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‘WHAT DO YOU KNOW
BASKETBALL?KNOW ABOUTWHAT DO YOU BY JASON FRANCHUK
Josh Higgins and his friends left their prime seats at one of college basketball’s best arenas to go back to the referees’ locker room and wait for his dad to wrap it up. They were somewhat bored by what had been a nondescript blowout.
They ducked back into the tunnel, about 15 feet from the baseline at historic Allen Fieldhouse, to witness John Higgins’ night get real memorable really fast on a fateful and frightful Tuesday in late January 2020.
“I saw the Kansas guy get the blocked shot then stand over Kansas State’s player and stare him down,” Josh said. “And I went ‘Whoa.’ I knew that could be trouble.”
The kid had good instincts. What happened next is the stuff every official fears: a brawl.
John Higgins’ son, now 16, is not haunted by the memory, even after watching large players go after each other and his dad briefly stuck in the middle. Then Kansas’ Silvio de Sousa wielded a chair in a moment that has widely been called one of the darkest moments in the sport’s history.
“When that guy picked up the stool, my dad just was done,” Josh said, unable to stifle a laugh.
Added John: “At first, I was really trying to break it up. But after that, I was like, ‘I’m out.’”
More than two years later, that incident hasn’t deterred Josh from wanting to try out a whistle for himself.
KNOW ABOUT
OFFICIATING WITH HIS SON, EVEN FINAL FOUR REFEREE JOHN HIGGINS FACES ABUSE ON THE TRAVEL-BALL CIRCUIT.
NCAA officiating veteran John Higgins has joined his son, Josh, in working youth games near their Omaha, Neb., home this season. During one tournament, the elder Higgins got more than he bargained for from a troublesome coach and player.
KNOW ABOUT WHAT DO YOU BASKETBALL?
Josh, now 16, recently officiated a couple sets of youth basketball games in the Omaha, Neb., area around his own spring baseball playing schedule. And get this: He’s not saying he’s out, even after already experiencing his own oncourt chaos.
This leads to possibly the greatest you-can’t-make-thisstuff-up story in the sometimespoisonous youth basketball travel circuit. It’s now official that not even a Final Four-caliber official or a teenaged novice can be guaranteed a smooth day in the gym when travel-ball hoops is concerned.
On a Saturday in late April at Iowa West Field House in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in Josh’s second game ever, his dad, who was working the game with him, was accosted by a youth travelleague basketball coach. At the end of the game, a teenage boy waved a middle finger eight feet from Higgins, then the coach — also the father of the boy — chased Higgins down.
The longtime NCAA vet
Seeing the verbal abuse his father has endured as an NCAA basketball official has not deterred Josh Higgins, 16, from following in his father’s footsteps.
happened to be out there to help his son and a friend, who had to back out, leaving the Higgins duo to work together for tournament organizers they knew well. Josh is a junior varsity shooting guard. But actually being on the court in stripes is different.
“Ever since I was little, I’d go to watch my dad’s games,” Josh said. “That’s definitely how I got my inspiration to do this. I realized quick it’s a lot harder than I expected.”
Just Trying to Fit In
John Higgins has officiated in nine Final Fours and he’s seen and heard just about everything since he picked up the vocation in college by officiating a few lower-level games (back when colleges routinely had nonvarsity teams) about 40 years ago at what is now the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Higgins was a senior in 1983 and the freshman team was playing a junior college. The referees didn’t show. The coach offered him $25 and away he went.
He admits he’s not sure how easily he could handle today’s path of camps and youth-ball hijinks that has seemed to afflict basketball in myriad ways, perhaps most notably helping to build the dark cloud of dwindling officials’ participation seen around the country.
But back to the event in Council Bluffs, basically on a home court, surrounded by familiar folks, working with an obvious beginner, Higgins couldn’t have anticipated such foulness.
The first game among sixth graders went smoothly. The coaches behaved in a manner Higgins appreciated, considering the circumstances. Josh settled in and started to get the instincts and timing about when to raise an open hand and when to raise a fist. His whistle was too soft, but the seasoned vet could carry him to a point.
The second game, however, grew more aggressive. Josh admits he wished he would’ve called more fouls among the high school freshmen.
But still, should it ever have come to this among a group of 14-and 15-year-olds?
