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Big 12 officials get plenty of looks(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov. 17--Inside a dark office packed with electronic equipment, Walt Anderson watches every play of every Big 12 game. He doesn't care about the score. He's watching the officials. Anderson, Big 12 supervisor of officials, peers through reading glasses, rewinds the video, takes another look and nods. "That's a good call," he says. Minutes later, Anderson sees one that isn't right and mutters, "See, we don't want that." College football fans have long seen officials as mystery men. Several controversial mistakes this season have prompted some Division I-A conferences, including the Big 12, to pull back the curtain and reveal how officials are trained and evaluated. Anderson, 54, has been an NFL official the last 11 years. Since coming to the Big 12 in April, he's modeled its officiating program after the NFL's. "I really like how hard he works, and I'm really impressed with the expertise that he brings to it," Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg says. Officials aren't perfect. According to the league's data, 95.5 percent of the 999 penalties called by Big 12 officials were judged to be correct. But 4.5 percent were incorrect. "What the coaches want more than anything is consistency," Anderson says. "That's what we're striving for." Jon Bible began his officiating career in 1969. He has multiple degrees from Texas. His uncle, D.X. Bible, coached the Longhorns from 1937 to 1946. Jon Bible also is a tenured professor at Texas State in San Marcos. Two hours before kickoff at the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game last week, Bible leans back in a chair inside the officials' locker room at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. He understands that some fans believe officials are biased toward their alma mater or hometown school. That's why Bible said he purposely steers clear of UT functions. "I don't contribute as an alum," he says. "I don't have anything to do with them. They've offered to let me out on the UT golf course. I don't even do that, not even in the off-season." The other officials get dressed, stretch and talk about their upcoming game. Another official checks the game balls. There are sandwiches and cold drinks. The officials make $925 for working one game. Bible earns $975 as the referee. Some conferences pay more; the Southeastern Conference pays $1,300 per game. The non-BCS conferences pay less. The officials don't talk about Tech or OU. They talk about marking fumbles, watching for offensive holding and "reading your keys," which means going over a mental checklist before the snap. Not once in 2 1/2 hours do they talk about which teams won or lost or the conference standings. Around 4:20 p.m., OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and other school officials come in to welcome the officials and discuss game management. Castiglione regularly stops by before every home game. It's unusual for an AD to address the officials, they say. "We want your experience to be just as first class as anybody who's going to be in the stadium tonight," Castiglione tells them. Watching from above From the press box, Anderson watches the Tech-OU game. He doesn't watch the ball, though. The animal lapel pin on his sport coat announces his affiliation. "I'm for the zebras," he says. Anderson hadn't seen Bible's crew in person because of his NFL schedule. Hours earlier, he was in Stillwater, Okla., to watch the crew officiate the Baylor-Oklahoma State game. After the game, the statistics reveal that Tech was flagged seven times for 51 yards. OU had two penalties for 25 yards. OU won, 34-24, and the officials had no major bearing on the outcome. Anderson goes back to the locker room for a brief talk with the officials. Even if he thinks they did a good job, he's reluctant to pat them on the back. He hasn't watched the game film yet and doesn't know what they might have missed. "After the game, I want to go ahead and tell the guys exactly what I think about anything that comes to mind to talk about," Anderson says. "But they have to understand that's not the final word on things." The critiquing process Coaches grade their players every week. Anderson employs nine NFL officials and another who is retired to grade his staff. The graders are spread across the country, from Georgia to Washington. Anderson says they can make anywhere from $300-$500 per week based on the assignment. Before the grading begins, referees log in to a secure Web site and input information on all fouls called in their games by 3 p.m. on Sundays. Byron Boston, an NFL line judge who lives in Humble, Texas, is one of the graders. He was the line judge who ruled that Frank Wycheck threw a backward pass to Kevin Dyson, who sprinted 75 yards into history for the Tennessee Titans on a play known as the Music City Miracle. Boston worked Super Bowl XXXIV that season on Jan. 30, 2000. Boston starts grading his game tape Tuesday morning, two days after he worked the New Orleans-Pittsburgh game. Usually it takes him about eight hours to grade one film. Boston scrutinizes every play -- looking for anything that would indicate a foul, such as a player falling down as a result of a block in the back or pass interference. Grades are assigned on a six-point system. Correct calls earn a six. Bad calls earn a one. "The object is not to see what you can get away with," Boston says. "The object is to see what you can do to improve your performance for the next week." Most calls in Boston's game film earn a six. A lineman flinches for a false start, far and away the most-called penalty in the Big 12. An incidental face mask penalty is also ruled to be correct. One particular pass interference call stands out. A linebacker picks up a receiver in man coverage. The linebacker does not turn and look for the ball and grazes the receiver with his left arm. The pass is incomplete. Big 12 officials have six criteria that determine pass interference, and this particular play has two of them. The defender's isn't playing the ball, and he's using an armbar. Defensive pass interference, or DPI as officials call it, is correct. However, the back judge throws the flag from the middle of the field. Boston and Anderson believe the call should have been made by the official closer to the play. They make a note to ask why he didn't. They also credit the back judge for throwing the flag. "That back judge has saved this crew's bacon three times this season," Anderson says. Posting the grades Usually by Tuesday afternoon, Anderson sits at his video editing station with a spreadsheet that lists penalties, grades and comments. He then goes through every play to see if the graders' comments are in line with his philosophy on officiating. It's important because Anderson doesn't want the graders to send the wrong message or have the wrong tone. Officials were nervous about how Anderson would handle the evaluation process when he was hired, Bible says. But he thinks Anderson has done "triple somersaults