by Luckie that N.C. State coach Herb Sendek complained about. He also took note of a double dribble call on the Wolfpack's Cedric Simmons. "They didn't get that right," Clougherty said. "He caught it, and dropped it, then picked it up and dribbled it. That shouldn't be a double dribble." All in all, though, Clougherty thought it had been a good half for the officials. He motioned toward the Florida State bench, now empty. Minutes earlier, Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton had been barking at the officials - Clougherty's officials. "Maybe he's upset with his team," Clougherty said. "Because it's a puzzle to me what he might be complaining about." If only every game was this uneventful. In his first season as supervisor of officials in the ACC, Clougherty, 62, has had few quiet moments. His is a relatively thankless job, but he's one of the most powerful men in the conference, a sounding board for coaches, a mentor and disciplinarian to officials. Much of the time, he's smoothing out problems behind the scenes, but he makes a point of being a visible presence at games. He'll attend about 50 this season. His name has become known to even casual fans, particularly after his high-profile suspension of three officials last month. Doing his job correctly means watching more DVDs than Blockbuster's best customer. He watches from a loveseat, amid board games, oversized books and Legos in a room at his house that doubles as his grandkid's play space. He reffed in college for 30 years and knows a thing or two about pressure: He worked 12 Final Fours and four national title games. Still, he's been surprised by the level of scrutiny directed at his officials by fans, coaches and the media. "I reffed for years in the SEC," he said. "It was never like this." Clougherty could have continued officiating. He's a young 62 and figures his knees and back would have held up for a few more years. Yet, the ACC job was too good to pass up. It allowed him to come off the court and still stay close to the game. It also allowed him to stay close to home. Clougherty lives in Raleigh, where he opened an investment office for Wachovia years ago. Like most officials, he reffed as an avocation, not a full-time job. Other than a weekly trip to the ACC offices in Greensboro, he works out of his house. On a recent afternoon, he sat in his upstairs office, comfortable in jeans, a yellow oxford shirt and black, Big East pullover. He had a few hours before Florida State and N.C. State tipped off and was planning to watch a replay of a Duke-Wake Forest game he'd taped the night before. "The crew wasn't exactly happy with the second half," he said. Clougherty knows this, because he heard from the refs minutes after the game. On his desk is a phone with a dedicated line. After each game, a league observer and the crew chief each call in a brief report. The messages alert Clougherty to any plays he can expect to hear about from a coach. Clougherty records most games and can easily find the plays in question. "Then if I get a call, I can certainly tell a coach I've looked at the play," he said. "I can tell him I think we've got it right or I think we missed it." Clougherty sees quick communication with coaches as being essential, and the DVDs help speed the process. "You just can't put it off," he said. "They have a short window before they have to get ready for the next game." Officials get instant feedback, too. One of Clougherty's first acts as supervisor was to mandate that each game be taped, and a DVD delivered to the officials within 10 minutes after the final buzzer. If Clougherty attends a game, he might pop in the tape right there at the arena to settle any disagreement between him and the crew. The tapes can be used as teaching tools, or even to dole out disciplinary action. Last month, Clougherty suspended a crew for improperly calling a technical foul on Florida State's Alexander Johnson in a game against Duke. The crew compounded its error by failing to review the play on a courtside monitor. If they'd done so, they would have seen that Duke assistant coach Johnny Dawkins, basketball manager Mike Jarvis II and a student manager had run onto the court - in violation of a rule that calls for the ejections of any bench personnel other than the head coach who leave the bench area when a fight has broken out or may break out. The technical foul controversy was Clougherty's first big dust-up as supervisor. That the suspensions were handed out publicly was no accident. Clougherty declined to say why he went public, when most discipline is handled privately. Around the league, the view is that it was an opportunity for him to put his stamp on things. That's why Clougherty's name, not commissioner John Swofford's, was on the news release. It was a chance to send a message: Officials who mess up will be held accountable. Clougherty's hiring itself sent a message when it was announced in July. He replaced Fred Barakat, who oversaw ACC officials for 25 years. Handling officials was just part of Barakat's job. He also directs the ACC tournament and negotiates TV contracts. Swofford said the change was made because overseeing officials is too important to be done part time, not because the quality of officiating had declined. Barakat, a former college coach, never officiated. In 1997, he was at the center of a controversy over his running of for-profit officiating camps. The Raleigh News & Observer investigated the camps and concluded that there was a perception that officials who did not work the camps would not work ACC games. Swofford, then newly hired as commissioner, took control of the camps from Barakat and gave them to the ACC. Clougherty never worked for Barakat much, though Clougherty has lived in North Carolina since the 1960s. He worked mostly in the SEC, Big East and Big 12. "Living here, working here, probably wasn't the best idea," he said. "There might have been other reasons, but we'll leave it at that." Clougherty has brought in some high-profile officials who were also rarely seen in ACC arenas. John Cahill and Ed Corbett worked the national title game last year. Tim Higgins, Reggie Greenwood and Jim Burr, all with Final Four experience, are working more ACC games. Other referees familiar to ACC fans, such as Larry Rose and Duke Edsall, have worked fewer ACC games. Clougherty said it's natural for there to be some turnover. "After 30 years, I think I have a pretty good eye for talent, who can carry the load," he said. Clougherty's biggest talent as an official might have been his demeanor. He was assured but not cocky, in command without drawing attention to himself. "John was not somebody to make waves," said Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officials and publisher of Referee Magazine. "John had a calming influence on the games he worked." Clougherty's tried to bring those traits to his new job, gently but forcefully refuting the conspiracy theorists who charge that conference heavyweight Duke benefits from a pro-Blue Devils bias . There's plenty of circumstantial evidence. Duke has made more free throws than its opponents have attempted. Without citing Duke specifically, Clougherty says there are many reasons - style of play, the need for the team that is trailing to foul late in the game - that one team gets to the line more than others. "To say that one team gets more calls, that's bogus," he said. Clougherty said before the season that he wanted to crack down on rough play around the basket, as well as the practice of bumping or holding up players cutting through the lane without the ball. He also declared war on palming. He said he'd demand that officials be at their best at the end of games. If not, "All the good stuff we did for the whole game goes to hell." That's what happened late in Virginia Tech's November loss to Bowling Green. Clougherty admits that A.D. Vassallo's accidental tip-in at his own basket on the final play should not have counted. The rules state that in such cases, the ball has to clear the net before the buzzer sounds, not merely leave the shooter's hand. It's an obscure rule but one he expects his crew to know."