Higgins had to dish out a couple of technical fouls. The player said something Higgins doesn’t even really hear at much higher-level basketball games from players.
Higgins said his own goal was to “fit in” and treat the game like any other. Those who know him, and were present, insist there was no big-timing anyone over a $20 game. Higgins, however, couldn’t resist telling the coach his language directed toward players during timeouts was “embarrassing.”
The coach-player duo wound up getting ejected from the gym and the tournament.
“There wasn’t anything we did that prompted the
outbursts. I was extremely patient with the player and the coach, believe me,” Higgins said.
Higgins also wonders what to believe anymore.
The Travel-Ball Circus
Todd Miller and Higgins go way back. Miller runs local basketball events as the president of Iowa Gym Rats.
“We’re always excited if John comes out to help,” Miller said.
But he couldn’t believe what happened in one of his tournaments.
“Even to have the gumption, as a kid, to say what was said to John … ” said Miller, his voice trailing off. ”It’s just ridiculous. Kids keep getting bolder and bolder.”
Miller sees the travelball red flags, for sure. The emphasis on winning. The willingness by losing teams to vocally pin blame on referees. The seemingly weekly cases of officials getting attacked after games somewhere in the country.
But he doesn’t think travel ball is all rot, either.
“In that tournament where we had the issue with John and his son, there were 388 games,” Miller said. “That was obviously a big problem, but I’m proud to say that was the only problem we had.”
Miller, 40, understands the rabbit holes out there. He played football at Iowa State and then took that competitive fire into coaching.
“I’ll admit it, there were games I was more concerned with the officiating than the kids,” he said.
Then he saw the other side for three years. He could control his schedule better by officiating. Boy, did he pay for that convenience.
“I think everybody should have to officiate,” he said with a laugh. “That would sure change some opinions. By the time I got back into coaching, I was a
NCAA men’s basketball official John Higgins prepares for a return to action while working a youth summer basketball game with his son, Josh.
different coach.”
There are myriad challenges in the travel-ball world. Family investment leads to greater expectations, for sure. That can lead to more expressions of frustration. Higgins laments the specialization of young athletes, wishing they’d branch out into other sports (his hunch is that most college coaches look for diverse athletes, anyway.)
But Miller said he’s grateful for the relationships he’s developed through travel ball and still enjoys the chances he gets to see “so many different walks of life” that aren’t available without the circuits.
“I don’t want to say there’s all these terrible coaches,” Miller said. “There really are a lot of cool people doing it for the right reasons. That’s why I love the tournaments. It’s just that, in the competitiveness of some of it, some people are taking away the wrong things.”
People Need to Know
In May, word circulated around Omaha about what Higgins and his son encountered.
Could you believe it? Some youth-ball coach thinks he knows more about the game than John Higgins?
So the official wasn’t shy about going on a radio station, then TV, to discuss the circumstances. Yes, he’s
KNOW ABOUT WHAT DO YOU BASKETBALL?
experienced worse (look up “Some of the things they do Kentucky fans’ reaction to an and say, they haven’t been taught NCAA Tournament loss in 2017, by (previous) coaches how to which left law enforcement act,” Higgins said. reviewing more than 3,000 The number of calls and voicemails left at Higgins’ texts he received in support of business). his recent media appearances
Higgins blew the whistle — even from very high-level on some of the present cultural coaches — has led Higgins to problems he sees going on with believe he’s positively struck a “club level” sports and has been nerve. an advocate for trying to Longtime friend Brent secure officials, especially Robinson, an official those at the entry level. who also assigns games For starters, he’d love in Omaha’s largest high to see a limit on fans/ school conference, noted parents at youth events. that what upset his
Higgins has also buddy so much was how reached out to state-level the young players were politicians about creating being talked to by the laws to protect referees. coach who confronted
“Today, it’s just a cesspool,” Higgins. Higgins said of the travel Still, Robinson, like Miller, circuits. “I don’t think it makes tries to look at the reality of the players better. I think it gives situation. them bad habits.” “If I have 600 games in a
He said he’s noticed the weekend, all my officials aren’t negative influence all the way up going to be roses, either,” he to high-level college freshmen, said. “There are going to be some who have to be corralled by dandelions in there. Same with coaches about how to talk to the kids. Let’s be real about that.” people. Robinson estimates Nebraska
For starters, he’d love to see a LIMIT on fans/ parents at youth events.
