Referee Karl Hess fired by the ACC

[Washingtonian]

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 3m3 minutes ago
Veteran ref Karl Hess confirmed to ESPN he has been notified that the ACC has fired him for his comments to a fan last week. Story coming.

 

[gmutom]

Long overdue. Hess has always officiated with a chip on his shoulder. He reminds me of Joey Crawford in the NBA with the exception that Crawford sought counseling for his anger issues and resurrected his career.

 

[gmujim92]

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 3m3 minutes ago
Veteran ref Karl Hess confirmed to ESPN he has been notified that the ACC has fired him for his comments to a fan last week. Story coming.

Wow, I need to like this post more than once. Good riddance, you piece of crap!

 

[wijg]

Is he the same ref that threatened to eject our esteemed car dealership owner/supporter of Mason during a game last year?

 

[Pablo]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...73/referee-karl-hess-no-longer-work-acc-games:

Mit Shah @MitShahNoble
Follow
Karl Hess to me at the Wake-Louisville game tonight..."When I'm older, I want to sit in your seat & watch your Egyptian a** ref a game" #Wow

1:03 AM - 5 Jan 2015

 

[psyclone]

I vaguely remember a controversial call way back when Rick Barnes was coaching us in the finals of the CAA tournament against Richmond that I think he made. Later that same game he pulled a muscle or something and had to leave the game.

Any oldtimers able to fill in some of the details?

 

[PoorManProfit]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...73/referee-karl-hess-no-longer-work-acc-games:

Mit Shah @MitShahNoble
Follow
Karl Hess to me at the Wake-Louisville game tonight..."When I'm older, I want to sit in your seat & watch your Egyptian a** ref a game" #Wow

1:03 AM - 5 Jan 2015

Please tell me he wasn't fired for this?

 

[A.-Siegfried]

Please tell me he wasn't fired for this?

This...and many, many MANY more instances of not doing his single job which was to ref games. He didn't get the nickname "King Karl" for nothing.

 

[MASONscott]

Hope the A10 follows suit.

Not a major user of Twitter, but I did start to follow Patrick Stevens #D1course back in the day he followed Mason. So he still ends up on my feed and often posts the whereabouts of King Karl. I will miss the chuckle and subsequent pity for the home crowd.

 

[gmujim92]

As much as I despise Hess, he couldn't have been any worse than the asshats who worked our game last night.

Ridiculous how an otherwise terrific league like the A-10 is content to have completely incompetent officials.

 

[Washingtonian]

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 5m5 minutes ago
Farnham breaking news!!! @SeanFarnham: Karl Hess has withdrawn from all SEC assignments for the remainder of the 2015 season”

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...73/referee-karl-hess-no-longer-work-acc-games

Veteran official Karl Hess has worked his final ACC basketball game and has withdrawn himself from assignments with the American Athletic Conference.

Hess' termination from the ACC comes after he was accused of making a racial comment to Atlanta hotel magnate Mit Shah during Sunday's Louisville-Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Hess has also withdrawn from all SEC games for the rest of the season, sources told ESPN.

Shah, the former chairman of the Wake Forest University board of trustees said on his now-private Twitter page after the game: "Karl Hess to me at the Wake-Louisville game tonight..."When I'm older, I want to sit in your seat & watch your Egyptian a** ref a game" #Wow".

Now the CEO of an Atlanta-based hotel management company, Shah is of Indian descent and was born in New Jersey, but he grew up in Winston-Salem.

Hess, who has worked ACC games for more than 25 years, told ESPN that the comment was made in jest.

 

[Vurbel]

[QUOTE="Washingtonian, post: 29727, member: 12"
Hess, who has worked ACC games for more than 25 years, told ESPN that the comment was made in jest.[/QUOTE]

Well if it's made in jest it's ok then! Just like if a person from the south insults you, it's ok if they say "but bless his heart" afterwards.

 

[Pablo]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/09/4462780/acc-terminates-relationship-with.html:

• KARL HESS, A HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
  
  ACC referee Karl Hess, who was let go by the conference Friday, had a history of controversy. Sunday’s incident at Wake Forest, when he used an ethnically tinged comment to a fan, was merely the latest in a long string of high-profile incidents involving the official.
  
  • In 2012, during a game at PNC Arena between N.C. State and Florida State, Hess ejected Wolfpack legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from their seats behind the scorer’s table during the game. The ACC would later publicly reprimand Hess for his handling of the ejection.
  
  • After Hess declined to work the 2012 ACC tournament, the officials for the opening game came out with stickers marked “KH” on their shoes to protest the ACC’s treatment of Hess, much to the conference’s displeasure.
  
