Jon Wilner/Bay Area Newsgroup Piece On Ray Anderson
ASU athletic director Ray Anderson takes the lead when the conferences needs it most
LOS ANGELES — Commissioner Larry Scott struck the right tone and unveiled a series of shrewd moves. The head coaches and players put their best thoughts forward. ESPN and the Pac-12 Networks analysts were lively on the live sets.
But the star of the show at Pac-12 football media day, in the Hotline’s assessment of the proceedings, was Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson.
Anderson has emerged from the external review and internal reckoning of Pac-12 officiating as the most influential voice on that most vital of topics.
He’s not the ultimately authority and has no role in game-day operations, at least not officially. But Anderson is the true command center, and that’s a good thing for the Pac-12.
No administrator in college sports is more qualified to oversee (formally or informally) the management of an officiating program. For most of a decade, Anderson did just that in the NFL, as EVP for football operations.
The Pac-12 has smartly tapped into, and leaned on, Anderson’s expertise during the darkest months in the history of its football officiating program.
Anderson’s influence was evident Wednesday as he discussed the results of Sibson Consulting’s review of the officiating operation and the need to, in his view, “frankly, earn back some of the trust and confidence of the viewing public who have some doubts about us as result of some of the incidents that occurred last year.”
The words were meaningful, as was the setting.
Immediately to Anderson’s left sat the commissioner; to his right, the vice president for officiating, David Coleman.
Both men responded when asked direct questions during the 20-minute session. Mostly, they nodded in agreement as Anderson spoke at length with candor and insight.
When asked about the impact of the controversial targeting no-call in the USC-Washington State game, about the interference in the replay-review process by general counsel Woodie Dixon and about the resulting storm that swallowed the season, Anderson was brutally honest:
“Here’s what’s not a secret: That was a real straw, a real domino, that made us all wake up and say ‘We’ve got some work to do, because those things cannot be allowed to go on.’
“You have to figure out a way to circle back, hopefully make adjustments to processes and procedures, which we have done, and see the policy coming out.
“I think that will demonstrate that we have the protocol in place, the steps in place, whereby very frankly, from an athletic director’s position, (it) should never happen again.
“If you have an unfortunate situation like that, you have to step up to the mic, like, now, and acknowledge it and make sure folks understand there will be accountability for those kind of mistakes.”
At the time of the scandal, accountability was difficult to locate.
Immediately following the incident, Scott conducted an internal review and committed to changes in the relevant protocol; only after several weeks did he announce an unspecified punishment for Dixon.
That wasn’t enough — not close to enough — to restore public trust, and the athletic directors knew it. They pushed the conference for a full audit conducted by an independent agency.
The man behind that push: Anderson, who chairs subcommittee on officiating and had worked with Sibson during his tenure in the NFL.
Six months later, Sibson concluded that while Pac-12 officiating was “fundamentally sound,” serious flaws existed and changes were need. The conference is adopting all the recommendations, including:
— The removal of Dixon from the top of the Pac-12’s officiating operation: Coleman will now report directly to Scott.
(If not for Anderson and the ADs pushing for the external review, Dixon seemingly would have remained in charge. Give that some thought.)
— An emphasis on transparency: “We would recommend continuing to communicate on important and definitive circumstances to the public without significantly increasing the volume of this distraction,” Sibson wrote.
On the latter issue, Anderson spoke extensively — extensively, forcefully and candidly.
He envisions the conference using transparency to educate fans on the rules, admit momentous mistakes and increase public trust.
The specific means of delivery has yet to be determined.
(It could be an official statement sent via email or posted on the Pac-12 website. The Hotline has suggested a Twitter feed. Anderson mentioned video commentary from Coleman, perhaps on the Pac-12 Networks’ football show.)
“Our intent would be,” Anderson explained, “in the instance of an egregious mistake … if everybody at home could see it, you didn’t call it and it ended up making a difference in the game — it’s those types of egregious scenarios where we need to come out much more contemporaneously and acknowledge that a mistake was made and not wait until Monday or Tuesday afternoon.
“David Coleman should be available to address those things in real time.
“If it’s that obvious, and we’ve all seen some across the conference, frankly, where you say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. How did they miss that?’ We need too address that.”
The line, however, is finer than the seams in the ball.
“We need to make it clear to coaches and athletic directors that we have to make sure they are real issues, that they aren’t things you’re trying to put out there because you’re trying to set up for the benefit of the doubt for the next time,’’ Anderson said.
“They’ve got to be real significant mistakes so we can get it out there, acknowledge we made a mistake, talk about what should have been done, how it should be handled going forward, and then we can move on.”
