The Fiery and Fickle Relationship Between College Basketball Coaches and Refs

Posted Mar 7, 2019
“Dean Smith said to me after he was retired, ‘John, that night we played Clemson, you called that block/charge and that was the wrong call,'’’ says John Clougherty, a referee for 30 years who later spent 11 years as the ACC’s director of officiating. Smith was referencing a game from the 1980s. “And I’m thinking, I’ve had 15,000 block/charges. But he remembers that.” (Sports Illustrated)

Related: Basketball, Basketball Recruiting

Tar Heels' Late Rally vs. Clemson Offers Blueprint for March
Following the Tar Heels' loss to Clemson, each player echoed a similar sentiment: the final run, although they came up short, was ignited by UNC's...
Sat Mar 14, 2026

Don’t ever forget Doug Moe
Doug Moe was a star at Brooklyn's historic Erasmus Hall High School, a two-time All American at UNC, where he played from 1958-61 and, as...
Sat Mar 14, 2026

Two shocking stats perfectly capture the inconsistency of the Hubert Davis era
The Hubert Davis era has been nothing more than a roller coaster. Now five years into his tenure as the head coach of the UNC...
Sat Mar 14, 2026

UNC Basketball prepares for March Madness after 'unacceptable' ACC Tournament
A senior co-captain, Elijah Davis knows the runway is running out for UNC, which lost its first game in the ACC Tournament for the first...
Sat Mar 14, 2026