A referee charged at Samford’s 6’9, 280-lb coach. Now they’re making t-shirts about it

College basketball’s most infamous ref charged at the Bulldogs’ giant coach.

In Thursday night’s mid-major matchup between Samford and East Tennessee State, there was a brief pause late in the second half as the referees reviewed a foul call against the Bulldogs’ Josh Sharkey. During the review, referee Karl Hess appears to charge at Samford head coach Scott Padgett:

The call against Sharkey was determined to be just a common foul, and the game continued without (further) incident. Samford would go on to tie the game at 70, but lose in overtime 81-72.

After the game, Coach Padgett took a chance to offer up some, umm, choice words about the whole run-in:

He didn’t mince words. Padgett is not a small guy, saying that he thinks he’s about “6’9, 280 right now,” and was shocked that anyone would challenge him in that manner.

“I literally said, ‘Are you stepping to me right now?’ A guy like that stepping to me is not realistic,” Padgett elaborated. “I mean, if we’re out on the street, he’s running the other way just if he sees me walking by . . . Not a lot of people step to me, so I think it was kind of an unprofessional move.”

If you recognize the name Karl Hess, that’s because he’s infamous in the refereeing world (if that’s a world that exists). He used to do ACC games, until January of 2015 when the conference (and the AAC) refused to continue working with him. The parting of ways happened after telling a Wake Forest fan (who was of Indian heritage) during a game that he wanted, “to sit in your seat and watch your Egyptian a-- ref a game.”

Hess has a whole highlight reel of such incidents. From the Washington Post:

Hess was reprimanded by the ACC in February 2012 after he ejected North Carolina State legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from their seats behind the scorer’s table during a game between the Wolfpack and Florida State. During a Marquette-Connecticut game in January 2013, he was part of a crew that pointed the teams in the wrong direction at the start of overtime, later incorrectly taking points off the board after he realized the mistake and then blaming the players for the error. He also once gave Louisville Coach Rick Pitino a technical foul for yelling at one of his own players.

Well, Samford is leaning into the whole incident, offering up this sweet tee-shirt if they could get 280 retweets. At time of publish, they had over 380 retweets, meaning this beauty will be made:

Quick, somebody get to Samford on January 17 and get me one of those bad boys. The Bulldogs are 11-5 on the season and host the Citidel in that game. Now, it’s must-see.