At a ‘crisis moment,’ women’s college basketball officiating needs a way forward

After the first quarter, both SMU and Memphis assumed everything would calm down. Nine fouls in 10 minutes was a lot. But everyone, officials included, regroups after each quarter. Surely, someone in the three-member officiating squad would say: Let’s let them play.

In the second quarter, the teams made it 90 seconds before the next whistle. The next one came 21 seconds later. And another 29 seconds after that.

“It was so hard to just play basketball, to just play free, without a ref blowing a whistle,” said Ki’Ari Cain, the only Memphis starter not to foul out of that January 2024 game.

“It just felt like — don’t touch anybody,” said former SMU guard Reagan Bradley.

From the radio booth, Tyler Springs, the voice of Memphis women’s hoops, painted the picture: Players stunned and staring off into space; others approaching the referees with varying degrees of animosity.

“At a certain point, I felt resigned to the rhythm of the night, rather than being incensed about it,” Springs said. “It just kept going and going.”

By the end of 50 minutes of play — including two overtimes — 75 fouls had been called in a game that was not unusually physical. The game took three hours and 40 minutes (typical game time: two hours). Ten players fouled out. There were 98 free throws. SMU’s bench was so depleted that it finished with just four players on the floor (and still won, 91-86).

Bradley made it to the second overtime. Then she became the fourth player on SMU to foul out.

“I’m walking down the bench, high-fiving my teammates, and as I’m passing each one, I’m like, ‘You already fouled out. You already fouled out. You already fouled out,’” Bradley said. “It was crazy.”

Five days later, on a video call with officials from across the country, Debbie Williamson — the person responsible for assigning, evaluating and developing officials in several conferences across the country, including SMU’s and Memphis’ league (the American Athletic Conference) — said she oversaw a game that week with “a lot of fouls” … but that the crew was 90 percent correct.

“It was such a proud moment for us,” Williamson said.

Though Williamson didn’t mention SMU-Memphis explicitly, multiple officials who viewed the call, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly, agreed she couldn’t mean any other game.

“Our expectation for you all, night to night … is that you guys (call) all the rules, all the time,” Williamson said on that call, a recording of which was viewed by The Athletic.

Williamson and the ACC had not commented at the time of publication. The officials who called the SMU-Memphis game declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment.

The Memphis-SMU game drew some public criticism, but didn’t garner widespread attention like other recent high-profile officiating fracases have. Those include:

• The 2023 NCAA title game, which was so egregious it caused the NCAA to fast-track an officiating review that was meant for the following year

• A 2024 NCAA Sweet 16 game in which Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo was ordered mid-game to remove her nose ring (which she had worn during every game that season, including two NCAA Tournament games)

• Louisville losing a game after a foul meant to stop the clock was ruled as an intentional foul, awarding two free throws to the opposing team

• An official being pulled midgame during the NCAA Tournament’s first round last year because she held an advanced degree from one of the two schools playing. (Throughout this story, “official” is used to refer to a referee.)

“As we’ve continued to see the game grow, officiating is one of those areas that we have to continue to be very attentive to,” said NCAA VP of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman, “and make sure that, within the system that exists, we are providing the opportunities for the officials to grow and develop and get direct feedback, and then there’s accountability for that through the levers that exist for the NCAA. But it is a collaborative effort with us and the conferences.”

Officials getting ripped by coaches and fans is nothing new. But with women’s college basketball exponentially more visible and popular than it’s ever been, the issue is reaching a tipping point. With the NCAA Tournament starting this week, could we see another high-profile mess? As one longtime official said, the sport’s officiating is at a “crisis moment.”

“It was exposed,” one Division I commissioner said.

The Athletic conducted more than 50 interviews with NCAA sources, administrators, coaches, players, commissioners and more than a dozen Division I current and former women’s basketball officials, many of whom requested anonymity to speak freely. Stakeholders within the sport painted a bleak picture: Currently, three people control more than 75 percent of the regular season officiating jobs; officiating styles are inconsistent across conferences; the system lacks a formal developmental framework and security for officials; and there has been limited transparency on almost every level.