  • Hess did not work another N.C. State game until December. Less than five minutes into the game, against Wofford at Reynolds Coliseum, he assessed a technical foul to Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried.
  
  • During an opening-round game at the 2014 NCAA tournament in San Antonio, Hess ejected Nebraska coach Tim Miles after Miles correctly pointed out a shot-clock error. The NCAA later issued a statement from Hess acknowledging “the error should have been noticed and could have been corrected.”
  
  • When Marquette and Connecticut went to overtime in 2013, the teams lined up going the wrong direction for the opening tip of overtime. Connecticut scored a basket before the error was noticed. Hess’ crew threw out the points and restarted overtime, an incorrect interpretation of the rulebook.
  
  • During a 2012 NCAA tournament regional final between Louisville and Florida, Hess issued a technical foul to Cardinals coach Rick Pitino for yelling at his own player, point guard Peyton Siva.
  
  • In 2012, Hess and his crew missed an obvious goaltending call at the end of a game between West Virginia and Syracuse when a Syracuse player knocked away a potential game-tying layup after it hit the backboard.
  
  • During a 2013 Final Four game between Wichita State and Louisville, Hess called a questionable jump ball in the final seconds that deprived the Shockers of any chance to tie the score.
  
  Luke DeCock
  
  
  

 

[gmutom]

I vaguely remember a controversial call way back when Rick Barnes was coaching...

I'm not sure it it's an urban myth or not, but I heard Rick Barnes once asked a referee if he could give him a technical for what he was thinking. The official, of course, said he couldn't. To which Barnes reportedly replied, "Good, I think you're an idiot."

 

[wijg]

I'm not sure it it's an urban myth or not, but I heard Rick Barnes once asked a referee if he could give him a technical for what he was thinking. The official, of course, said he couldn't. To which Barnes reportedly replied, "Good, I think you're an idiot."

Wasn't Valvano the one who said that.? Pretty sure I saw that in a documentary about him

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/09/4462780/acc-terminates-relationship-with.html:

• KARL HESS, A HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
  
  ACC referee Karl Hess, who was let go by the conference Friday, had a history of controversy. Sunday’s incident at Wake Forest, when he used an ethnically tinged comment to a fan, was merely the latest in a long string of high-profile incidents involving the official.
  
  • In 2012, during a game at PNC Arena between N.C. State and Florida State, Hess ejected Wolfpack legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from their seats behind the scorer’s table during the game. The ACC would later publicly reprimand Hess for his handling of the ejection.
  
  • After Hess declined to work the 2012 ACC tournament, the officials for the opening game came out with stickers marked “KH” on their shoes to protest the ACC’s treatment of Hess, much to the conference’s displeasure.
  
  • Hess did not work another N.C. State game until December. Less than five minutes into the game, against Wofford at Reynolds Coliseum, he assessed a technical foul to Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried.
  
  • During an opening-round game at the 2014 NCAA tournament in San Antonio, Hess ejected Nebraska coach Tim Miles after Miles correctly pointed out a shot-clock error. The NCAA later issued a statement from Hess acknowledging “the error should have been noticed and could have been corrected.”
  
  • When Marquette and Connecticut went to overtime in 2013, the teams lined up going the wrong direction for the opening tip of overtime. Connecticut scored a basket before the error was noticed. Hess’ crew threw out the points and restarted overtime, an incorrect interpretation of the rulebook.
  
  • During a 2012 NCAA tournament regional final between Louisville and Florida, Hess issued a technical foul to Cardinals coach Rick Pitino for yelling at his own player, point guard Peyton Siva.
  
  • In 2012, Hess and his crew missed an obvious goaltending call at the end of a game between West Virginia and Syracuse when a Syracuse player knocked away a potential game-tying layup after it hit the backboard.
  
  • During a 2013 Final Four game between Wichita State and Louisville, Hess called a questionable jump ball in the final seconds that deprived the Shockers of any chance to tie the score.
  
  Luke DeCock
  
  

Who the f**k is Karl Hess to handled with kid gloves by the NCAA/ACC? Why was he allowed to get away with such unprofessional behavior repeatedly? I just don't get it. It seems everyone is scared to death of that idiot. They should've slapped him in the face and tell him to get the hell out of this profession and be done with it a long time ago.

 

[gmutom]

Wasn't Valvano the one who said that.? Pretty sure I saw that in a documentary about him

It's such a great line, so it's probably been used by many coaches. Definitely sounds like something Valvano would have said.

 

[Pablo]

It's such a great line, so it's probably been used by many coaches. Definitely sounds like something Valvano would have said.

See http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2006-01-25-technical-fouls_x.htm.

BTW, I watched Valvano play PG for Rutgers at Penn State when I was a student.

 

[TweederGMU]

Good riddance..... he was a piece of shit