Longtime ACC ref abruptly quits over frustration with replay process, per report
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Longtime ACC referee Gary Patterson terminated his contract with the league amid frustrations with how the replay process was handled during the UConn-Syracuse game last Saturday.
Patterson quit his post with the conference, with which he has worked as an official since 2002, according to a report by ESPN on Friday.
The controversial replay review happened late in the first half of Syracuse’s 27-20 overtime victory over UConn at the JMA Wireless Dome. Patterson served as the head referee for the matchup between the Orange, who play in the ACC, and the Huskies, who are an independent. According to the ESPN report, Patterson terminated his deal with the ACC after the game.
The ACC confirmed on Friday that Patterson had ended his contract with the league. The conference also said that adjustments to the officiating crews for this week’s games were already made and that there would be no disruptions to the ACC’s officiating. Patterson was originally scheduled to officiate this Saturday’s game between Pittsburgh and West Virginia.
ESPN rules expert Bill LeMonnier, with decades of experience as a college football official, backed up Patterson’s frustrations, saying the series of events that happened during that particular replay review was uncharacteristic of how a replay process would normally be handled.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
