AFTER MUCH DISAPPOINTMENT: BECAUSE OF UNFINISHED DEALS, LOUISVILLE WOMENS BASKETBALL HEAD COACH DECIDED TO FIRE.
AP CHARLOTTE, N.C. After Louisville’s women’s basketball team lost 73-72 against No. 19 Syracuse on Sunday, Jeff Walz, the coach of the Cardinals, was chastised by the Atlantic Coast Conference and the school was fined $20,000 for breaking the league’s sportsmanship standard.
When Orange’s Dyaisha Fair converted two free throws with 2.3 seconds left, Cardinals player Olivia Cochran was called for a late, deliberate foul by referees, which infuriated Walz. In an announcement on Tuesday, the ACC said that Walz’s comments went against its sportsmanship guideline, which forbids discussing officiating in any way other than speaking with the league office directly. Public criticism of officials or remarks assessing officiating in specific games “is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics,” the announcement continued.
The account for the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship will be credited with the institutional fine earnings. The announcement also stated that the ACC has concluded its investigation and has no additional comments.
After the Louisville women’s basketball team’s 73-72 loss to Syracuse, head coach Jeff Walz was publicly chastised and the university was hit with a $20,000 fine by the ACC.
The ACC cited the ACC Sportsmanship Policy, which says, “It is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics to have the public criticize officials or make comments about how a particular game was officiated.” Therefore, it is forbidden for anybody connected to the athletics program to remark on officiating in an official capacity other than by going straight to the Conference office.
The statement read, “The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.”
Walz stated on 93.9 FM that he met with the ACC this week and the league upheld the officials’ decision, pointing out that the intentional infraction was a permissible reading of the rules, following the announcement of the fine and reprimand.
With two seconds remaining in the game, U of L player Olivia Cochran grabbed Syracuse guard Dyaisha Fair around the waist and was called for an intentional foul. Walz then angrily confronted the officiating crew. The Cardinals had two fouls remaining and were up, 72–71. The deliberate foul put Fair at the free-throw line and gave the Orange the last possession, as opposed to drawing a routine foul that would have given Syracuse possession.
In order to secure the victory and split the regular-season series, Fair made both of his strokes and ran out the last two seconds. Louisville (20-5, 9-3 ACC) fell from second to fourth in the ACC rankings after the defeat.