ASU athletic director Ray Anderson takes the lead when the conferences needs it most
LOS ANGELES — Commissioner Larry Scott struck the right tone and unveiled a series of shrewd moves. The head coaches and players put their best thoughts forward. ESPN and the Pac-12 Networks analysts were lively on the live sets.
But the star of the show at Pac-12 football media day, in the Hotline’s assessment of the proceedings, was Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson.
Anderson has emerged from the external review and internal reckoning of Pac-12 officiating as the most influential voice on that most vital of topics.
He’s not the ultimately authority and has no role in game-day operations, at least not officially. But Anderson is the true command center, and that’s a good thing for the Pac-12.
No administrator in college sports is more qualified to oversee (formally or informally) the management of an officiating program. For most of a decade, Anderson did just that in the NFL, as EVP for football operations.
The Pac-12 has smartly tapped into, and leaned on, Anderson’s expertise during the darkest months in the history of its football officiating program.
Anderson’s influence was evident Wednesday as he discussed the results of Sibson Consulting’s review of the officiating operation and the need to, in his view, “frankly, earn back some of the trust and confidence of the viewing public who have some doubts about us as result of some of the incidents that occurred last year.”
The words were meaningful, as was the setting.
Immediately to Anderson’s left sat the commissioner; to his right, the vice president for officiating, David Coleman.
Both men responded when asked direct questions during the 20-minute session. Mostly, they nodded in agreement as Anderson spoke at length with candor and insight.
When asked about the impact of the controversial targeting no-call in the USC-Washington State game, about the interference in the replay-review process by general counsel Woodie Dixon and about the resulting storm that swallowed the season, Anderson was brutally honest:
“Here’s what’s not a secret: That was a real straw, a real domino, that made us all wake up and say ‘We’ve got some work to do, because those things cannot be allowed to go on.’
“You have to figure out a way to circle back, hopefully make adjustments to processes and procedures, which we have done, and see the policy coming out.
“I think that will demonstrate that we have the protocol in place, the steps in place, whereby very frankly, from an athletic director’s position, (it) should never happen again.
“If you have an unfortunate situation like that, you have to step up to the mic, like, now, and acknowledge it and make sure folks understand there will be accountability for those kind of mistakes.”
At the time of the scandal, accountability was difficult to locate.
Immediately following the incident, Scott conducted an internal review and committed to changes in the relevant protocol; only after several weeks did he announce an unspecified punishment for Dixon.
That wasn’t enough — not close to enough — to restore public trust, and the athletic directors knew it. They pushed the conference for a full audit conducted by an independent agency.
The man behind that push: Anderson, who chairs subcommittee on officiating and had worked with Sibson during his tenure in the NFL.
Six months later, Sibson concluded that while Pac-12 officiating was “fundamentally sound,” serious flaws existed and changes were need. The conference is adopting all the recommendations, including:
— The removal of Dixon from the top of the Pac-12’s officiating operation: Coleman will now report directly to Scott.
(If not for Anderson and the ADs pushing for the external review, Dixon seemingly would have remained in charge. Give that some thought.)
— An emphasis on transparency: “We would recommend continuing to communicate on important and definitive circumstances to the public without significantly increasing the volume of this distraction,” Sibson wrote.
On the latter issue, Anderson spoke extensively — extensively, forcefully and candidly.
He envisions the conference using transparency to educate fans on the rules, admit momentous mistakes and increase public trust.
The specific means of delivery has yet to be determined.
(It could be an official statement sent via email or posted on the Pac-12 website. The Hotline has suggested a Twitter feed. Anderson mentioned video commentary from Coleman, perhaps on the Pac-12 Networks’ football show.)
“Our intent would be,” Anderson explained, “in the instance of an egregious mistake … if everybody at home could see it, you didn’t call it and it ended up making a difference in the game — it’s those types of egregious scenarios where we need to come out much more contemporaneously and acknowledge that a mistake was made and not wait until Monday or Tuesday afternoon.
“David Coleman should be available to address those things in real time.
“If it’s that obvious, and we’ve all seen some across the conference, frankly, where you say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. How did they miss that?’ We need too address that.”
The line, however, is finer than the seams in the ball.
“We need to make it clear to coaches and athletic directors that we have to make sure they are real issues, that they aren’t things you’re trying to put out there because you’re trying to set up for the benefit of the doubt for the next time,’’ Anderson said.
“They’ve got to be real significant mistakes so we can get it out there, acknowledge we made a mistake, talk about what should have been done, how it should be handled going forward, and then we can move on.”
