Terry McAulay is an
American footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
officialIn American football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game.During professional and college football games, seven officials operate on the field...
in the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) since the
1998 NFL seasonThe 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...
, and Coordinator of Football Officials for the
Big East ConferenceThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
since 2008.
McAulay is most notable for working five conference championship games as referee since 2001, and officiating
Super Bowl XXXIXSuper Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 2004 regular season...
and
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
. Beginning his eleventh season as referee (fourteenth season overall) with the
2011 NFL seasonThe 2011 NFL season, the 92nd regular season of the National Football League, began on Thursday, September 8, 2011 with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers defeating the New Orleans Saints 42–34 at Lambeau Field and will end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on...
, McAulay's officiating crew consists of umpire Paul King, head linesman Greg Bradley, line judge Mark Steinkerchner, field judge Terry Brown, side judge Michael Banks and back judge Lee Dyer.
Personal
Raised in
Hammond, LouisianaHammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
, McAulay is a graduate of
Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
with a degree in
computer scienceComputer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. He has a wife, a daughter and a son; they all live in Glenwood, Maryland.
Early years
McAulay's football officiating career began in 1976, including many years at the high school level in
Howard County, Maryland-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*62.2% White*17.5% Black*0.3% Native American*14.4% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.6% Two or more races*2.0% Other races*5.8% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
. Prior to joining the NFL, McAulay was a referee in the
Atlantic Coast ConferenceThe Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
from 1994 to 1997, and was the referee for the
BCS National Championship GameThe BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
at the
Miami Orange BowlThe Orange Bowl, formerly Burdine Stadium, was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida, west of downtown in Little Havana. Considered a landmark, it was the home stadium for the Miami Hurricanes college football team...
in 1998.
NFL career
McAulay began his NFL officiating career in 1998 as a side judge on
Walt ColemanWalt Coleman is an American football official in the National Football League since the 1989 NFL season. He wears uniform number 65.- Personal :Coleman resides in Little Rock, Arkansas and is a sixth-generation family operator of Coleman Dairy....
's crew and worked the 2000 NFC Championship game, which was his last game at that position before he became a referee for the
2001 NFL seasonThe 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day...
. He wears uniform number 77. Coincidentally, McAulay wears the same number and originally worked at the same position that was vacated by
Mike PereiraMike Pereira is a former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League . He first took over the position in 2001, succeeding Jerry Seeman. He was also a game official in the NFL for two seasons as a side judge on the officiating crew headed by referee Mike Carey...
, who served as the NFL's Vice President of Officiating from 2001 until February 2010. McAulay was the referee of
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
; he had previously served as referee for
Super Bowl XXXIXSuper Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 2004 regular season...
.
"Bottlegate" incident
McAulay was the referee during a late
2001 NFL seasonThe 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day...
game between the
Jacksonville JaguarsThe Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and
Cleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
at
Cleveland Browns Stadium-See also:* List of current National Football League stadiums* Chronology of home stadiums for current National Football League teams* List of American football stadiums by capacity* List of U.S. stadiums by capacity* List of North American stadiums by capacity...
in
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. The Browns were driving toward the east end zone for what would have been the winning score. Browns'
wide receiverA wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
Quincy MorganQuincy Demond Earl Morgan is an American football free agent wide receiver in the National Football League who has played for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Denver Broncos...
caught a pass for a first down on 4th and 1. After
quarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Tim CouchTimothy Scott "Tim" Couch is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Kentucky...
spiked the ballIn gridiron football, a spike of the ball is a play in which the quarterback intentionally throws the ball at the ground immediately after the snap...
on the next play to stop the clock, McAulay announced that they were going to review Morgan's catch, saying that the replay officials had buzzed him, indicating for a replay review, before Couch spiked the ball. McAulay did not actually move to his buzzer until well after Couch had snapped and spiked the ball, but replay official Bill Reynolds would later claim that McAulay merely did not react in time to stop the spike play. In reviewing the play, McAulay determined that Morgan never had control of the ball, thus the pass was incomplete, and the Jaguars were awarded the ball. However, fans in the "
Dawg PoundThe Dawg Pound is the name of the bleacher section behind the east end zone in Cleveland Browns Stadium, the home field of the Cleveland Browns. It is known for its extremely zealous fan base.-Formation:...
" began throwing plastic beer bottles and other objects directed at and striking players and officials. McAulay then declared the game over and sent the teams to the locker rooms. NFL Commissioner
Paul TagliabuePaul John Tagliabue is a former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL...
called the game supervisor to override McAulay's decision, sending the players back onto the field after a thirty-minute delay, where the Jaguars ran out the last seconds under a hail of debris.