Referees are human, too.
That’s a reminder the NCAA wants to deliver in the wake of Kentucky fans making death threats to referee John Higgins this spring.
J.D. Collins, the national coordinator of officials, said he and counterparts on the conference level want to remind fans to have more empathy for referees.
“We are looking at opportunities to proactively communicate the humanity of officials,” Collins said on an NCAA teleconference Friday. “Tell positive stories about them. We believe we need to communicate in a way that lets people know these are real people with real lives and real families.