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The officiating was terrible (state tournament)


nebuntyn
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In the upper west Tn area Roger Shore is the supervisor. I know teams in 13A, 14A, 13AA, and probably more get these officials.

 

I know the officials are bad I coach in 14A and we get some rough ones.

 

But I also know they can't get many new people to do it, I have seen only a hand full of new officials in the past 5

years. It is a tough job and most people don;t do it because it isn't worth their time or money. Most officials get $55-75 a night for boys and girls. Most schools pay the minimum some extra, and they get food and drink at half time.

 

Officials half to buy there shoes, shirt, pants, wistle, and jacket. I think they get mileage but I think they may right it off on their taxes rather than get paid. On top of that they drive sometimes 100 mile round trips on week nights to get cursed at and threatened. Some places are tougher than others. I have refed some scrimmages and people cuss and yell at those. I have some tough skin so it's not so bad but think about 30-40 games in a season and it takes a toll.

 

Some of these better guys get called on to do college and don't come back after that.

I don't have a solution but before going nuts people should ask themselves if they could do it. Keep in mind many of these people are teachers, principals, fireman, policeman etc... when they are not officiating.

 

What do you have to do to get certified...I would seriously consider giving it a shot. My two sons are now serving in the militar.........I'm only 42 years old so I have some time on my hands.

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What do you have to do to get certified...I would seriously consider giving it a shot. My two sons are now serving in the militar.........I'm only 42 years old so I have some time on my hands.

 

 

 

Get an application from the TSSAA. I believe you still have to get a recommendation from a principal, coach, or another official, not sure about that one still. After the application, you will have to pass an open book test (yes it is open book but don't read anything into it). Then you pay your dues and join a local association, where you pay more dues. You will have to buy your uniforms. Several associations have clinics which will train young officials before the season starts. You will work middle school, 9th grade, and JV games the first year or two and if you have the ability, you will get moved to the high school list to work high school games. You also have to attend camp, once every 3 years if you want to be eligible to work any tournament games at all. There are mandatory meetings you must attend during the season too.

 

Anybody can join up and go through the process. They are not going to turn anybody down!

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Get an application from the TSSAA. I believe you still have to get a recommendation from a principal, coach, or another official, not sure about that one still. After the application, you will have to pass an open book test (yes it is open book but don't read anything into it). Then you pay your dues and join a local association, where you pay more dues. You will have to buy your uniforms. Several associations have clinics which will train young officials before the season starts. You will work middle school, 9th grade, and JV games the first year or two and if you have the ability, you will get moved to the high school list to work high school games. You also have to attend camp, once every 3 years if you want to be eligible to work any tournament games at all. There are mandatory meetings you must attend during the season too.

 

Anybody can join up and go through the process. They are not going to turn anybody down!

 

It's an open book exam that tells me why the officiating can be horrible at times but the ones that make the WORST calls I have ever seen during the season were actually the best officials I have ever seen because at least they were CONSISTENT!

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As a coach, my biggest concern is that we have absolutely no say in the whole process. We are the ones who invest our lives in this stuff. We are the ones that sacrifice so much to impact the lives of young people, yet we can't provide any evaluations for officials. Officials and the TSSAA have all the power. The sad part about it is this. I make about $4000 a year. If a ref works 60 nights in a season they make $4500. They make more than me and invest a third the time. They can T me up and throw me out of the game when I get out of line, but when they make a mistake I can't do or say anything about it. After all, the host schools have to pay the officials. At our school this money comes out of the basketball account. I would like to know that if I am going to pay for a service that I could at least be able to do a quality assurance evaluation. If there is one thing that I have learned its this, if you want to get at the TSSAA you have to attack them where it hurts the most. In their pocket book. [b]All coaches throughout the state should not play any hall of fame games until we can evaluate officials. If we take action then they will take notice.[/b] I will guarantee that if nobody played a Hall of Fame next year and the TSSAA knew it was because we want to evaluate officials, within one year, we would have a process in place to provide feedback. We have to come together though, tell your coach. I will do my part in East Tennessee. Before I go. I want to say that I think their are good officials and their are bad officials. I would just like to be able to have a voice in it

