WACO, Texas — Following Baylor's 70-68 win over Iowa State that saw coach Scott Drew ejected and drew much criticism from fans and spectators alike, the Big 12 has taken action against athletic director Mack Rhoades, who didn't hold back on his thoughts regarding the quality of the officiating during the game.
In a press conference afterwards, Rhoades was firm in his dissatisfaction, stating that how the officials called the game was "an embarrassment for this league."
"I'm not somebody that calls the officials or calls the league after every game," Rhoades said after the game. "In fact, I never call when it comes to officiating. It's always about, 'We need to play better, we need to execute better, we need to play tougher,' all of those things. But tonight was an embarrassment for this league. We have the best basketball league in the country, and the officiating tonight did not match it. Period. End of story."
In the second half of the game, Drew was given a second technical foul for stepping outside of the coaching box, which led to his ejection from the game--an action that is a rare sight since historically most coaches that have reached that point have been given a stern warning at most.
However, Drew also said that he wasn't given an explanation for the ejection after the game.
"This league needs to get better when we think about our officiating," Rhoades said Saturday. "And we have some great, great officials. But this particular crew tonight did not match the level of this game. And that shouldn't happen in this league. I'm going to fight for our program. I'm going to fight for our school. I'm going to fight for our coaches. We're going to fight for our student-athletes."
On Tuesday, the conference announced that Rhoades would be fined $25,000 for his comments following the game.
“The Big 12 Conference members have developed policies governing officiating matters,” Yormark said. “It is vital that senior administration officials, especially the Directors of Athletics, adhere explicitly to these policies. As the top basketball conference in the country the competitive balance in this league leads to extremely intense competition, and it can be very difficult to balance support for an institution’s teams while fully complying with the agreed upon expectations. On this occasion, the required discipline was not exercised. Mack Rhoades is one of the very best athletics administrators in the nation, and I am grateful for the manner in which he handled this process.”
The Bears' next match will be on Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Texas Tech at home to round out their two-game homestand.
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