to be fair." "If we make a mistake, they don't crucify us," Bible says. Anderson routinely gives feedback to the officials, who are essentially independent contractors with one-year deals. Officials who finish the season with low grades may not be invited back. "Fans always get upset and mad when they see officiating mistakes in games," Weiberg says. "Their natural reaction is they want the officials fired. That's not the way the accountability structure works." Ty Halpin, NCAA liaison to the Division I-A football rules committee, said each conference is responsible for the evaluation process. "The bottom line is that each conference has the authority to hold its officials to standards it decides," Halpin said. Training for the future Auditing the game videos allows Anderson to find close plays that he can later use for teaching. He'll take those plays and create a weekly training video that officials are required to watch. Slow-motion effects and graphics point out specific points of interest. The video may run only 15-20 minutes, but Anderson says crews may take an hour to review it. A copy is sent to each Big 12 coach so they know what the officials are being taught. Anderson finalizes the grades and posts them on the Web site. He sends e-mails to the crew chiefs alerting them that the process is complete. At that point, the game is finally over from the officials' standpoint. Anderson usually catches a Wednesday afternoon flight from Dallas to Houston before taking off to his weekend NFL assignment. On Monday, it's back to the Big 12 office, where the process begins all over again. E-mail [email protected] A 'direct, competitive effect' on the outcome According to the NCAA guidelines, instant replay should be used only to correct plays that have a "direct, competitive effect" on the final outcome. Those three words can ignite a philosophical debate about what is important in a football game. Take what happened on a play last Saturday with about 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter. A receiver made a diving catch and slid out of bounds for a 14-yard gain. Replays indicated the ball hit the ground before it was secured by the receiver. The opposing coach voiced no concerns, and the game moved on. The replay official reviewed the play, noted it should have been an incomplete pass and purposely did not stop the game to correct the mistake. The drive ended in a touchdown. Walt Anderson said he agreed with the replay official, who did not stop the game. In Anderson's view, the 14-yard completion came too early to have a direct, competitive effect on the outcome. "You've got to have a very efficient system so you're not dragging the game down," Anderson said. "It's a tough balance to what you determine you will stop and review and what you won't." Technology takes Big 12 officiating to new level Fans would love Sean Hollister's assignments on Saturdays. He sits in the Big 12's video command center and can digitally record up to 20 games at once. Ten dual-tuner DVRs are just part of technological wizardry the Big 12 uses in its officiating program. Supervisor of officials Walt Anderson estimated the league has spent $170,000 on satellite receivers, video routers, DVD burners and video editing bays. The system was installed by XOS Technologies Inc., and is also used for basketball officiating and other sports. "It's got an instruction manual," said Hollister, who oversees the league's video services. Anderson and Hollister can look at plays on two 32-inch, wall-mounted flat-screen televisions. If that's not big enough, there's a 46-inch flat screen. The Big 12 also asks the home team for copies of game video. Schools don't send VHS tapes or DVDs, though. The video usually arrives on Tuesday mornings on a 40-gigabyte data cartridge that is slightly larger than an iPod. What constitutes pass interference? One of the most difficult penalties to judge is pass interference. Big 12 supervisor of officials Walt Anderson credits Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, and Neely Dunn, an NFL supervisor, for creating six criteria that best define what constitutes pass interference. Anderson wants Big 12 officials to use this terminology and make calls based on the six criteria. Hook and turn: A defensive player cannot use his arm as a hook and turn the offensive player around, preventing him from catching a pass. Not playing the ball: Defensive players must make an attempt to turn and look for the ball when making contact with an offensive player. Playing through the back: A defensive player cannot come over an offensive player's back to try and catch a pass. Cutoff: A defender who is not playing the ball cannot cross into the path of a receiver and make contact. Arm bar: A defensive player cannot put his forearm across an offensive player's chest and restrict him getting to the ball or raising his arms. Grabbing the arm: This is similar to holding. A defensive player cannot clutch a receiver's hands or arms. BIG 12 REFEREES Big 12 officials have called 999 fouls -- including nonconference games -- through Saturday. The visiting team was charged with 524, compared with 475 for the home team. The leading infractions, and selected others: False start: 192 Offensive holding: 142 Unnecessary roughness: 91 Defensive offside: 73 Defensive pass interference: 70 Other selected calls Delay of game: 66 Block in the back: 37 Roughing the passer: 29 Illegal formation: 25 Unsportsmanlike conduct: 14 Spearing: 1 Tripping: 1 Defensive 12 men prior to snap: 1 Growing up around football Walt Anderson, the Big 12's supervisor of officials, has been around football every year of his life. Anderson, 54, is the son of two educators -- a high school coach and teacher. Anderson was born in Florida, but his father, Mac, landed a coaching job in Orange, Texas, in 1957. Mac Anderson, now deceased, then coached in Nederland before getting hired in Channelview. Walt Anderson played quarterback for his father in Channelview and earned a scholarship to Sam Houston State, where he lettered from 1970 to 1973. "In 1969, if I hadn't gone to school, I would have gone into the Air Force," Anderson said. "I'd been sent off to Vietnam to fight like everyone else." When Anderson finished his undergraduate work, he went to dental school at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He built a successful dental practice in the Houston area that had 13 doctors and 45 employees. Anderson started officiating at the high school level. In 1984, Anderson landed his first college officiating assignment in the Lone Star Conference. He would eventually work six seasons in the Southland Conference (1989-94) before being hired by the old Southwest Conference in 1995. In 1996, Anderson was hired as a line judge by the NFL and has worked on Sundays since. He was promoted to referee in 2003 and sold his dental practice. Anderson, who lives in Sugar Land, Texas, is married and has five kids (four sons, one daughter) ranging from 3 to 28 years old. Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. 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