Officiating

[imported_UKCats1]

All I am saying is you are preaching to the choir. Complaining on a Sports Forum is not going to get anything done. The emails for every principal, athletic director, coach, commissioner, AOA board member are out there. Hit them with your complaints. Nothing is going to be done by complaining on this forum.

[pvfan]

I see your point but I really don't see it changing unless the officals who do a good job get it changed. I know several good officials and several bad officials. If the good officials would join together maybe they could get some change involved in the AOA. It's much easier to get change by someone within than a group of fans who post on an internet message board imo.

[imported_UKCats1]

To be honest I would love to see more evaluations of the officials done. Here is an idea that I had. On any given weekend there is a minimum of 13 games and at most 18 or 19 games. We work five man crews on these games so you are looking at anywhere from 65 to 95 officials working on any given weekend. I would love to see it become mandatory that each home school send a copy of the game to the commissioner and to the white hat of the crew. The only way to learn is to watch yourself work and watch others. I watch college football for the games but I watch the officials closer than anything. Now it would take a great deal of time for the commissioner to watch 19 game films and evaluate each crew. What should happen is that the commissioner should watch two to four games a week on tape and evaluate a different set of officials each week. There are several officials that no longer work that could do some evaluations as well. Use the resources that you have and make that work.

[imported_UKCats1]

You are right but the ones who really have the power right now are the principals. Officials in the AOA are without a vote on what goes on. We can voice our concerns but that is all.

[pvfan]

Who elects the commish? I agree that sounds like a good idea on sending the tapes and evaluating in that manner. I don't know of a lot that goes on but from what I've heard it's pretty much set in stone who gets the elite games.

[imported_UKCats1]

The principals are the ones who elect or appoint the commissioner.

[CoeburnCane]

I'll ask the same question on here that I asked Zebra in response to the PM he sent me--why does it have to be contingent on the skill level of the teams as to whether or not officiating is competent at the very least? Shouldn't it be on the association to make sure their officials have major incentive to be prepared and competent in the rules of the game--and shouldn't it truly be on the officials to take it upon themselves to get better, and put personal pride aside to simply do a good job for the kids???

Here's a novel idea--I'll volunteer to be a part of a workshop bball squad who's sole purpose is to find a court somewhere for a workshop for bball officials of the AOA, and play ball for an entire weekend while they call the games complete with coaches no longer at a school, and timekeepers and stat keepers. No pay needed. No winners, no losers, just rules being enforced and reps gotten in by the refs. Make it mandatory for all AOA bball officials at least 3-4 times a year, otherwise, you cannot get on a court come bball season--no matter what your track record or tenure may be.

That gives us a place for the commish to see all the bball officials in one place and critique which officials are best and which ones are worst. Coaches and principals can come watch and give their own votes and critiques. It gives all officials a chance to get in reps and prove their skill and knowledge level of the game. The sessions can be taped so any odd scenarios or plays can be broken down, and any mistakes or errors in these scenarios can be studied and learned from by all the officials.

I'm sure after 4-5 years worth of these programs 3-4 times a year would be invaluable to helping the knowledge of the officials and sharpen their abilities in live game situations.

Thoughts?

[1inStripes]

I don't believe it is contigent on the skill level, its just that it is generally easier to officiate games with teams that are more fundamentally sound, and/or with a higher skill level. The teams who are not as prepared, fundamentally or what not, tend to end up with the craziest scenarios and make for more difficult games to officiate.

I like your idea, but really basketball is the only sport that this is remotely feasible. For most, the best situation would be to have game reviews as UKCats1 mentioned. Its basically what happens at the upper levels.

[pvfan]

I was watching the NFL Network last night and it showed how they graded their officials. The highest ranking crews went to the playoffs, they reviewed the game film and awarded and deducted points accordingly.

[R0cketer]

The idea that the certain teams perform at a higher level gets under my skin. I can't help but think that is the reason you go versus Gate City, get hand-checked the entire night, and they get called for it 2-3 times if you're lucky, and normally in the fourth. I appreciate the fact that they have good athletes, they exploit that, they exploit getting in your face, and as I've heard more than one official say, and I think we all have, if we called that, we would be here all night. I appreciate that nobody wants a 60 free throw shooting night, but if you don't call it, don't you penalize the 'team that doesn't perform at a certain level'? The comment about players and coaches not knowing rules is a valid point, but how do you coach a kid that hand-checking on the other end is ok, but at your end, it's not?

I do not think the solution is getting everybody who complains to become an official, I know that I couldn't do it, because there is no way I could be unbiased...I'm smart enough to know I couldn't do a good, unbiased job, problem is some of the officials don't have that good sense.

It be nice if the principals or whomever would start trying to have some sort of evaluation process, but you can't really give it to the coaches IMO because most coaches will give an official a good grade who calls 3 fouls on them and 75 on the other. I think that they should use the resources they have, whatever the fees for officials is, if a home team can video it, charge them $25-$30 evaluation fee, have it reviewed by an unknown official (have reviews done anonymously) and officials receiver critiques through the commissioner or something along those lines.

It's not going to be something that can be fixed overnight, but it is something that could be fixed. Some of the lesser officials who people hate to see at a game, would either improve or have less games, the worse travel games, or dare say, give it up.