Yesterday, it was it was Lane Kiffin on the receiving end of a wet noodle lashing and double-secret probation for criticizing SEC officials.
Ed Orgeron could be the next coach from Knoxville to be called to the commish’s office.
According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Volunteers assistant head coach made some pointed comments about the officiating in the Tennessee-Alabama game during a Knoxville Quarterback Club get-together yesterday, saying basically that the upper-echelon teams seemingly are always on the receiving end of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to questionable calls.
“Seems like some people get the calls and some people don’t,” Orgeron said. “I’ve been in this league and I’ve been a part of that. Whether that’s true or not, you can never prove that.
“I do know this: there were some very questionable calls in that game that could have went either way and they went Alabama’s side. There were very questionable calls throughout the season and it seems they go for the better team. Whether that’s true or not, we can never prove that but that’s what it seems like.”
This whole SEC officiating fiasco has taken on a life of its own in recent weeks.
Orgeron is at least the fourth coach to publicly lambaste the officials, and that’s not counting Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson saying that he’d “have to get in line to complain” to the SEC’s head of officiating, Rogers Redding, about a couple of calls in the loss to South Carolina this past Saturday.
Once again, I don’t know what the SEC can do about this public sniping, but they need to do something to put a band-aid on the shotgun wounds during the season and perform some serious surgery in the offseason to repair the damage their officials -- and coaches -- have created.