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As a coach, my biggest concern is that we have absolutely no say in the whole process. We are the ones who invest our lives in this stuff. We are the ones that sacrifice so much to impact the lives of young people, yet we can't provide any evaluations for officials. Officials and the TSSAA have all the power. The sad part about it is this. I make about $4000 a year. If a ref works 60 nights in a season they make $4500. They make more than me and invest a third the time. They can T me up and throw me out of the game when I get out of line, but when they make a mistake I can't do or say anything about it. After all, the host schools have to pay the officials. At our school this money comes out of the basketball account. I would like to know that if I am going to pay for a service that I could at least be able to do a quality assurance evaluation. If there is one thing that I have learned its this, if you want to get at the TSSAA you have to attack them where it hurts the most. In their pocket book. [b]All coaches throughout the state should not play any hall of fame games until we can evaluate officials. If we take action then they will take notice.[/b] I will guarantee that if nobody played a Hall of Fame next year and the TSSAA knew it was because we want to evaluate officials, within one year, we would have a process in place to provide feedback. We have to come together though, tell your coach. I will do my part in East Tennessee. Before I go. I want to say that I think their are good officials and their are bad officials. I would just like to be able to have a voice in it

 

 

 

We, as officials, understand coach's fears and worries. Some associations allow you, as a coach, to rate officials. You can 'scratch' officials which means "I don't want that idiot ever in my games this year"! I am talking about on the high school level. Jr. High coaches do not rate officials. You do have a say in the process. You have a supervisor, or several of them, who you need to use. Yes they assign officials to games, but remember they work for TSSAA. They are there to work with you as well. You send them a tape or meet with them and I'll assure you that you will get some feedback. We get graded by our supervisors as well. They observe us several times each year as well as watch tape of us. Officials do put alot of time in to the season. Meetings, camps, travel are all very time consuming. Granted, maybe not as much as several coaches but there is alot of time put in more than you would think.

 

As far as the open book exam goes, it is only used to see if you have some resemblance of knoweledge of the rules. It means nothing after that. Most employment places have some type of 'test' they administer to see that you have a brain. Once you join an association, and pay your dues, you get with it in the rule book and many associations have quizzes they give to make sure officials stay in the book. Also, at meetings, rules, and applications of rules, are discussed quite often.

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We, as officials, understand coach's fears and worries. Some associations allow you, as a coach, to rate officials. You can 'scratch' officials which means "I don't want that idiot ever in my games this year"! I am talking about on the high school level. Jr. High coaches do not rate officials. You do have a say in the process. You have a supervisor, or several of them, who you need to use. Yes they assign officials to games, but remember they work for TSSAA. They are there to work with you as well. You send them a tape or meet with them and I'll assure you that you will get some feedback. We get graded by our supervisors as well. They observe us several times each year as well as watch tape of us. Officials do put alot of time in to the season. Meetings, camps, travel are all very time consuming. Granted, maybe not as much as several coaches but there is alot of time put in more than you would think.

 

As far as the open book exam goes, it is only used to see if you have some resemblance of knoweledge of the rules. It means nothing after that. Most employment places have some type of 'test' they administer to see that you have a brain. Once you join an association, and pay your dues, you get with it in the rule book and many associations have quizzes they give to make sure officials stay in the book. Also, at meetings, rules, and applications of rules, are discussed quite often.

 

My daughters played some of their high school baskeball at a Christian school in south metro Atlanta, and I was "recruited" as an assistant coach of the boys and girls varsity teams. Your post is right on the money regarding contacting the supervisors if you have any concerns. We found the supervisors to be very receptive, and while they would not make false promises, they would address our concerns. I was a GHSA certified high school umpire, so as a coach, I went and took the basketball refs course. I never called any games, but I think it made me a much better coach. Maybe some of the coaches should try this during the off season.

