Cincinnati blasts football referees, criticizes UH
| • | Warriors' Chang might play Saturday despite knee injury |
| • | Ferd Lewis: Hawai'i doesn't need or deserve black eye |
| • | Discussion: What did you think of the game and the fracas that followed? |
By Ferd Lewis and Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writers
In their first public salvos since Saturday night's postgame, on-field brawl, University of Cincinnati officials yesterday blasted the officiating of the football game by a Western Athletic Conference crew and the management of the game by the University of Hawai'i.
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"I feel as if this game was taken away from us by the officials and our kids were cheated out of a victory," UC Athletic Director Bob Goin charged on the school's official athletic Web site. "This game was not decided on the field."
Tim Chang lay on the stadium turf after taking a hit to his already injured knee. Cincinnati was penalized on the play.
"I guess when you lose, you're always looking for excuses," said UH coach June Jones.
The UC Web site headlined its report of the game as: "Bearcats Get WAC-ed By Hawai'i, 20-19."
Goin said: "This is the worst game management operation that I have encountered during my career in intercollegiate athletics. To give unrestricted access to the sideline area to as many boosters that were present (that) evening is irresponsible. We were subjected to a barrage of verbal abuse from these individuals all evening long that I believe is way outside the bounds of what I consider good sportsmanship."
UC spokesman Brian McCann said the "hostile environment" created by UH supporters on the sidelines led to the fights following the game at Aloha Stadium.
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"It was a hostile environment from the outset," McCann said. "Under NCAA game-management rules, there were a lot of people on the sideline who had no purpose being there."
A Cincinnati official says UH fans "who had no purpose being" on the sidelines helped fuel the brawl.
McCann said he noticed some supporters "were permitted to drink on the sideline. It became a dangerous setting for our student-athletes. There were some acting intoxicated. ... From the onset, there was a verbal barrage of profanity toward our student-athletes."
Jones said: "I'm sure they were frustrated. It was an emotional game. They came a long way, they played real hard and they lost. They have a lot of emotions at the end of the game."
"It's unfortunate that a good football game has to be tarnished by the events that occurred on the field after the game," UH Sports Information Director Lois Manin said in a prepared statement. "There are a lot of reasons that led up to it. I think the most important was that emotions were running high and that it was a close game and unfortunately those things happen when emotions run high."
WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said he will review the incident. Benson said the officiating crew that worked the game — composed of WAC officials — will submit a report that he will review and discuss with UH. "That's normal procedure," Benson said.
UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier, who spent two years in Conference USA as Alabama-Birmingham's AD, said he plans to speak with UC's Goin. Frazier said he will review UH's game management as part of his on-going assessment of all department operations.
