Not since he refereed a youth game in his mid-20s has Ron Johnson, 56, blown a basketball whistle. But for the third season, he is officiating the nation's top officials in his capacity as the NBA's senior vice president of referee operations.

The retired two-star general, holder of a master's degree from the Georgia Tech School of Industrial Engineering, oversaw the Army Corps of Engineers' reconstruction of Iraq in 2003-04. The following year, he supervised clean-up of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina struck.

His task with the NBA is not as daunting, but challenging nonetheless: repair the image of league refs, tainted by the Tim Donaghy gambling scandal, and impose consistency through data analysis.

His efforts to curtail players' overt complaining has resulted in more technical fouls and generated criticism. "You're basically taking the emotions out of the game," griped the Celtics' Shaquille O'Neal."

In a conversation with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Johnson reflected on the job and the path that led him there, which includes playing campus pick-up games while in his late 20s against some notable Yellow Jackets. His comments are edited for space.

Q. How did an industrial engineering graduate of Georgia Tech wind up as the league's senior vice president of referee operations?

A. Divine intervention and a whole lot of luck. The Army sent me to speak at the NBA Rookie Transition Program training in September 2006. I guess I made a positive impression.

You should never be surprised that an industrial engineer is anywhere. Whether it is figuring out how to get the most efficiency out of your employees through ergonomic design of workstations, to figuring out where to place traffic lights to insure a good flow of traffic on roads, to figuring out how many cashiers to have in Walmart, to analyzing the play-calling data in our games, that's what we do. We take real-life situations and, through our analytical talents, we make them better.

And, oh, by the way, Georgia Tech is the No. 1 industrial engineering school in the nation [as ranked by U.S. News & World Report], so you could find Georgia Tech IEs anywhere.

Q. When Commissioner David Stern offered the job, did you wonder why?

A. No, I didn't really wonder why. I wondered how could I lead a group of talented men and women when I had never walked in their shoes. As an Army leader, I had some credibility because I had done some tough things and my soldiers knew that. In the NBA, I had no officiating experience. There is a lot of information and data to manage in this department and I have the skills to do that. Also, I was hired to lead this department and I think I have proven my ability to lead.

Q. How did you choose Georgia Tech to seek your master's degree?

A. I was stationed in Atlanta as a recruiting company commander at the time and I thought that I would just stay in Atlanta. ... I met a retired Army colonel who was a professor at Tech, the late Dr. Griff Callahan. He talked to me about the future of simulation and the need for the Army to have talented operations research talent. I decided to do the Operations Research/Systems Analysis master's program at Tech. A very difficult program.

Q. Did you attend Tech basketball games?

A. Absolutely. What a great time to be a student at Georgia Tech. Bobby Cremins was an amazing coach and the teams were really unbelievable.

I even played pick-up games in the old gym. I was in the gym every day, not only because I still had to meet the Army physical fitness standards, but because [basketball] is part of my life.

I recall playing in one game with Mark Price, Bruce Dalrymple, [Craig] Neal and John Salley. I even blocked John Salley's shot and the gym erupted. People were watching from the second level, where the weight machines were. Unfortunately for me, Salley made sure I looked bad for the rest of that game. I never got a chance to tell him how that felt, so I hope he reads this.

Q. How have you applied knowledge from your studies at Tech to your current job, such as your emphasis on data analysis?

A. I think being able to understand what data tells you and what it does not is very important for any leader. There is a lot of "so what" involved in looking at the performance data and then deciding what needs to be done, now that you have these numbers.

My education throughout my Army career, as well as at Georgia Tech and West Point, has taught me more about how to think as opposed to what to think. I have found that education to be invaluable.

Q. Is it fair to say with the experiences of Iraq and Katrina behind you, any challenges that crop up with this job are relatively lacking in stress?

A. Having a stress-free life is really overrated. I thrive best when I am doing something important that contributes to whatever team that I am on. Certainly, there is a huge difference in leading soldiers and civilians in a combat theater, where mission accomplishment is paramount, and leading NBA officials. I worry about my officials as much as I worried about my people in the Army.

I do, however, get peace from knowing that after my "mission" is done here in the NBA, all of my people will be able to go home ... and be OK.

Q. What changes or improvements do you hope to implement?

A. I'm not sure there is a whole lot that needs to be done. I would like us to continue to use whatever technology or capability there is out there to enhance our ability to be very accurate and consistent in our play-calling. I am a product of my experience and there is lots of carry-over from training soldiers to training our officials. That could be in virtual experiences through a simulator, through improvement of detection through visual training ...

Q. The most talked-about development with officiating this season is a crackdown on overt gestures and complaining by players with technical fouls. Are you satisfied with how that is being handled?

A: This season the league is renewing its emphasis on the league's Respect for the Game guidelines, which we implemented several seasons ago. Our players show an extraordinary passion for the game, but when it comes to protesting calls, that passion can sometimes result in prolonged complaining or gestures and other actions that show a lack of respect for the game. This type of conduct reflects poorly on our players and that is unfair to the vast majority of players who don't engage in such actions.

We are not looking to slow the game down with numerous technical fouls and have instructed our referees to warn a player before assessing a technical wherever practical.

This doesn’t mean players can’t react to plays and calls and it doesn't mean they can’t disagree with a call or ask a referee a question. They just can’t do so for a prolonged time or in an overly demonstrative or disrespectful way. It's working just fine. Our players are adapting and our referees are doing what they've been asked to do

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