The Southwestern Athletic Conference reprimanded Grambling coach Rod Broadway this afternoon for his comments regarding the officiating during the Tigers’ Oct. 10 football game against Alabama A&M.
“We hold our coaches and administrators to the highest standards,” SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said, in a release today, “and we expect them to conduct themselves in a way which brings creditability and professionalism to the conference.”
In talking about the team’s problems in scoring against A&M, during a regularly scheduled weekly meeting with area media the following Tuesday, Broadway said Grambling could have put up 21-to-28 more points.
“We had one touchdown called back on a bogus call,” he said. “We had another one that hit a guy in the leg. There were four calls that were touchdown-saving calls — which is, you know, unheard of in this day and time. You can see one of those calls during the course of a game. But to have four calls during the course of a game that saves touchdowns? One was a fumble on the quarterback when we hit him. One was a punt that hit the guy on the leg and we scooped it up. The other one was a touchdown run. There were some calls, you know, that I thought were bogus, to say the least. But our kids kept playing. They played right through that.”
SWAC officials reviewed the comments, they said today, and in accordance with league bylaws sent a letter of reprimand from the conference office. This reprimand does not include a suspension, officials said, though future incidents could result in a fine and/or suspension from athletic competition.
“Public criticism of our game officials in any sport will not be condoned by coaches, administrators, or student-athletes,” Sharp said. “Coach Broadway has acknowledged his comments were inappropriate, thus the public reprimand.”
Coach broadway was no doubt speaking from his emotional heart and thus realized that he got a little carried away. The rules of the game strictly prohibit coaches and/or representives from criticizing game officials. In heart of hearts, I'm sure he knew he would be fined. It has been well chronicled that the "refs" in swac leave a lot to be desired…having said all that, coach Broadway, whom I admire greatly, did not positively represent GSU by airing these types of comments and therefore letf himself open for this very appropriate action.
I'm a PV fan, but I can see where the calls in the SWAC at times make you say "huh?" It would have been best for him not to mention it because now GSU will get picked on, plus he won the game, so the somments added no value. As a coach he shouldn't have let his emotions lead him to those comments because he represents the school and the SWAC and he won't be allowed to upstage the officials. GSU benefits from missed or questionable calls too, I was wacthing the PV-GSU game and one of our guys hit a kick returner in the belly with his shouldpads and because his feet flew into the air they called personal fould, 2 plays later as I watched GSU's right offensive tackle drag a PV defender to the ground almost pulling his shirt off as Greg Dillion threw a really nice TD pass nobody said anything, except me in the stands, but who cares what a fan thinks. Coach should just apologize and hope the comments go away
Good point pvd. The only good thing about the swac "refs" is that they usually evenly distribute their misery. Consequently, it makes no sense to highlight just our misfortune. my understanding is that coach broadway has addressed his mistake and moved on.
Somebody, anybody, please tell me what it is going to take for the SWAC to address the excess of blatant missed and or questionable calls the officials are making in any game? Regardless to how "evenly they distribute the misery," as you said PV, there are too many calls that make whoevers watching go "hummm" Personally speaking, the offense just needs to score enough points and defense defend the opponent enough to stop the scoring so that the game is not in the officials hands anyway, which was the case this time for GSU in the A&M game and unfortunately for GSU was not the case in the PV game where two touchdowns were called back behind blatant bad calls made by the officials and GSU losing the game by only 3 points. The point spread as recalled in most if not all GSU losses in the last 4 years, even before Broadway. The intent is not to upstage the officials. They just need to call the game right. What standards are the officials being held to commissioner? The SEC recently suspended a team of officials. What do they see that the SWAC seem to be turning a blind eye to within the organization. Who's looking a the film? Who should complain against the SWAC officials and who then should the complaints be directed to?
SWAC officials? They should not be dignified by being referred to as officials. I believe the average high school football official could do a much better job than these bums! No, make that Pee Wee league official.