College Sports Hotline

Much as he wants it to be a non-story — and he really, really really wants it to be a non-story — Trent Johnson’s ejection from the Marquette game has not faded into the background.

A coach getting tossed from an NCAA tournament game happens so rarely, and it feels so un-Stanford, that it’s a story. (It would be a much bigger story if the Cardinal had lost.)

Having done some research, talked to some folks I trust and gotten an assist from the Merc’s Darren Sabedra (whose contribution is below), I have a few more thoughts on the matter.

First of all, the original Hotline position holds: Johnson should not have put himself in position to get tossed. Ultimately, it’s his responsibility.

Again: His responsibility.

Having said that, I do not believe he has a temper problem. It took a perfect storm of factors (in the words of one Hotline confidant) to get Johnson ejected.

And some of those factors were not Johnson’s fault. The fair thing to do is point those out and take a detailed look at what happened:

* The timeout situation.

Seconds before Johnson got tossed (for unsportsmanlike behavior, with 3:36 remaining), the officials were discussing the first technical (called by David Hall) and preparing to report it to the official scorer.

Technically, they had not given the signal for the under-four-minute media timeout.

But it was a timeout situation: Stanford’s players were taking their seats on the bench and the coaches were huddling on the court to discuss strategy.

For the officials to justify the ejection by saying Johnson “was out on the playing floor, and out of the coach’s box, disputing calls” is, frankly, a bogus technicality.

He’s allowed on the “playing floor” when there’s a timeout, and whether the refs had officially called it or not, there was a timeout.

***Note: CBS studio analyst Seth Davis contributed to (mis)perception issues by erroneously stating that there was no timeout and that Johnson had come onto the floor as Marquette was about to shoot free throws. He could not have been more wrong.

* Johnson’s position on the floor.

Because of the official explanation for Johnson’s ejection — that he was “out on the playing floor” — this is the critical issue. And it’s directly connected to the timeout.

Watch any Stanford game, and Johnson follows the same routine during timeouts:

He walks onto the court, often very close to the free throw circle, turns and huddles with his coaches. They talk strategy, then he heads to the bench and addresses the team.

The spot on the floor where Johnson was at the time of the ejection — that’s where he walks for every timeout.

My guess is that in his mind, he wasn’t doing anything unusual. He didn’t make a separate trip to the free throw circle to show up Hall or get in his face. That’s about where he always goes, where he would have been anyhow.

* The quick-trigger official.

So Johnson thinks it’s a timeout and walks where he usually walks, and standing there, looking straight at him, is Curtis Shaw, who has the quickest trigger in the business.

According to StatSheet.com, Shaw has called 10 more technical fouls than any other official in the country and ejected more coaches than any official in the country.

Yes, he has worked more games than just about anybody, but his technicals-per-game rate (1 in every 2) is among the highest and his ejections-per-game rate (1 in 20) is the highest.

Shaw famously tossed Iowa State Coach Larry Eustachy from an Elite Eight game against Michigan State in 2000. I was there, in the Palace at Auburn Hills, covering UCLA (which had lost to ISU two days earlier). And it was surreal.

I remember thinking at the time that Eustachy hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, and then all of a sudden, he was tossed. (At that point, he went crazy.)

* The image issue.

Like I said, Johnson doesn’t have a temper problem. When he talks to or stares down officials, he’s always calm (or as calm as coaches get).

But I believe Johnson might have an image problem: He’s about 6-foot-6, and when he stands there in his suit, his arms on hips, scowling and staring at officials … he looks intimidating — much more intimidating than most coaches. And perhaps it puts officials on the defensive.

In that situation, Johnson reminds me of Lute Olson or Bob Knight, who are also in the 6-5 or 6-6 range and even bigger/wider than Johnson. Each has has a huge presence on the sideline and can be intimidating to officials even when not screaming or cursing.

I can’t help but wonder if Johnson’s presence makes him more prone to technicals than other coaches.

Counting the two from Saturday, he has received five this season. My guess is that no other coach in the Pac-10 has five, except perhaps for USC’s Tim Floyd, who rages in a manner Johnson does not.

Whether he’s more prone to technicals or not, Johnson should be ultra careful — he should act on the assumption, even if it’s unfair, that he is.

So continuing the “perfect storm of factors” premise: A timing technicality combined with Johnson’s timeout routine, a quick-trigger official and possibly an image issue … all of it conspired to create the circumstances for an ejection.

And those circumstances, some of them not Johnson’s fault, count for 49 percent of the responsibility for what happened Saturday. Johnson gets the other 51.

****

To provide as much context as possible, here’s a Q&A that Darren Sabedra, the Merc’s Stanford beat writer, had with Bill McCabe, the Pac-10’s coordinator of officials, on Monday:

McCabe was one of three administrators at the Honda Center (ie: the Pond) who determined whether the officials deserved to work more games in the tournament.

He declined to say whether any of them received passing grades, but he did say, “I’ll just tell you this: I thought they did a good job.”

That includes Shaw.

McCabe on the first technical: “When Dave Hall was going to the bench to report the foul, Trent got out of the box about four feet and had been warned — that’s my understanding. So David assessed a technical foul. That’s something you have to do.”

McCabe on the second technical: “What the officials are told to do is come to the center of the court because you have a technical foul and another foul. You have to be sure you get the right (free-throw) shooters.

“When Trent came onto the court, he had one foot in the free-throw circle, and he was still barking at them. I don’t care what he says. He’s barking at them. I think they have no choice but to assess the second technical foul.”

McCabe on how officials might interpret Johnson’s scowl: “We try to ignore it. I’ve always said when the coaches continually complain as you come by (on the court), it detracts from your concentration and you do a poorer job. It’s very hard to officiate the coaches and officiate the court.”

McCabe on whether officials need to hear the “magic words” to assess a technical: “No. The rulebook is very clear. If you’re out of the coaching box and if your conduct is unsporting toward the officials – whether it’s magic words or whatever – it’s a technical foul.”

McCabe on Shaw leading the country in technical foul calls and ejections: “He’s not one of our officials. But our people (Pac-10 officials), we haven’t ejected a coach since I’ve been in this job. We call very few technical fouls.”

McCabe on Saturday’s officials: “Hall’s as good as there is around. Shaw is very well thought of.”