The Atlantic Coast Conference hired Gary Patterson as its supervisor of football officials on Monday, ten months after Patterson quit the ACC's on-field crew over a botched replay review [1]. The league announced the move from Charlotte after Al Riveron told it last week he was stepping down.

Patterson had officiated in the ACC since 2002 and worked as a referee since 2009. He walked away last September; ESPN reported at the time that his exit followed his frustration over a UConn-Syracuse game, where a replay decision arrived only after the snap for the next play. His new job puts him in charge of the same review apparatus that pushed him out. He will oversee recruiting, training, evaluation and scheduling of ACC officials, and the conference said he would work with ESPN to expand last year's feature that lets viewers hear replay reviews live during select broadcasts [1].

Commissioner Jim Phillips said Patterson "has earned the trust and respect of coaches and his officiating colleagues" [1]. That endorsement leans on Patterson's record: the 2009 BCS championship game, the 2006 Army-Navy game, four ACC title games and a career that began in 1994. What it does not address is the timing failure he objected to, or whether his authority over evaluation and scheduling will change how quickly reviews resolve. No rule on review timing has changed; the hire promotes the critic but leaves the process he criticized intact. The next test is a published rule, not a title.

-- PRIYA SHARMA, Delhi