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Pac-12 fines, reprimands Arizona State DC for ‘comments that create doubts about credibility of conference’s officiating program’

Well, this is just rich.

Following a 20-13 loss to Stanford last Thursday night, Arizona State defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was critical of the officiating in the contest.

“I’m probably going to get in trouble or reprimanded or whatever they want to do but that’s what it is, that’s as unfair a football game as I’ve ever been a part of,” Gonzalez said in his postgame talk with the media before going on to further criticize the officiating, especially as it pertained to pass interference calls.

Late Wednesday night, Gonzales’ “probably” turned into definitive trouble as the Pac-12 announced that the coordinator has been fined $5,000 for his critical comments of the conference officials in the game. Additionally, he was given an official reprimand from the league.

Below is a statement attributed to commissioner Larry Scott:

The Pac-12 has specific rules that prohibit our coaches from making public comments about officiating, and this prohibition includes comments that create doubts about the credibility of the Conference’s officiating program. We have an obligation to our membership to enforce the conference rules which they have approved.

Create doubts about the credibility of the conference’s officiating program?

Earlier this month, a scandal erupted when a replay official’s in-game targeting call was overturned by a third-party -- later confirmed to be Pac-12 general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs Woodie Dixon -- who had no business offering input into the officiating process, something that Scott acknowledged after the fact. At the time, Scott also claimed that he’s “not aware of any manual that exists in our conference or nationally” that relates to instant replay procedures; a week and a half later, The Oregonian obtained and published a document titled “The Pac-12 Conference Instant Replay Manual.”

From here, it appears the league is doing such a good job of creating doubts about the conference’s officiating program that Gonzales’ public criticisms should be the least of their worries.