Officiating Career
Coleman worked for the Arkansas Activities Association, the governing body for high school athletics in Arkansas, for 14 years before moving up to the college level. His college officiating career included five years in the Southland Conference (Division I-AA) and five years in the Southwest Conference (Division I). He was never promoted to referee during his college officiating career since he could not justify heading a crew with his five years experience in each conference.
Coleman served as a line judge for the first six seasons before being promoted to referee at the start of the 1995 NFL season when Dale Hamer was forced to sit out that season after undergoing open-heart surgery. Mike Carey had been promoted to referee when the NFL added another crew for the 1995 season in anticipation of the arrival of expansion franchises Carolina and Jacksonville.
Over his NFL career, he has worked two conference championship games (1998 and 2003), but is most notable for being the referee in the game that became known as "The Tuck Rule Game".
Coleman's 2011 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Roy Ellison, head linesman Ed Camp, line judge Mike Spanier, field judge Greg Gautreaux, side judge Rick Patterson and back judge Greg Yette.
Read more about this topic: Walt Coleman
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