Terry McAulay

Terry McAulay is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1998 NFL season, and Coordinator of Football Officials for the Big East Conference since 2008.

McAulay is most notable for working five conference championship games as referee since 2001, and officiating Super Bowl XXXIX and Super Bowl XLIII. Beginning his eleventh season as referee (fourteenth season overall) with the 2011 NFL season, 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, Louisiana, McAulay is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in computer science. 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. Prior to joining the NFL, McAulay was a referee in the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1994 to 1997, and was the referee for the BCS National Championship Game at the Miami Orange Bowl in 1998.

NFL career
McAulay began his NFL officiating career in 1998 as a side judge on Walt Coleman'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 season. He wears uniform number 77. Coincidentally, McAulay wears the same number and originally worked at the same position that was vacated by Mike Pereira, who served as the NFL's Vice President of Officiating from 2001 until February 2010. McAulay was the referee of Super Bowl XLIII; he had previously served as referee for Super Bowl XXXIX.

"Bottlegate" incident
McAulay was the referee during a late 2001 NFL season game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns were driving toward the east end zone for what would have been the winning score. Browns' wide receiver Quincy Morgan caught a pass for a first down on 4th and 1. After quarterback Tim Couch spiked the ball 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 Pound" 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 Tagliabue 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.