“This is a five-to-10-year fix,” said one high-ranking administrator. “And we’re nowhere close to starting that.”

A concentration of power and lack of transparency at the top

While the NCAA oversees postseason tournament officiating, every conference is responsible for its own officiating during the regular season. Each has a supervisor — an independent contractor — who hires, assigns games, and evaluates and determines officials’ pay. Conference supervisors alone decide who should be considered for the NCAA Tournament.

That makes conference supervisors arguably the most powerful people in college basketball officiating. In women’s basketball, there are three main players: Williamson, Patty Broderick and Lisa Mattingly. Mattingly and Broderick had long officiating careers, while Williamson worked in college coaching and education before becoming a supervisor. All have been widely recognized for their contributions to the women’s game.

Combined, working with their teams, they lead 22 of the 31 conferences, including all power conferences. On the men’s side, only one supervisor controls more than four conferences, and 10 supervisors oversee no more than two; no supervisor handles more than one power conference.

One longtime women’s basketball coach said of the trio: “It’s such a monopoly — on controlling the entire spectrum of officiating.”

A Division I commissioner added: “They each control their own little fiefdoms.”

Concentrated power isn’t inherently concerning, but when coupled with the lack of transparency in officiating, it has led to mistrust of the system by some within the sport.

Advancing to the NCAA Tournament is seen as a career pinnacle for officials. It can also push them into higher tiers, where they earn more money. Officials who’ve advanced well into the tournament can earn roughly $4,000 per regular-season power conference game, while mid-major top tiers make around $2,000 per game. But getting to the NCAA Tournament depends on a process that happens behind closed doors.

Conference supervisors send watchlists (20 names per conference) three times during the regular season to Penny Davis, the NCAA national coordinator of officiating, and four regional advisors. The lists are private — even officials don’t know if they’re on them until they’re evaluated — and the NCAA can only evaluate officials included on them.

Multiple officials and coaches said the secrecy in this process has allowed for favoritism in the regular season — or at least the perception of it. Without a regulated and transparent system that shows why someone is receiving a certain schedule, or why an official is qualified for the postseason (or not), speculation has run rampant.

“There’s got to be more oversight of how the officiating is assigned,” said one longtime coach.

This lack of transparency in scheduling can cause particular frustration when conference supervisors select an official who is a family member, romantic partner or close friend. In the SEC, Mattingly oversees and assigns her longtime partner. The conference told The Athletic it believed those assignments were consistent with the officials’ credentials and reputation. Mattingly declined to comment.

From 2018-24 (excluding the shortened 2020-21 season), Broderick’s daughter was the only official who averaged at least 80 games a year, a lucrative schedule, a number of them in conferences ultimately run by her mother — according to PhillyRef.com, an independent website that tracks officials’ assignments — but never officiated an NCAA Tournament game, a decision made separately from her mother.

A Big Ten spokesperson and Big 12 spokesperson told The Athletic that Broderick doesn’t oversee, assign or evaluate her daughter, who instead reports to her assistant coordinator. The Big Ten lauded Broderick’s “remarkable character and leadership.” The Big 12 said, “While we are consistently working to evolve our women’s basketball officiating and ensure it is best in class, we have been pleased with the evaluation structure and assignment processes Patty Broderick and her consortium utilize.” Broderick declined to comment.

Another issue raised by officials and coaches is that coordinators’ philosophies seem to be at odds.

Mattingly is quoted in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as saying: “It is a fine balance between art and science in officiating. We don’t want a game where officials call everything they see.” But Williamson said last season that officials should call “all the rules all the time.”

So, which is it?

“Some supervisors want to call it a certain way. Other supervisors don’t want you to call what you just worked the night before for another supervisor,” said one official. “It is challenging at times to adjust.”

Inconsistencies — from game-to-game, conference-to-conference and regular-season-to-postseason — were the biggest frustration for coaches interviewed by The Athletic.

That can become particularly evident in the postseason, when officials from different conferences are on the floor together.

What might you get in that scenario?

Something like a national title game between LSU and Iowa in which Caitlin Clark was called for a technical foul for delay of game while rolling the ball away on a dead ball situation and Kim Mulkey, who made contact with an official, was not.

