DeCock: ACC had to blow whistle on veteran ref Karl Hess
Karl Hess made a lot of difficult and controversial calls over the years. The ACC’s decision to cut the veteran basketball official loose was unfortunate, but neither difficult nor controversial.
Hess had to go. There was no way around it.
Sunday’s incident, when he made an ethnic comment to a former Wake Forest trustee sitting courtside, was merely the latest in a long string of controversies involving Hess – a good ref with a bad temper.
At his best, he is among the top referees in college basketball. At his worst, he’s a bully with a whistle.
Mit Shah, a New Jersey-born hotelier of Indian descent who served as vice chairman of the Wake Forest board of trustees, was sitting courtside Sunday night watching Wake Forest play Louisville when he questioned several of Hess’ calls during a late timeout. Shah said Hess responded, “When I’m older, I want to sit in your seat and watch your Egyptian ass ref a game.”
After investigating the incident, the ACC confirmed Friday that Hess would not work any more games this season. Attempts to reach Hess this week were unsuccessful, but he told ESPN.com that Shah’s account was accurate.
“It’s a sad day and is devastating,” Hess said. “But I’m responsible.”
Since officials are independent contractors on season-to-season contracts, it’s extremely unlikely Hess will ever work another ACC game. Already Friday, other conferences were reportedly moving to cut their ties as well, potentially ending a career that included nine ACC championship games and six Final Fours.
Hess had become a distraction for a conference trying to position itself as the best in college basketball, with people talking about Hess instead of the conference’s four Hall of Fame coaches. It’s possible the bizarre comment to Shah would be enough to put any official’s job in jeopardy. For Hess, it was merely more gas on a fire the ACC got tired of putting out all the time.
Despite the complaints of fans, there’s no questioning Hess’ raw ability to officiate a basketball game. Many coaches found him fair and accurate, and you don’t work Final Fours and ACC title games by accident. There’s also no question he allowed himself to become the focus of unwanted attention – most notably at N.C. State in 2012 when he inexplicably ejected Wolfpack legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from their seats behind the scorer’s table.
The ACC issued a rare public reprimand for that one, although only of how he handled the ejection. When Hess didn’t work the conference tournament, a protest by the opening-game officials – they wore stickers marked “KH” on their shoes – had to be quickly snuffed out, to the ACC’s considerable chagrin. Hess didn’t see N.C. State again until this December, and after less than five minutes, he issued a technical foul to Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried.
Throw in a couple of similar incidents elsewhere over the past few years – Hess summarily ejected Nebraska coach Tim Miles from an NCAA tournament game last spring after Miles correctly pointed out a shot-clock error – and patience with Hess began to run thin.
Since 2012, Hess had been dancing along a very thin line. Sunday, he crossed it.
The ACC’s best referees, guys like Mike Eades and Roger Ayers, are largely anonymous to all but hardcore fans. They make the right calls, maintain control and for the most part stay out of the way.
That was never Hess’ style. His ability to make the right call outweighed his intemperance for years. The ACC put up with his antics – enabled them, even – because of his skill as a referee, until he finally went too far and left the conference no choice.
This story was originally published January 9, 2015 at 11:23 AM.