N.B.A. Hires Former Ref to Evaluate Other Referees
By HOWARD BECK
JERSEY CITY, Sept. 26 — Bernie Fryer, who retired this summer after 28 years as a referee, has been hired in a new supervisory position with the National Basketball Association.

Fryer, 57, has been named assistant director of officiating and will have primary responsibility for evaluating the league’s 16 full-time crew chiefs. He will report to Ronnie Nunn, the director of officiating, who will continue to oversee the league’s roster of about 60 referees.

The addition of Fryer is also intended to allow Nunn to focus more on the development of the N.B.A.’s younger referees, said Stu Jackson, the executive director of basketball operations.

The officiating program came under scrutiny this summer after federal authorities charged a veteran referee, Tim Donaghy, with providing inside information to gamblers. Donaghy pleaded guilty last month to two felony counts and is awaiting sentencing. The scandal also exposed a rift between some rank-and-file referees and the league officials who evaluate them.

Jackson said the decision to hire Fryer was unrelated to any of those issues.

“Bernie had discussed this with Ronnie and came to me a while back, before the Donaghy stuff ever happened,” Jackson said yesterday in an interview between sessions at the N.B.A.’s annual referee training camp. “And because of Bernie’s performance over the years and the fact that he was a high-level finals official and a crew chief, having his expertise and having him be a part of our observation staff we felt would really benefit us. It seemed like a natural.”

Fryer is at this week’s camp, but an N.B.A. spokesman said he would not be available for comment.

In nearly three decades as an N.B.A. official, Fryer worked 1,696 regular-season games, 157 playoff games and 12 finals games, including Game 3 of the 2007 finals. As a crew chief, he was regarded as one of the game’s top referees.

Curiously, Fryer was also the focus of a magazine story that tied his retirement to a general malaise among the officiating ranks. According to the story in ESPN the Magazine, published in early August, Fryer was disillusioned with the league’s oversight system, which many referees consider to be onerous. Fryer was not quoted in the piece, although other referees were cited anonymously. The retirement of Fryer, the magazine reported, was “clear evidence” of the frustration referees are feeling.

“Bernie’s never expressed that to us,” Jackson said.

The complaints aired in the ESPN story and in other publications, Jackson said, had no relation to Fryer’s appointment. “They’re disconnected,” he said.

The departures of Fryer, Donaghy and the dismissal of a third referee, Robbie Robinson, left the league with three vacancies. Replacements have been hired and will be announced later this week.

Meanwhile, referees and league officials are awaiting a report from a former federal prosecutor, Lawrence B. Pedowitz, who was hired by the league to evaluate the officiating program. Pedowitz has interviewed every referee, asking them about gambling activity and the complaints regarding the review system.

It is believed that a number of referees have admitted to minor offenses — such as gambling on the golf course — that would violate the letter of league rules but fall far short of scandalous activity. It is not yet clear how Commissioner David Stern will deal with those transgressions in the wake of the Donaghy case.

Until Pedowitz files his report — probably in late October — the league is not making any substantive changes to its officiating program, Jackson said.

In the meantime, the referees have been ordered by Stern to stop airing their complaints anonymously through the news media. Referees have spoken under the veil of anonymity because the league generally prohibits them from giving interviews. Two former officials, Hue Hollins and Mike Mathis, have also assailed the league’s current leadership, angering Stern.

The league is promising an increased level of transparency with its officiating program, which might include permitting referees to speak publicly more often.

“It’s not inconceivable at some point that referees, or select referees, might in fact address their feelings on the state of the Donaghy situation,” Jackson said.

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I don't trust Stu Jackson at all, IMHO this was a make up call hiring Bernie fryer