CAA Football Officials To Wear Patch In Honor Of Former Officiating Coordinator Jim Maconaghy
Rob Washburn
RICHMOND, Va. (November 10, 2026) – CAA Football officials will wear a commemorative “JM” patch on their hats for the final two weeks of the regular season honoring former Coordinator of Football Officiating Jim Maconaghy, who passed away last Friday after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
Maconaghy was the officiating coordinator for the Atlantic 10 Conference for seven years before CAA Football was established in 2007, and he continued in that role for the CAA until retiring in 2018. He also coordinated officials for the Ivy League and Patriot League. Maconaghy was honored as the 2019 recipient of the David M. Parry Award, which goes to the nation’s most outstanding football officiating coordinator.
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. He worked countless rivalry games during the regular season and was part of Championship game officiating crews in Division I-AA (1989, 1992, and 1995) and Division III (1985-86). During his career, Maconaghy 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).
He was named the National Football Foundation “Collegiate Official of the Year” in 1996 and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.