Rivera, Former Coordinator of College Football Officials, Dies

FRESNO, Calif.

— Ken Rivera, who served as the coordinator of football officials for the Mountain West Conference, died June 8 of complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.

The conference released a statement in an Instagram post that read, “It is with heavy hearts we share the passing of Ken Rivera. Our deepest condolences to his wife, Marcie, his family and all of his friends.”

Rivera was the conference’s coordinator of officials from 2003-14. He also served the conference as an observer and officiating grader.

“Ken will be remembered as not only a great person, but a pioneer in officiating training and development,” said Walt Anderson, NFL senior vice president of officiating training and development, who, as Big 12 Conference coordinator of officials, worked with Rivera on the CFO West consortium. “It was his camp in Reno that was the inspiration for a whole new approach to in-person and onfield training, with special emphasis on technology and extensive use of video review and instruction that has provided so many with better opportunities and resources to improve officiating.

“He was also a champion of collaboration between the conferences to help create a more consistent and national model for all of us to work together more effectively.”

Rivera brought 19 years of onfield work to the coordinator position. Rivera worked in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (which became the Big West in 1988) as well as the Western Athletic and Mountain West conferences. He worked several postseason bowl games including the Holiday, Aloha, Humanitarian and Las Vegas bowls. He was on the staff of the original XFL for its lone season in 2001.

Rivera founded and directed several officiating camps, including the Reno Football Officials Camp and the Fresno Football Officials Camp.

In addition to football, Rivera officiated women’s college basketball for the West Coast and other conferences. A highlight of his career was working a college basketball game with his daughter, Michelle.

Rivera was closely involved with local associations in his area, helping with training, observing and mentoring football officials in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Ken was not only a great being struck on the head by a player’s bat during a June 13 game between Minot (N.D.) and Eau Claire (Wis.). Nick Hudlow, the crew chief and plate umpire, was accidentally hit by a player’s backswing in the sixth inning. The remaining two umpires continued the game while Hudlow was transported to Trinity Hospital in Minot. The team’s general manager told local news media that Hudlow was given a

CT scan that showed no swelling or bleeding on the brain and was discharged without serious injuries.

Coach Handed Four-Game Suspension

For verbally abusing the referee following his team’s loss in the Europa League final on May 31, Roma head coach Jose Mourinho was suspended by UEFA for his Italian team’s next developer of football officials through the Mountain West and his camps and clinics, but he was more importantly a great human being,” Steve Shaw, national coordinator of collegiate football officiating, said. “He will be deeply missed.”

A graduate of California State University East Bay, he taught special education at Menlo Atherton High School in Northern California. He also coached boys’ high school basketball.

He is survived by his wife and four adult children.

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VAR Announcements Coming to World Cup

During the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, referees will explain replay decisions to stadium crowds and TV audiences, similar to the NFL and MLB, ESPN reported in late June.

IFAB started a 12-month trial of announcing video assistant referee (VAR) decisions in international tournaments in January, with announcements made at the FIFA Club World Cup and men’s Under-20 World Cup.

SOURCE: ESPN, NORMAN TRANSCRIPT, KFYR-TV, THE OKLAHOMAN, WFXT-TV