Kirk Herbstreit calls reported suspension of SEC referee 'eye-opening,' wonders if it sets precedent

A report surfaced on Wednesday that longtime SEC referee Ken Williamson has been “permanently suspended” from calling conference games after a series of questionable calls in the Auburn–Georgia game two weeks ago. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit chimed in on the reported news on Thursday.

He’s interested to see whether this sets a precedent going forward. Generally speaking, he said, he’s a proponent of the referees.

“I do think that if a guy has consistently had rough outings where a league or a conference has to call coach or call an athletic director and basically apologize for a miss, and that happens at a regular rate, then I think this is, as you said, groundbreaking,” Kirk Herbstreit said in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

The college football analyst outlined the potential ramifications of the news, which was reported by Yellowhammer News and seemingly confirmed by NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay. They could be significant.

“Can you guys remember anything like this, where a guy in the middle of the season is asked to like take a seat?” Kirk Herbstreit asked. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.

“I think you talk about holding players and coaches and everybody accountable, referees have always never really had to deal with that. Maybe in the offseason, but not in season. I think it’s an eye-opener. I’m a referee guy. I’m pro-referee. I think fans get way too emotional about it, but I’m interested to see what this leads to and if we end up, this is kind of like that first example and now you start to see it more and more, not just in college football, but all around sports.”

Beyond that, Herbstreit stressed that he’s usually in the corner of the referees. He didn’t much weigh in on the actual calls in Auburn-Georgia, either.

“I would say, I don’t know how you feel about this, I look at this where I don’t mind the bang-bang play at first base without going to replay,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t mind the human error. And I’ve had my teams that I cheer for get the bad end of that, but I think there’s certain calls that I think that’s part of the game. Where before the replay, a guy makes a call in the gray area, it could go this way or that way and it goes against you and it’s the end of the world.

“With that being said, that’s kind of like the way I always grew up. It’s part of the game. I hate blaming referees or umpires.”