NCAA men’s basketball official John Higgins transitions down the floor while working a summer youth basketball game with his son in Omaha, Neb. has seen a 15 percent decline in officials across the last few years. Why that is happening is a familiar refrain: “Fans and the parent side,” he said.
At youth tournaments, he believes a problem is sometimes the cost of admission.
“I’ve seen even the parents get charged $23 to watch their own kid over the weekend, after all the investment they’ve made just to be there,” Miller said. “That sets an edge right off the bat.”
Robinson also believes that more kids are getting technical fouls due to taunting.
He doesn’t have all the answers. “But in my perspective, things have worsened somewhat,” Robinson said.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Ultimately, this is a highprofile case involving three sets of fathers and sons. Two stories are still being written. The third is a warning sign.
There’s the club-team instigators, who may be going on their merry way playing games and behaving how they wish. Or maybe they’ve toned down and learned a lesson — perhaps even been shamed for taking on Higgins. Time will tell. (Repeated attempts to interview them were rebuffed.)
There’s the high-profile father and the athletic son, who also enjoys baseball but “gets a lot of energy” out of basketball. Josh Higgins will have every advantage possible when it comes to networking and being put in positive situations, if he chooses to stick with it. At least for now, it looks good. He’s already seen some of the worst of it through his father’s life. Higgins was even referred to as “the most hated referee in the nation” in a 2016 Sports Illustrated profile. There have been times when angry fans
have posted pictures of his kids online. The son’s eyes are wide open.
Will Josh stick with it? Again, time will tell.
“I was proud that he didn’t get discouraged from the first time, when all that crap went on,” John said. “I think he’s got the personality for it. He was more comfortable the second weekend about what to call, or not call. His whistle got a little better.”
John would like him to become more assertive. Of course, that takes age and time. But it’s a value he figures would serve him well in whatever he chooses to do, the father says.
There’s a wistfulness to John’s words about his son’s future in the sport. Yes, it’s different right now than when he was coming up. Just as the game’s style has changed over the years for the players, moving up in the officiating ranks is different. Higgins, for example, went to one college camp on his way to the top.
Higgins said there are already scars present in the game because of ongoing referee shortages.
“This isn’t a criticism of officials we have now,” he said. “But the pool is smaller for officials from youth ball on up. And when the pool is smaller, that affects the quality of everything, all the way up.”
What kinds of partners will someone like Josh eventually have? What kinds of run-ins will there be? Connections can only get, and protect, one so far up the ladder.
Over the course of two 45-minute telephone calls with Referee, Higgins, joined by his son, finishes by saying, “All you can ask is to put your heart and soul into it, and let the chips falls where they may.”
Josh has the right spirit, for sure, to keep collecting chips: “I just look forward to having more confidence and blowing
Little did John Higgins know that when he offered to work alongside his son in a pinch, it would lead to a barrage of insults from a youth basketball coach.
the whistle hard.”
Which leads us to the final father and son.
One is a 62-year-old dad that loves the game, still officiates and assigns — and has a son who had all the chops to be really good a while ago.
Zac Robinson was a high school basketball standout in the Omaha area — first-team allstate (regardless of classification) as a senior in 2002 — before winding up at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Wanting to give back to the game, he gave officiating a try between the ages of 24-26.
“Two years, and then he was a casualty,” said his dad, Brent Robinson.
Yes, there were familiar factors off the court. Thriving career. Growing family. But ultimately, the harassment from the stands wasn’t worth it — even with all the builtin advantages for Zac to be sheltered and grow.
“It’s way harder now to start and develop,” John Higgins said. “That’s for sure. But we’ve got to keep finding ways to make it where more people want to try.”
The hissing had to sound different to Higgins during his son’s second weekend. This time, it wasn’t directed at him. In a game among elementary school-aged kids, some spectators were frustrated with calls, or lack of them. They were after Josh and his buddy, who is also a high school teammate.
Higgins tried to explain traveling to an irate woman. His credentials were useless. “What do you know about basketball?” was her reply. Jason Franchuk, Carbondale, Ill., officiates high school and junior college women’s basketball. *
