June Corteau - Strange But True

[CCinCT]

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...-courteau-named-coordinator-womens-basketball

 

[PalPa]

Since I am rather new here I mus ask why this is "strange but true".

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Good for her.

As you may have noted, she replaces Debbie Williamson, who is now the AAC's and BE's coordinator.

She (Williamson) replaces Barb Jacobs, who has been promoted to Associate Commissioner for Women's Basketball in the AAC.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Since I am rather new here I mus ask why this is "strange but true".

Because a lot of fans of all programs found her mystifying as a ref. And I think UConn fans particularly disliked her.

Actually, some years ago, I was talking to someone "in" the game, and they had surprising good things to say about her.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Isn't she the one who called the phantom foul on DT in the "down to the wire" stages
of the VaTech game during the 2001/2 season?

 

[CCinCT]

Isn't she the one who called the phantom foul on DT in the "down to the wire" stages
of the VaTech game during the 2001/2 season?

No only did she call a non foul (a clean block IIRC ) a foul on Dee, she doubled down on the mistake by calling it an intentional foul.

 

[vtcwbuff]

June Courteau is quite likely one of the most incompetent refs to ever stripe up. I used to dread/hate UConn games that she officiated. Along with ? (blond ponytail) she was the poster girl for what was wrong with WCBB officiating.

Just shows that if you hang around long enough . . . .

 

[Zorro]

Yup. Famed in song and story as the Phamous Phantom Phlagrant Phoul. I think it was probably the worst call I have ever personally seen. DT had made an absolutely brilliant block. She was so stunned that all she could do was laugh. It was ludicrous.

 

[PalPa]

Thanks for the insight everyone. Resumes can be deceiving, hers looked pretty good.

 

[j66kicker]

June Courteau is quite likely one of the most incompetent refs to ever stripe up. I used to dread/hate UConn games that she officiated. Along with ? (blond ponytail) she was the poster girl for what was wrong with WCBB officiating.

Just shows that if you hang around long enough . . . .

Dee Kantner. I don't think she's that bad

 

[Huskies Rule]

June Courteau is quite likely one of the most incompetent refs to ever stripe up. I used to dread/hate UConn games that she officiated. Along with ? (blond ponytail) she was the poster girl for what was wrong with WCBB officiating.

Just shows that if you hang around long enough . . . .

From the same joke-of-an NCAA that sanctioned Geno (for the Mo'ne Davis phone call) and approved Alabama's unjust decision on Daisha Simmons- you expect different?

 

[Billybonggg]

Isn't she the one who called the phantom foul on DT in the "down to the wire" stages
of the VaTech game during the 2001/2 season?

Strange but true were her calls. It may have been a foul, but June Courteau called it an INTENTIONAL foul when DT's block got a good part of the ball. Sue Bird pulled the game out at the last second to preserve our undefeated season. She was a sensationalist ref, always looking to show she saw or knew something nobody else did. She has suddenly become the greatest obstacle, after possible injuries, to a UCONN national championship this season.

 

[Billybonggg]

The overall problem with officiating is that there are so few excellent refs that they fly them around the country, seemingly non-stop, for the marquis games. The refs from the Mattingly-Kantner class have done so many UCONN games that inevitable disagreements have arisen over calls here and there. They were a welcome improvement from the Sally Bell-June Courteau class.

 

[mysticmajor]

Dee Kantner. I don't think she's that bad

There were two blonde referees in the NC game. I know that everyone makes mistakes, but I would be surprised if Kantner made multiple 'bad' calls. I think she is amazingly good.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

WBB has the worst officiating of any sport in the world! I thought just the college and WNBA refs were incompetent but after watching FIBA World Championship the rest of the refs stink too!
The problem with WCBB is that ALL the league supervisors are ex-college refs so they are policing their best friends! And no-one sees a problem with that......DUH!!
What the NCAA has to do is fire all present supervisors and hire retired NBA refs as conference supervisors with NO attachments to the refs!
The other major problem is the veteran refs work 5 to 6 games a week all over the country. It's not weird to see Dee Kantner, for example, on Monday at UCONN, on Tuesday at NoCar, on Weds. at OKLA, on Fri. at TX a&m and on Sat. at Purdue. I don't care how good a ref someone is, 5 or 6 sites in 7 days, planes, hotels, meals on the run, and ref 2+ hrs. per game has to take a toll on their bodies and mind!
This is why the players & coaches in the WNBA have been more vocal with ref calls! Taurasi has seen horrible calls and now bitches out loud at calls getting many TF's! Granted she gives as good as she gets but ref calls and no calls are unbelievable.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Dee Kantner. I don't think she's that bad

Nope - I was thinking of Sally Bell - with a nod to billybonggg for the reminder.

 

[Zorro]

The truly amazing thing about Sally (to me at least) was that the LV fans were just as exasperated with her as we were. THAT, dear friends, takes some DOING!!

Who, incidentally, were the refs who failed to call the super-obvious foul of Tamika at the end of the UT game in 2001 (in Gampel, as I recall, a one-point loss) that cost the Huskies another perfect season? That was maybe the worst No-call I ever saw.

 

[Zorro]

Strange but true were her calls. It may have been a foul, but June Courteau called it an INTENTIONAL foul when DT's block got a good part of the ball. Sue Bird pulled the game out at the last second to preserve our undefeated season. She was a sensationalist ref, always looking to show she saw or knew something nobody else did. She has suddenly become the greatest obstacle, after possible injuries, to a UCONN national championship this season.

