IRVING, Texas — The Big 12 publicly reprimanded TCU’s Trent Johnson after the coach made a crosscourt beeline for officials and tailed them into the locker room following Saturday’s loss at West Virginia.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on Wednesday announced the discipline, which in itself carries no ramifications unless Johnson has another flare-up.
“Mr. Johnson’s attempt to confront the game officials on the court after the game and trying to access their locker room while yelling after them is inconsistent with the conference’s sportsmanship expectations,” Bowlsby said. “Therefore, Coach Johnson is being issued a public reprimand, and put on notice that any future sportsmanship violations will lead to harsher penalty.”
Johnson charged after an official as West Virginia celebrated an 86-85 overtime win that hinged on a foul call against TCU guard Kyan Anderson with 0.9 seconds left. Cameras picked up video of Johnson calling one ref a “gutless (expletive)” as the coach was restrained by an assistant.
Johnson was far calmer when he spoke with the media minutes later and declined to comment on the officiating. “I’m going to take the high road and my team won’t make excuses,” he said after the Frogs fell to 3-41 in Big 12 play.
He later praised Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins and said the two shared a postgame conversation about things that need to be changed for the good of college basketball.
After Wednesday’s reprimand, Johnson said he regretted becoming combative after the loss.
“I would like to apologize for my behavior toward the officials at the conclusion of our recent game at West Virginia. I let a difficult ending get the best of me, and it took away from how proud I was of the way our team played and competed. I regret how my actions reflected negatively on TCU and its basketball program as well as the Big 12 Conference.”