While the basketball-loving world is completely distracted by the start of free agency, the NBA quietly tried to sneak a relatively major development under the radar. They've created the office of Senior Vice President, Referee Operations to oversee (wait for it ...) all things pertaining to referees, including "recruiting, training and development, scheduling, data management and analysis and work rules enforcement."Those responsibilities previously fell on the shoulders of Stu Jackson, the league's VP of Basketball Operations, but the NBA is clearly hoping that the creation of a new office will convince everyone that officiating decisions are not being made by the same people whose job it is to ensure the game stays competitive and marketable. The office will report to NBA president Joel Litvin, David Stern's right-hand man.
So who is heading up the new position? U.S. Army Major General Ronald Johnson, who has 32 years of combat engineering experience and recently retired from heading up the Army Corps of Engineers. Is that outside the box enough for you?
Johnson admittedly has no basketball experience outside of being a fan, but no one can deny that someone with his resume has the ability to train, manage and lead large groups of people in mission critical projects. After helping coordinate billion dollar reconstruction efforts in Iraq, surely making sure that a couple of guys with whistles know to stand in the right spot to see the difference between a blocking foul and a charge will be a cake walk, right? Here's to hoping that's the case.