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3/6/2006 8:38:02 AM

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"Plays like those don't come along often. It's the everyday calls that Clougherty is most concerned about. Are his officials in position? Are they guessing too often on travel calls or a block/charge? Are they consistent? Do they know when to engage a coach and when to walk away before things turn ugly? "It's going to take a little bit longer, maybe to get all my guys thinking on the same page," he said. "One ref can be consistent in what he does, but I need them all doing the same thing at the same time." Virginia coach Dave Leitao said he finds Clougherty to be a good listener. It helps that he and Clougherty knew each other before either came to the conference. "We can talk openly," Leitao said. It's a different sort of relationship than the one Clougherty used to have with coaches. He said he never took what coaches said to him personally. He realized things were said in the heat of the moment. A couple of pictures in his office illustrate the point. In one, a dark-haired, red-sweatered Bob Knight is in full throat during an NCAA tournament game in the 1980s. In the photo, Knight points one way. Clougherty, holding a basketball in the foreground, calmly points another. On the opposite wall, Kentucky coach Tubby Smith is giving Clougherty an earful. Clougherty's favorite photo sits on a shelf behind his desk. Texas coach Rick Barnes, Providence coach Tim Welsh, Clougherty and crew partners Bob Donato and Tim Higgins are crowded around a courtside monitor watching a replay of Texas' last-second shot. "We counted the basket," Clougherty said. "Not a good situation. We had to get out of Providence." True, but they got the call right."

[Edited on March 6, 2006 at 8:49 AM. Reason : Thats a lot longer than I thought it was]

3/6/2006 8:38:34 AM

good read

3/6/2006 9:04:36 AM

nice. Now we just need a new commisioner that will help this guy instead of undermine him....

3/6/2006 9:07:54 AM

I said a while back that I respect Clougherty, since it seems like he's trying to set things right.

3/6/2006 9:36:41 AM

You can bash the refs afterwards, but prefventing it fomr happening is all that matters. The T on our assisstant coach for wiping up perspiration as more than 2 points for maryland, it was added momentum. Referees who do ACC games are awful, flat out. you're crazy if you think "working the officials" isn't a part oft he game from a coaching standpoint, all the good coahces do it, and all that are indifferent get trated accordingly by the officials.

3/6/2006 11:51:59 AM

Now we just need a new commisioner that will help this guy instead of undermine him....

FIRE SWOFFORD!

3/6/2006 11:53:03 AM