Conference USA Reprimands MTSU's Derek Mason Over Refs

Derek Mason did not wait for the league office to handle it quietly. At his Monday press conference, 2 days after Middle Tennessee dropped its Conference USA opener 23-13 to Jacksonville State, Mason said he and his staff sent 17 plays to the league that they believe were missed holding calls. Then he said what every coach in America has thought and very few say into a microphone.

"I'm tired of the bullshit. Excuse my French. I'm tired," Mason said. He also said the referees have to "show up and do their damn job." That is not a coach choosing his words carefully. That is a coach who went through the tape, counted, and ran out of patience. The national college football reporters saw where it was headed before he even finished.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Derek Mason on officiating: "I'm tired of the bullshit." CUSA fine incoming in 3, 2, 1 ...

Brett Walker@bwalker2004

@MT_FB head coach Derek Mason SOUNDED OFF on @ConferenceUSA officiating during his Monday press conference. Mason said he reported what he believed to be 17 missed holding calls against Jax State following the Blue Raiders 23-13 loss to the Gamecocks. “At the end of the day man, we’ve got to get to a point where these damn referees show up and do their damn job.”

The countdown took about 4 and a half hours. Conference USA rules bar coaches and school staff from publicly criticizing officials, and any complaints are supposed to go straight to the league office. Mason actually did that part. He said he spoke with Tre Stallings, CUSA's associate commissioner for football, about how inconsistent the crew was. The trouble was that he also said it all on camera.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Derek Mason has been “formally reprimanded” by Conference USA for violating league’s sportsmanship policy

On3@On3

NEW: MTSU's Derek Mason said he reported 17 plays he believed featured missed holding calls against Jax State: "I’m tired of the bullshit. Excuse my French. I’m tired. At the end of the day, we’ve got to get to a point where these damn referees show up and do their damn job." (via @bwalker2004) t.co/EMuwZrI7af

Note the wording: "formally reprimanded." No fine has been reported, so for now it is a public slap on the wrist and not a hit to the wallet. Mason will probably call that a win. Once the clip went everywhere, everyone who watched the game knew exactly what he thought of the crew, and a reprimand costs him a lot less than keeping quiet did.

The numbers explain why he's hot. Jax State ran up 517 yards to MTSU's 319. Gamecocks quarterback Caden Creel threw for 241 yards and ran for 119 more, and the team averaged 7.1 yards per carry. The flags went the other way: MTSU was penalized 7 times for 55 yards, while Jax State had just 3 penalties for 30. If you think the Gamecocks' offensive line was grabbing all day, that stat line is the one you frame and hang on the wall.

The bigger issue for Mason is his job, not the refs. He is in Year 3 of a 5-year deal at MTSU after going 3-9 in both of his first 2 seasons. Before that he was Vanderbilt's head coach for 7 seasons and went 27-55. The Blue Raiders are 2-2 overall and 0-1 in league play. A coach in that spot who picks a public fight with his own conference is either very confident or feeling the heat. Probably some of both.

Up next is a road trip to Kansas on Saturday, which gets MTSU away from CUSA officiating for a week. The real test comes when conference play resumes and Mason sees the same league crews again. He has been reprimanded once. If he goes off again, don't expect Conference USA to stop at a warning.