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Terry McAulay | |
|---|---|
 Terry McAulay at Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 | |
| Born | (1959-12-24)December 24, 1959 (age 65)[1] Brownsville, Texas, U.S.[2] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Louisiana State University |
| Occupation | NFLofficial (1998–2018) |
| Notable credit | NBCRules analyst (2018–present) |
Terry McAulay (born December 24, 1959) is a formerAmerican football official who worked in theNational Football League (NFL) for the 1998 through 2017 seasons. He was the referee for seven conference championship games and threeSuper Bowls (XXXIX,XLIII, andXLVIII).[3][4] He was the Coordinator of Football Officials forcollege football'sBig East and subsequently theAmerican Athletic Conference from 2008 to 2017.
Born inBrownsville, Texas, McAulay was raised inHammond, Louisiana. He is a graduate ofLouisiana State University[5] with a degree incomputer science. Beginning in 1982, McAulay was a software programmer for theNational Security Agency. He retired in 2008.[6]
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McAulay's football officiating career began in 1976, including many years at the high school level inHoward County, Maryland. Prior to joining the NFL, McAulay was a referee in theAtlantic Coast Conference from 1994 to 1997, and was the referee for theBCS National Championship Game at theMiami Orange Bowl,in 1998.
McAulay began his NFL officiating career in 1998 first as a side judge onWalt Coleman's crew, then as a side judge onTony Corrente's crew in 1999, working thewild card game between theMiami Dolphins and theSeattle Seahawks at the end of that season. He later worked the 2000 NFC Championship game, which was his last game at that position before he became a referee at the start of the2001 NFL season. He wore uniform number 77 (now worn byTerry Killens). Coincidentally, McAulay wore the same number and originally worked at the same position that was vacated byMike Pereira, who served as the NFL's Vice President of Officiating from 2001 until February 2010.
He was the first referee to work a Super Bowl with fewer than five seasons experience as a referee when he was the crew chief forSuper Bowl XXXIX, which came at the end of his fourth season as a referee and is one of only six NFL Referees to have worked three or more Super Bowls. McAulay worked 17 playoff games during his NFL career, including 8 conference championship games,Super Bowl XXXIX,Super Bowl XLIII &Super Bowl XLVIII. At the time of his retirement, he was considered one of the top referees in the NFL.[7]
McAulay refereed the 2017Monday Night Football season opener between theLos Angeles Chargers andDenver Broncos, which was the Chargers' first game sincerelocating to Los Angeles. When the Chargers called a first quarter timeout, McAulay mistakenly called them "San Diego".[8]
McAulay was the referee in theJacksonville Jaguars' 15–10 victory over theCleveland Browns atCleveland Browns Stadium on December 16,2001, which ended with a display of unrulyfan behavior. The Brownswide receiverQuincy Morgan caught a pass for a first down on 4th and 1 as they were driving toward the end zone looking for the winning score. The Browns then ran another play, which would normally prevent the completed pass from being reviewed. Despite this, citing a "malfunction of the replay system",[9] McAulay reviewed the catch and determined that Morgan never had control of the ball. The pass was called incomplete and the Jaguars were awarded the ball. However, fans in the "Dawg Pound" began throwing plastic beer bottles and other objects at players and officials. McAulay then declared the game over and sent the teams to the locker rooms. NFL CommissionerPaul Tagliabue called the game supervisor to override McAulay's decision to end the game prematurely, 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.[10]
For the2017 NFL season, McAulay's final season with the NFL, his officiating crew consisted of umpire Steve Woods, down judge Jerry Bergman, line judge Carl Johnson, field judge Michael Banks, side judge Jonah Monroe, and back judge Rich Martinez.[11]
On June 21, 2018, McAulay retired from the league to become arules analyst forNBC Sports'NBC Sunday Night Football[12] and Notre Dame football.[13] His referee position was taken by umpireShawn Smith.[14] He is also the rules analyst forThursday Night Football onAmazon Prime starting in 2022 joiningAl Michaels,Kirk Herbstreit andKaylee Hartung.[15]