“You (had) three officials on two different pages,” said one official with 25 years of college officiating experience, adding: “Because we’re not trained the same … you’re going to get a different game when you have referees from different areas.”

When asked about whether officials from different conferences appear to officiate differently in the NCAA Tournament, Davis said she thought “that narrative or that line exists probably in all sports,” and that her emphasis is that officials should “enforce the rules as written.”

No true development or feedback system

Officiating in that 2023 LSU-Iowa national title game didn’t just draw outrage from fans and media critiques; it also prompted the NCAA to fast-track an NCAA Tournament officiating review, known as the Pictor Report, that had been scheduled for the following year. For the report, the Pictor Group reviewed documents and conducted interviews that included Davis, conference supervisors and regional advisors, but did not interview any officials or coaches.

The Athletic viewed a copy of this six-page report, which said that the NCAA’s officiating program was “run with integrity.” The report offered six observations and identified areas to improve, including increased communication, tightening the watchlists (and urging the NCAA to “articulate clearer expectations for placing an official on the list”) and adjusting how the officiating crews were selected. Holzman said the NCAA has acted on the group’s recommendations.

In the ensuing months, the NCAA oversight committee, WBCA stewardship committee and a small group at the 2024 Final Four received briefings on the report. However, the full report was never made public or broadly shown to coaches and other key stakeholders. None of the coaches The Athletic interviewed for this story had seen a full copy of the report.

“It’s disconcerting to know that whatever information was gleaned from that (report) has been kept out of the hands of coaches, athletic directors and anyone else,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I’d be curious as to why.”

When asked why the Pictor Report was never published publicly in full, like some previous NCAA reports (including the Kaplan report and a 2020 Pictor officiating report), Holzman said, “This was something that I asked to be done for the benefit of myself as I lead and direct in these areas.”

Officials hear frustrations from coaches, fans and players. Many say they need to be provided with better tools to do their job well. Namely: More feedback and a developmental system.

“I had no idea where I stood in any of this,” said one official with NCAA Tournament experience. “Tell me where I stand, so that I can make a change. … You don’t get that.”

Currently, there is no standardized on-court training for officials, nor do they get thorough and personalized reviews of their work. Even when Davis and regional advisors return comprehensive evaluations for NCAA Tournament inclusion, officials generally do not get to see them (with the exception of those in the MEAC, run by longtime NBA official Tony Brothers). Holzman said the NCAA is seeking “greater assurances that those evaluation reports are getting into the hands of the officials themselves.” Additionally, feedback given by coaches to conference supervisors after each game doesn’t get returned to officials.

None of the officials interviewed by The Athletic had received play-call percentages from their conference or the NCAA. In-season, feedback mostly consists of time-stamped game clips, but whether or when officials receive those varies. Officials working for Williamson said they often receive clips several weeks after a game has passed.

The officials who spoke to The Athletic largely found the trainings and evaluations that are available to be insufficient, especially for mid-career officials, including a general, numbered feedback form from Broderick; crew-chief training from Mattingly (which needs to be attended only once); occasional video calls during the season with the NCAA and conference officials; and open-book quizzes during the season. To officiate in the NCAA Tournament, officials must attend a five-hour NCAA clinic (with no on-court training) and pass a 100-question, untimed, open book exam ahead of the season. In recent years, the NCAA has hosted a free clinic at the Final Four, geared toward early-career and lower-division officials, as well as an event for 100 officials at the college basketball academies.

Conference supervisors host summer camps for officials, and often market these as developmental opportunities. However, multiple officials said the feedback isn’t consistent across camps, and for many early- and mid-level officials, the camps can be barriers to advancement because of the cost (generally between $350 and $525). They fear that choosing not to go could result in a loss of assigned games and wages.

“If you don’t go to camp,” said one veteran official, “you set yourself back two years. … It’s pay to play.”

Most officials said the only way to know how they’ve performed in one season is to wait until they receive their schedule for the next season.

“Are you getting more conference games? Are you getting better matchups?” said one official with more than 20 years of college experience. “If you lose a bunch, if you’re down 10 to 15 to 20 games, you need to figure out what you’re doing wrong. Unfortunately, that’s on us to figure out. We’re not told.”