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Why don't the TSSAA just put each official online in a data base. After each game the home and visiting coaches can get on line and grade each official. It would have to be based on a set criteria. No opportunity for comments. The only evaluations to be accepted would be ones where both coaches submitted. If both coaches submitted favorable evaluations the ref did a good job. If both coaches submitted negative evaluations the ref did a bad job. It would force all coaches to learn the officials names and it could actually be something positive for the officials. For example. All officials start on the appropriate level. The ones that the supervisor deems necessary would be a level 3, level 2, and a level 1. With each level comes pay increases. If you get so many positive evaluations you get promoted. This level of accountability would change the game completely. I know I wouldn't mind paying a level 3 official $100 a level 2 Official $75 and a level 1 official $60 a night. You could also be demoted from level 3 to level 2. This would keep officials from getting complacent. There is not an official in the game that wouldn't try to do a better job if they had something specific to work for.

 

If ebay can do it, why not TSSAA.

 

 

Am I the only one who thinks this could help the game?

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Why don't the TSSAA just put each official online in a data base. After each game the home and visiting coaches can get on line and grade each official. It would have to be based on a set criteria. No opportunity for comments. The only evaluations to be accepted would be ones where both coaches submitted. If both coaches submitted favorable evaluations the ref did a good job. If both coaches submitted negative evaluations the ref did a bad job. It would force all coaches to learn the officials names and it could actually be something positive for the officials. For example. All officials start on the appropriate level. The ones that the supervisor deems necessary would be a level 3, level 2, and a level 1. With each level comes pay increases. If you get so many positive evaluations you get promoted. This level of accountability would change the game completely. I know I wouldn't mind paying a level 3 official $100 a level 2 Official $75 and a level 1 official $60 a night. You could also be demoted from level 3 to level 2. This would keep officials from getting complacent. There is not an official in the game that wouldn't try to do a better job if they had something specific to work for.

 

If ebay can do it, why not TSSAA.

Am I the only one who thinks this could help the game?

 

 

 

You have just summed up the rating system which is used in many associations. The coaches rate the officials at the end of the season. They also have the ability to scratch an official as well. Only in major college conferences do officials get a difference in game fee and that is due to years of service in the conference. You would need to keep things as consistant as possible on the high school level.

 

Trust me on this one. Just because both coaches said an official did a good job does not mean they did. Also, just because both coaches said the official did not do a good job means they did not! You would have some coaches running all over officials and unfortunately, some officials allowing coaches to 'get away with murder'. A better method of rating officials has been discussed for many years and it keeps coming back to the rating system used today. It is the fairest method out there. Between the coach's rating and the supervisors ratings, what we have today is the best thing going in high school athletics.

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Why do some associations have a rating system and others do not? I know that I have worked in Knox South, Knox Ridge, Athens, and now the Chattanooga association and I have never rated an official. I would love to see how this works. If you scratch an official can you get him for road games? I sure would hate to scratch an official and he know that I scratched him and then get him on the road. I know it seems as if I am anti-referee, but I am really not. Like I said in an earlier post, there are good ones and bad ones, just like coaches. I for one would just like to reward the good ones. I know with no child left behind and all the accountability in the education world these days, accountability for officials would be a good thing.

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Some associations have done away with the rating system. I believe you are still allowed to scratch officials. When you scratch an official, it means you will not get them for any regular season game that year. It does not guarantee any tournaments (Thanksgiving, Christmas, District, or Region) that you may get that official. Again, I can assure you that officials are held accountable if/when they mess up. The supervisors hold the pen and many of them will use it. This can be debated all day long but in the end, no coach or very few fans will ever agree with an official when they make a call against their team. The officials that can handle calling a game are the ones that wind up going the fartherest and are the ones the coaches like the best.

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