Actually, it was NOT a foul. D was trailing a VT breaker. The girl approached the basket from the left, but went up with her right hand. D went sailing past her, reached over her head, and slapped the ball cleanly as it left her hand. No contact at all. (I was sitting quite close to the action.) I wonder if there exists anywhere a video of that game. If so, I would certainly like to see it.

 

[Biff]

Actually, it was NOT a foul. D was trailing a VT breaker. The girl approached the basket from the left, but went up with her right hand. D went sailing past her, reached over her head, and slapped the ball cleanly as it left her hand. No contact at all. (I was sitting quite close to the action.) I wonder if there exists anywhere a video of that game. If so, I would certainly like to see it.

I remember the TV replay clearly showed there was no foul. The intentional call was beyond outrageous.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

WBB has the worst officiating of any sport in the world! I thought just the college and WNBA refs were incompetent but after watching FIBA World Championship the rest of the refs stink too!
The problem with WCBB is that ALL the league supervisors are ex-college refs so they are policing their best friends! And no-one sees a problem with that.DUH!!
What the NCAA has to do is fire all present supervisors and hire retired NBA refs as conference supervisors with NO attachments to the refs!
The other major problem is the veteran refs work 5 to 6 games a week all over the country. It's not weird to see Dee Kantner, for example, on Monday at UCONN, on Tuesday at NoCar, on Weds. at OKLA, on Fri. at TX a&m and on Sat. at Purdue. I don't care how good a ref someone is, 5 or 6 sites in 7 days, planes, hotels, meals on the run, and ref 2+ hrs. per game has to take a toll on their bodies and mind!
This is why the players & coaches in the WNBA have been more vocal with ref calls! Taurasi has seen horrible calls and now bitches out loud at calls getting many TF's! Granted she gives as good as she gets but ref calls and no calls are unbelievable.

While I don't agree with everything you say, as someone who tracks selected referee's each year to see how much and for what conferences they work, you are correct about the workload. The top refs work 5 to 7 days in a selected week (I think 13 or 14 days in the row is the most I have seen, but that is not typical), among a selection of conferences. None of the well known eastern ref's work west of the Rockies, and only a few western ref's come east, mostly to the Big 12. Michael Price and one or 2 others are the only folks who work from West Coast to East Coast (he works the PAC12 and SEC, among others).

As to retired NBA refs - check out on Google Ed Rush / PAC12 / Sean Miller. I don't think they are the answer either.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

KnightBridgeAZ- - - Thanks for heads up on Ed Rush article! I don't think that would be the norm. Especially since they have NO ties to the WCBB scene! You need non WBB people in evaluation positions for changes to be made!
Several years ago I saw Patty Coyle while she was the NY Liberty Coach at XL Center scouting UCONN vs Stanford game and I asked her how the coaches & players deal with the "ref problem", she said everyone knows they're terrible but you cannot comment or pay back is coming they cover for each other so if you knock 1 the next game the calls will retaliate! They just deal with it the best they can!

 

[Kibitzer]

June's promotion is a classic application of The Peter Principle, which hold that "in any hierarchy, competent employees get promoted until, inevitably, they reach their level of incompetence."

Only problem in this instance is that June had reached her level of incompetence as a referee, yet still got promoted.

Maybe better examples of this principle are Mark Emmert and Jeff Hathaway.

Anyone have others to nominate?

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

My buddies and I always kidded that Sally Bell used to ref with a TN Lady Vols cap on.
Dennis DeMayo, June Courteau, Dee Kantner, Lisa Mattingly, Brian Entiline, Bob Entiline, Bill Titus, Denise Brooks, Wesley Dean, Cameron Inouye, Bob Trammel, Sue Blauch, Eric Brewton, Tina Napier, among others that had or have great reps but IMO are lousy officials! Dee Kantner for one makes me feel she's pi--ed at Geno about something and if there's a close game with UCONN she'll make some call late to swing momentum away from UCONN. The late ref, Bonita Spence was famous for making a call from 50' away, such as a charge/block call from mid-court that was another refs call to make!
These above refs "may" have been good a while ago but the game has passed them by big time.
I still say as a whole WBB has the most horrible officiating in major sports.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

June's promotion is a classic application of The Peter Principle, which hold that "in any hierarchy, competent employees get promoted until, inevitably, they reach their level of incompetence."

Only problem in this instance is that June had reached her level of incompetence as a referee, yet still got promoted.

Maybe better examples of this principle are Mark Emmert and Jeff Hathaway.

Anyone have others to nominate?

My nomination is NoCar HC, Sylvia Hatchell. She's a great recruiter but a lousy x & o's coach.
she once made a statement at 1/2 time losing by 15 points to UCONN, that "she didn't care how many turnovers NoCar had as long as they played fast"! UCONN won by about 30!
The NC she has Sylvia Crawley gave her hitting a 3 with 1 second left.

 

[Kurebeach5]

June Courteau is quite likely one of the most incompetent refs to ever stripe up. I used to dread/hate UConn games that she officiated. Along with ? (blond ponytail) she was the poster girl for what was wrong with WCBB officiating.

Just shows that if you hang around long enough . . . .

I was thinking Sally Bell.