An uncertain path for officials

The NCAA has acknowledged it needs a larger pool of officials, but many officials say that uncertainty and inequities in salary and scheduling can make it a less appealing career.

In 2022, the NCAA began to pay officials the same amount for tournament games, but not all conferences pay women’s and men’s officials equally.

The Athletic asked all 31 conferences about officials’ pay equity. Nine conferences said they paid their men’s and women’s officials the same, five said they didn’t, six declined to disclose and the others didn’t respond to multiple requests. Of those offering equal pay, more than half said they had only started doing so in the past few years; the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten pay their officials equally, but none would say how long that’s been the case.

Even with pay disparities, officiating can be a lucrative career for those with the busiest schedules. The most-used officials can earn more than $250,000 before expenses during the season, though many make significantly less (and work other jobs to supplement incomes).

But as seasonal independent contractors, officials also accept uncertainty.

In September, officials rank the conferences that have hired them in order of which they most want to work for — but without knowing how many games they might receive or how much they’ll make per game in that conference. Ultimately, they don’t know their schedules, or how much they’ll earn that season, until a few weeks before tipoff.

Officials are paid a lump sum per game — all expenses come out of that. So, if an official is assigned to games within driving distance of their home, they’ll earn more than an official who has to travel and pay for flights, hotels, rental cars and meals.

Another scheduling frustration officials raised: more assignments for younger, less experienced officials. This season, one official with no Division I basketball experience got their first two DI games in the ACC, an unusually prominent assignment for an official at that level. Another inexperienced official’s games more than doubled recently from 27 to 66, going from no power conference games to 15. One official’s games jumped from two in their first season to 38 in their third season.

“The problem now is we are advancing young officials at way too quick of a rate,” said one veteran official of regular season officiating jobs. “And it’s not their fault.”

Broderick, Mattingly and Williamson did not comment on less-experienced officials receiving heavier schedules.

In these scenarios, it’s often the more experienced officials who end up shouldering far more responsibility in games, which can tax their bandwidth and can lead to missed calls and lower morale.

“Then we start missing plays and the inconsistency begins,” said one former official. “It’s one thing to mentor officials who are moving into new levels, but mentoring is very different from teaching on the job — which is what is happening, and is very evident.”

Where does the sport go from here?

Through the embarrassments and frustrations, administrators, coaches and officials ask: Where does the buck stop?

The Pictor Report calls for greater communication and transparency in different systems, and many in the sport — coaches, officials, administrators — agree more clarity and communication is needed. The NCAA may have implemented the report’s recommendations, but that hasn’t included a consistent public response to officiating blunders the past few seasons, or ensuring that the broader basketball community is aware of steps taken to eliminate these errors.

In 2016, after an incorrect call in the Sweet 16 kept Gonzaga’s men’s team from advancing, the NCAA called coach Mark Few to apologize for the mistake. Not so on the women’s side. A source close to Iowa confirmed that Davis never reached out to discuss the officiating in the 2023 NCAA title game. Auriemma said that he had never heard from anyone at the NCAA after a tournament game, including the divisive screen call at the end of the 2024 Final Four game against Iowa.

Coaches have made suggestions for improvement. Some mentioned adopting “two-minute reports,” similar to the NBA, which releases detailed reports on every call made in the final two minutes of games that were within three points (the WNBA does not do this). Others wanted to see transparency around play-calling percentages and how that corresponds to assignments.

Officials and conference sources said they’d like to regularly see game call percentages, ensure NCAA’s officiating evaluations get to officials, have more consistency across leagues and see more transparency in scheduling.

Davis said she also has suggested that conferences provide free summer training for staff officials. “As we’re investing in the game and investing in all parts of it, officiating shouldn’t be overlooked,” she said.

At a time when the game is better than ever, with television audiences hitting record viewership and attendance up across the country, getting officiating up to speed with the game should be the NCAA’s highest priority.

“(Good reffing) is everything,” said one ACC coach. “To me, it’s the integrity of the game.”

(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Top photo: Jay LaPrete / Getty Images

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