Maconaghy Announces Retirement As CAA Football Coordinator Of Officiating
Rob Washburn
RICHMOND, Va. (December 5, 2018)
- Jim Maconaghy, the Coordinator of Football Officiating for the Colonial Athletic Association, Patriot League and Ivy League, announced his retirement, effective at the end of the 2018 season.
Maconaghy became the coordinator for Patriot League and Ivy League in 2004 and also worked with the Atlantic 10 Conference for seven years before CAA Football was established in 2007. He has more than two decades of on-field experience as a collegiate referee.
“On behalf of all of the student-athletes, coaches and administrators of the CAA, we cannot thank Jim enough for all that he has done for the conference,” CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio said. “We have all been the beneficiaries of Jim’s tireless work ethic and constant pursuit to improve, and protect the integrity of, intercollegiate football officiating. Jim will certainly be missed, and we wish him all the best in his retirement.”
He worked as a referee in the three conferences, as well as the Yankee Conference and the Big East Conference, from 1986 until his retirement as a referee in 2000. Prior to that, he was a referee on the NCAA Division II and III levels for seven seasons, beginning in 1979. He has worked countless rivalry games during the regular season and been part of Championship game officiating crews including Division I-AA (1989, 1992, and 1995) and Division III (1985-86). During his career, Maconaghy has also had the privilege of officiating the 1997 Army vs. Navy game, the 1999 Eddie Robinson Football Classic (Kansas at Notre Dame) and the 1999 Independence Bowl (Mississippi vs. Oklahoma).
“I have truly enjoyed being involved in officiating for 53 years,” Maconaghy said. “The Colonial Athletic Association, Ivy League and Patriot League, their leaders, administrators, coaches and players have continuously excelled with great athletics, great scholarship and great sportsmanship. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be a member of the team.”
Maconaghy has been a clinician on the scholastic and collegiate level since 1986. In addition to serving as a coordinator of officials, he has served as the Game Day Coach/Quarterback Coordinator for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles for 10 years. He was named the National Football Foundation “Collegiate Official of the Year” in 1996 and inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
In addition to assigning officials for all CAA, Ivy League and Patriot League teams, Maconaghy coordinated clinics to educate officials and coaches on the intricacies of collegiate officiating, select the top officials for FCS football assignments as well as work with the coaches and institutions to evaluate the game performances on a weekly basis.
The three conferences expect to fill the position in early 2019.