Officiating is like every other job in the world - some are excellent, some are average, and some are absolutely horrible.

In speaking with several highly rated officials in the 9th Region the problem coaches and fans might have could be with the assigning secretary. I have been told that "first year officials" are getting boys/girls jv games and some girls varsity games. I am not sure that is a good thing for the safety of the players. The good ones are always in control of the game and do a good job. I fear too much "politics" in assigning games and ratings drive out quality guys. It's a tough job to begin with but imagine having 20 years in and getting an assignment with a first year guy to do a varsity game, thats thankless!

A few of these posts are almost over the line lets keep it on topic. :thumb:

Let me start off by saying that I hate most officials.......That being said I Don't want their job and know that I couldn't do as good a job as most of them. I had to referee a little kids tourney all day and I realize that they perform a thankless job for little money. For that I say thank you

 

Hate is a strong word isn't it?

In speaking with several highly rated officials in the 9th Region the problem coaches and fans might have could be with the assigning secretary. I have been told that "first year officials" are getting boys/girls jv games and some girls varsity games. I am not sure that is a good thing for the safety of the players. The good ones are always in control of the game and do a good job. I fear too much "politics" in assigning games and ratings drive out quality guys. It's a tough job to begin with but imagine having 20 years in and getting an assignment with a first year guy to do a varsity game, thats thankless!

 

 

Oh, you have no idea how right you are about assigning secretaries. It is all politics and we're losing GREAT officials because of it. The reason first year guys are getting JV and Varsity games is because of lack of numbers, which is because of guys quitting due to fans, coaches, but mostly because the assigning secretaries and how political they are. This is how political it is: The assigning secretary uses a formula to rank individual officials and to rank crews in football. Here is the equation used: 20% comes from evaluators( who are picked by the assigner) and 80% comes from the coaches evaluation. Now, that sounds good right? Well, it would be if the assigning secretary would show the officials the coaches evaluation. Not the coaches names but just the evaluations as a whole. That would work great if they did but the assigner does not show the ratings and when asks why he does not the response officials get is " Because I said so " Since officials only see 20% of that equation, the assigner has too much power to be political. They are able to assign who they want to whatever game they want without anybody questioning the decision. The local associations are losing officials because of assigning secretaries and it's a shame. How can they recruit officials when they don't even have anything nice to say about the situation themselves. Ten years ago the local football association had 70plus official and this past year had almost 40. The officials need more power in determining the assigning secretaries. They need to have a say in who the athletic counsel hires. The assigners know that as long as they keep the schools and coaches happy then they will probaly get rehired, so they are not worried about pleasing the officials. And the ones that suffer the most are THE KIDS . The officials suffer also but mostly the kids. It's a real shame because we've lost quality official over the years just because of politics. It's not all sports, some assigners are fair and equal. Some assigners do things based on a point system and if you don't do well, it's probaly your fault. Most people I've spoken to believe the point system to be fair. It's the ones who play politics who give assigners in general a bad rep. Officials need more power in the hiring process of their assigning secretary.

Let me start off by saying that I hate most officials.......That being said I Don't want their job and know that I couldn't do as good a job as most of them. I had to referee a little kids tourney all day and I realize that they perform a thankless job for little money. For that I say thank you

 

I actually appreciate this post. It's honest. It's critical. Yet it expresses appreciation.

 

I actully LIKE most officials.

Oh, you have no idea how right you are about assigning secretaries. It is all politics and we're losing GREAT officials because of it. The reason first year guys are getting JV and Varsity games is because of lack of numbers, which is because of guys quitting due to fans, coaches, but mostly because the assigning secretaries and how political they are. This is how political it is: The assigning secretary uses a formula to rank individual officials and to rank crews in football. Here is the equation used: 20% comes from evaluators( who are picked by the assigner) and 80% comes from the coaches evaluation. Now, that sounds good right? Well, it would be if the assigning secretary would show the officials the coaches evaluation. Not the coaches names but just the evaluations as a whole. That would work great if they did but the assigner does not show the ratings and when asks why he does not the response officials get is " Because I said so " Since officials only see 20% of that equation, the assigner has too much power to be political. They are able to assign who they want to whatever game they want without anybody questioning the decision. The local associations are losing officials because of assigning secretaries and it's a shame. How can they recruit officials when they don't even have anything nice to say about the situation themselves. Ten years ago the local football association had 70plus official and this past year had almost 40. The officials need more power in determining the assigning secretaries. They need to have a say in who the athletic counsel hires. The assigners know that as long as they keep the schools and coaches happy then they will probaly get rehired, so they are not worried about pleasing the officials. And the ones that suffer the most are THE KIDS . The officials suffer also but mostly the kids. It's a real shame because we've lost quality official over the years just because of politics. It's not all sports, some assigners are fair and equal. Some assigners do things based on a point system and if you don't do well, it's probaly your fault. Most people I've spoken to believe the point system to be fair. It's the ones who play politics who give assigners in general a bad rep. Officials need more power in the hiring process of their assigning secretary.

 

 

I know this thread was about basketball, I got off track a little talking about football. Sorry

great thread.. The 16th region have some great veteren and some great young officials that will be working their way up. Many first and 2nd years.