The Big Ten Conference held a clinic in April and invited women and people of color to learn more about being an official in one of college football's biggest conferences. The focus of the clinic was to highlight efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion. https://www.footballzebras.com/2020/10/in-a-year-of-awakening-big-ten-fields-a-historic-officiating-crew/ Former NFL referee and current Big Ten
Tag: Bill Carollo
New book shows officiating is ‘A Tough Job Made Harder’
Review by Mark Schultz If you've followed Football Zebras for any length of time, you know that we break down football officiating and (hopefully) show you how difficult calling a football game is. Between interpreting complicated rules, avoiding getting run over by people twice their size, tuning out 50,000 people chanting
Umpire Butch Hannah retires after 18 seasons
Embed from Getty Images  In a late offseason move, umpire Butch Hannah retired from the NFL according to multiple sources. Football Zebras does not know the reason Hannah left the league, but it has been indicated he initiated the move. His last game was the Raiders-Texans Wild Card Playoff game in January. Much like
50 Super Bowl calls, Part 3: XXX to XXI
Turnover margin: 10 NFL officials not returning in 2014
Al Jury presented with Art McNally Award
Former field judge Al Jury is being honored by the NFL with the Art McNally Award for his distinguished officiating career. He will be formally presented with the award by the outgoing executive vice president of football operations, Ray Anderson, in a ceremony prior to the Pro Bowl in Honolulu. Jury
1 blown call does not ruin playoff chances
It’s a big game, but referees remember “it’s just 60 minutes of NFL football”
Michael Pointer of The Indianapolis Star talked to former referees Gerry Austin, Jerry Markbriet, and Bill Carollo about their Super Bowl experiences. Collectively, they represent nine of the Super Bowls, including seven which they were crew chief. Markbriet has the record with four assignments as the head referee. In Pointer's article,
League reboots search for new VP of refs
It is not exactly America's Got Talent, but finding the new vice president of officiating is turning out to be one tough audition. Peter King of SI.com is reporting that the league is restarting its process to find a replacement for current officeholder Mike Pereira. Pereira announced on the NFL Network