Referee Admits His Mistake in Calling 15 Technical Fouls

Referee Al Hackney admitted Thursday night that he misinterpreted NCAA rules when he called 15 technical fouls during Wednesday night’s basketball game between Chapman College and Mansfield College of Pennsylvania.

The technicals were called on 15 players who left the Chapman and Mansfield benches when a scuffle broke out with 44 seconds left in regulation play. Chapman won in overtime, 101-93.

Hackney said that the 15 players should have been disqualified from the game, but no free throws should have been awarded.

“I didn’t think properly and the rule was misinterpreted,” Hackney said. “There should not have been any technicals. The players should have been disqualified and sent to the locker room. I blew it.”

Ed Steitz, chairman of the NCAA’s rules committee, agreed with Hackney’s interpretation.

“I can only tell you what the rule says,” Steitz said Thursday, before Hackney made his comments. “Unless there was a fight involving the players from the bench, no technicals should be assessed. The players should have been disqualified.”

There will be no immediate action taken on the incident. Steitz says officials are reviewed at the end of the season by their respective conferences.

Chapman Coach Bob Boyd did not plan to purse the matter because his team won. Furthermore, there is no game film of the incident available because taping stopped when play was halted.

The incident began when Chapman was leading, 73-63. A minor scuffle broke out between Darius Henderson of Chapman and Tony Budzik of Mansfield with 44 seconds left in regulation. Both benches cleared, but no punches were thrown.

Hackney called eight technicals on Chapman and seven on Mansfield, one for each player who left the bench. No technicals were called on any player in the game at the time of the incident.

Budzik made 14 of 16 technical foul shots awarded Mansfield. Andre Hill then made nine of 14 and Chapman’s lead was cut to 82-77. The score was tied at the end of regulation, 84-84.

Rule 10, Section 10B, Exemption 2 of the NCAA basketball rules states: “Any bench personnel other than the head coach who leaves the confinement of the bench area during a fight that may break out or has broken out shall be disqualified from participating in the game and shall go to the team’s locker room or leave the building until the game has ended.”

No players were ejected Wednesday night.

Boyd said that his team’s bench cleared during the 10-second incident, but that none of the players from the bench confronted a Mansfield player. He also said he was surprised that Hackney had called the technicals. “I said, ‘Al, you must be kidding me,’ ” Boyd said. “I thought the free throws took the game out of the players’ hands, and that (the officials) didn’t have to do it that way.”

Steitz said that three seasons ago Hackney’s ruling would have been correct. The rule regarding players on the bench was changed before the 1987-88 season to prevent possible riots, according to Steitz.

“We made it tough on purpose, so the officials could control the game,” Steitz said. “We feel the ones leaving the bench are the ones who escalate a fight situation. But we felt that disqualifying any player who left the bench was punishment enough.”

Hackney, who regularly officiates high school and college games, has been involved in other unusual incidents regarding technical fouls.

During a game at Cal State Fullerton in 1987, Brown University Coach Mike Cingiser and a Fullerton fan got into a fight that resulted in a bench-clearing brawl between Brown players and some fans.

Fullerton Coach George McQuarn said after the game that Hackney gave him the option of having Cingiser ejected and awarding Fullerton 28 technical foul shots, two for every Brown player or coach involved in the fight. However, McQuarn declined.

“I wanted to play basketball,” McQuarn said. “The last thing I wanted was the coach out of the game and 28 foul shots.”

The record for technical fouls in an NCAA game occurred on Jan. 16, 1988, when 16 technicals were called in a contest between UC San Diego and Menlo College, 14 of which were assessed after a fight that involved the entire Menlo bench and one player from San Diego’s bench. Menlo was assessed with 12 of the technicals, 11 of which were for players and coaches who left the bench.