On Dec. 29, Kentucky star running back Benny Snell was ejected from the Music City Bowl after what was deemed making contact with an official. Replay of the incident made the ejection controversial, as the video showed that Snell only made contact with the official after the official had put his hands on Snell.
Videos by FanBuzz
Several pundits were extremely critical of the call, including ESPN's Tim Tebow, who sounded off on the officials during the halftime show of that game.
According to ESPN, the Pac-12 officiating crew in charge of that game has been receiving threats following the ejection. The biggest target of those threats has been official Chris Coyte, who was responsible for the ejection of Snell.
From ESPN:
In the days following the game, Coyte received a barrage of threatening calls to his cell and office phones, sources said, as did the commercial real estate association he belongs to.
The officiating crew received an escort leaving the stadium and getting to the airport from a security consultant, but further security protection wasn't necessary upon leaving Nashville, according to the Pac-12.
The harassing calls began to die down until last week, sources said, when a letter from Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart to the Pac-12's vice president of officials, David Coleman, critical of Coyte and his crew was made public by the Lexington Herald-Leader, which reported it obtained the letter through an open records request.
Snell's ejection proved to be critical in the Music City Bowl. Without Snell — who was the SEC's third leading rusher in 2017 with 1,333 yards and 19 touchdowns — Kentucky fell 24-23 to Northwestern. Snell, a sophomore, will return to Kentucky next season.
This is not the first time that Kentucky fans have found themselves in this situation. Wildcats fans went after a college basketball official after last year's Elite Eight. Several of the threats in that case allegedly involved the "actual threat of death or bodily injury".
