Middle Tennessee football head coach Derek Mason wasn’t pleased with the way officials handled his team’s loss to Jacksonville State on Saturday. Mason let his frustrations fly Monday, going on a tirade against the Conference USA refs.
In his rant, Mason claimed officials missed 17 holding calls in the contest, which Middle Tennessee lost 23-13.
“I just had some serious dialogue about the referee calls in this damn ball game. I’m tired of the bulls***. Excuse my french, I’m tired. At the end of the day, we’ve gotta get to a point where these damn referees show up and do their damn job.
“There’s over 17 submitted holding calls against a really good Jack State team that were ready and available and they were at the point of confrontation and I thought this was straight up bull.
“For us, I don’t mind a loss. And I’m not one to get in front of the media and talk about these types of things. But at the end of the day, these referees gotta be better. They gotta do their damn job and be better. And that’s a message going out to everybody who refs these damn games: Be better.”
“I just had some serious dialogue about the referee calls in this damn ball game. I’m tired of the bulls***. Excuse my french, I’m tired. At the end of the day, we’ve gotta get to a point where these damn referees show up and do their damn job.
“There’s over 17 submitted holding calls against a really good Jack State team that were ready and available and they were at the point of confrontation and I thought this was straight up bull.
“For us, I don’t mind a loss. And I’m not one to get in front of the media and talk about these types of things. But at the end of the day, these referees gotta be better. They gotta do their damn job and be better. And that’s a message going out to everybody who refs these damn games: Be better.”
Mason, who is not to be confused with the former NFL wide receiver, is almost certain to hear back from the conference, and potentially face a fine, for his comments.
His rant comes days after Middle Tennessee was overwhelmed by Jacksonville State, which gained 517 total yards of offense in the 10-point win. A large chunk of those yards came on the ground, where Jacksonville State out-rushed Middle Tennessee 276 to 103.
The lack of penalties — according to Mason, at least — may have had something to do with that. Middle Tennessee was called for seven penalties during the contest, losing 55 yards as a result of those calls. Jacksonville State was hit with just three penalties, resulting in the team losing 30 yards. If Mason had his way, Jacksonville State would have been hit with 17 additional penalties, which very obviously would have impacted the team’s offensive success.
In 10 seasons as a head coach, Mason has yet to post a winning season. He came close twice at Vanderbilt, turning in two 6-7 seasons.
After being fired by Vanderbilt in the middle of the 2020 season — when the team opened the year 0-8 — Mason spent time as a defensive coordinator with Auburn and Oklahoma State before getting the head-coaching gig at Middle Tennessee in 2024.
He’s turned in an 8-20 record in two-and-a-half seasons with the school.
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