2 minutes ago, Hip-Hop Box said:

Couldn't agree more. As officials we already have to have a tough skin, having the coach in your ear yelling cause you missed a call out of your area is so common in HS... 

Exactly, its a shame that officials are the ONLY people in the game that has to be 100% perfect in what they do.  Players can fail (throw an interception, miss a basket, make a turnover), Coaches can fail (call the wrong play, have the wrong personnel, not call a timeout when needed) BUT officials boy we have to make ALL the right calls, be in all the right places, make all the correct judgment calls.

Seems fair to me.

22 minutes ago, EagleRare20 said:

A lot of the outrage sometimes I think comes from officials not being held very accountable for questionable or wrong calls that have a complete effect on the outcome of the game. Don't get me wrong, physical harm, personal attacks, name calling, etc. should never be tolerated. But I have seen some bad officiating and calls over the years and there is never an answer as to why.

Have you officiated any type of high school sporting event?

4 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

Have you officiated any type of high school sporting event?

I have officiated and I have coached. Been on both sides of it. 

16 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

Exactly, its a shame that officials are the ONLY people in the game that has to be 100% perfect in what they do.  Players can fail (throw an interception, miss a basket, make a turnover), Coaches can fail (call the wrong play, have the wrong personnel, not call a timeout when needed) BUT officials boy we have to make ALL the right calls, be in all the right places, make all the correct judgment calls.

Seems fair to me.

Bro, coaches can 15-0 and have 40 emails by saturday morning.... If he can even make it to the bus that is... 

24 minutes ago, EagleRare20 said:

A lot of the outrage sometimes I think comes from officials not being held very accountable for questionable or wrong calls that have a complete effect on the outcome of the game. Don't get me wrong, physical harm, personal attacks, name calling, etc. should never be tolerated. But I have seen some bad officiating and calls over the years and there is never an answer as to why.

There's always an answer. They made that call, however bad it was (or how bad someone thinks it was), because that's the way they saw it. Period. Sometimes, officials just make mistakes, and it happens at every level. 99.9% of the officials out there are doing their best and giving their all while on the field. And they get way more calls right than they get wrong. As a former coach, I can't tell you how many times after watching what I thought was a questionable call on film, it turned out the right call was made. I get way more upset when rules are applied incorrectly or misinterpreted/misunderstood (which doesn't happen very often) by an official than when "bad" calls are made. 

If a person has never officiated, I have a hard time taking any criticisms of officiating seriously. 

23 minutes ago, FLYGUY said:

Bro, coaches can 15-0 and have 40 emails by saturday morning.... If he can even make it to the bus that is... 

OK you got me!  Fair enough.

19 minutes ago, rjs4470 said:

There's always an answer. They made that call, however bad it was (or how bad someone thinks it was), because that's the way they saw it. Period. Sometimes, officials just make mistakes, and it happens at every level. 99.9% of the officials out there are doing their best and giving their all while on the field. And they get way more calls right than they get wrong. As a former coach, I can't tell you how many times after watching what I thought was a questionable call on film, it turned out the right call was made. I get way more upset when rules are applied incorrectly or misinterpreted/misunderstood (which doesn't happen very often) by an official than when "bad" calls are made. 

As a coach, I pride myself in knowing the rules. Bill Belichick has won a few games simply by know the rules better than the guy on the other side of the field. I read the rules, watch the points of emphasis and read up on any changes.

Judgement calls don't make me nearly as mad as not knowing the rules. That is what frustrates me. When I know a rule better than the guy managing the game, or have to educate him mid-game about something, that is when I get very upset and will voice my concern.

That alone makes me very interested in making quality officials on the field on Friday nights.

5 minutes ago, HedgeHog8 said:

As a coach, I pride myself in knowing the rules. Bill Belichick has won a few games simply by know the rules better than the guy on the other side of the field. I read the rules, watch the points of emphasis and read up on any changes.

Judgement calls don't make me nearly as mad as not knowing the rules. That is what frustrates me. When I know a rule better than the guy managing the game, or have to educate him mid-game about something, that is when I get very upset and will voice my concern.

That alone makes me very interested in making quality officials on the field on Friday nights.

In my time officiating, I was genuinely shocked at how many coaches either didn't know or understand the rules, even at the high school level. 

I completely understand a coach being frustrated with officials not knowing the rules. That is unacceptable. 

13 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

In my time officiating, I was genuinely shocked at how many coaches either didn't know or understand the rules, even at the high school level. 

I completely understand a coach being frustrated with officials not knowing the rules. That is unacceptable. 

Understandable so, the trouble usually stems from 2 different scenarios. 

1, the official confuses rules from college or NFL rule interpretations that differ from NFHS rules. Now, I will also admit that it happens the other way around more often, having had to correct other coaches on my sideline before.

2, when there are multiple penalties, especially a mix of live ball and dead ball fouls. This year there was a 5 min discussion in the pouring rain that took way too long to figure out and robbed us of a considerable amount of momentum and gave the other squad a free timeout while it was sorted.

PS. one more scenario is with our 2 pt plays/swinging gate formation. what is legal and what is not

1 minute ago, HedgeHog8 said:

Understandable so, the trouble usually stems from 2 different scenarios. 

1, the official confuses rules from college or NFL rule interpretations that differ from NFHS rules. Now, I will also admit that it happens the other way around more often, having had to correct other coaches on my sideline before.

2, when there are multiple penalties, especially a mix of live ball and dead ball fouls. This year there was a 5 min discussion in the pouring rain that took way too long to figure out and robbed us of a considerable amount of momentum and gave the other squad a free timeout while it was sorted.

Agreed on both. The live/dead ball stuff can get tricky sometimes, for sure. 

12 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Agreed on both. The live/dead ball stuff can get tricky sometimes, for sure. 

Now, with everything, the more times you are in that situation and learn from it, in theory, the better you will get at officiating that. Thus, making better quality officials. From the sideline of this problem, I would say there is a retention problem as well, as evidenced in this thread.

So we need to recruit new officials. Get them in games to learn. Get them to the high school level. Get them to do it for a long time. 

IMO, better compensation is one way to keep guys in it by making it worth their time. Also, give them resources. Let them have a time and place to watch film and learn from other officials. And I'm not talking about pre- and postseason meetings or clinics alone. Rather, sessions in the season to talk about real situations that arise and also teams, coaches and venues they are having issues dealing with. Message boards are great, texts and emails are better, but meeting in person throughout the season has to have benefits.

Unfortunately, I feel that would have to come from the association or the assigners and I am unsure the traction that may receive.

10 minutes ago, HedgeHog8 said:

Rather, sessions in the season to talk about real situations that arise and also teams, coaches and venues they are having issues dealing with. Message boards are great, texts and emails are better, but meeting in person throughout the season has to have benefits.

The association I was affiliated with was good about encouraging young officials to go to games and "shadow" the crews working. Be in the pre-game, halftime and post-game meetings with the crews to experience those and be involved with any conversations. I thought that was beneficial. 

Just now, TheDeuce said:

The association I was affiliated with was good about encouraging young officials to go to games and "shadow" the crews working. Be in the pre-game, halftime and post-game meetings with the crews to experience those and be involved with any conversations. I thought that was beneficial. 

That is going in the right direction. That should be standard operating procedure until you are at least at the varsity level, shadowing.

For those that officiate, who do you have the biggest issue with?

Coaches

Players

Parents/fans

Administration