Officiating

[TheCommissioner]

3 minutes ago, wholder said:

 

I know this for a fact because I’ve done it 14 years…..

$115 per Friday night game ...

3:30-5:30 .. Drive to game (you pay the gas)

5:30-7:00 .. Get dressed, pregame, talk to coaches, go thru all checklists for the game, check equipment

7:00-8:00 .. Kickoff and first half (get screamed and cursed at, run about a mile) 

8:00-8:20 .. Halftime (rest, eat a bag of chips and a bottle of water if the school is nice enough to provide it) 

8:20-9:30 .. 2nd half (get cursed and screamed at even worse, especially if the game is tight going down the stretch, run another mile)

9:30 -10:00 .. Leave the field with police as security, shower, change clothes, leave the school

10:00-10:15 .. Drive to the closest fast food jointbecause you're starving

10:15-10:45 .. wait in line and eventually scarf down a dry burger with fries

10:45-12:45 .. Drive home (you once again pay the gas) 

Hopefully be in bed by 1:30 am .. 

3:30 - 12:30 is 9 hours ... 

$115 for 9 hours equals $12.77 per hour 

Oh yeah, take off $20 in gas .. 

$95 for 9 hours equals $10.50 per hour .. 

(You've also spent $400 on equipment, officials pants, shirts, shoes, flags etc) 

Any idea what a high school profits on a Friday night game ??? These officials are the guys you gotta have to make that money ... They do it because they love it .. not for the money ... While you are watching your kids play, they are away from their families .. Pay em .. they earn it .. and from what they have to go thru, theydeserve it !!!!

 

 

Then you have all the Association politics to deal with. If your not in the “Click” you get left out. The Assigners in each association gets paid $100 a game just to assign. They never set  foot on the field. 

thanks for helping make the games possible 

[TheLiaison]

Overall economic decline is killing everything associated with public education. Public education follows a corporate model where you have high administrative overhead (bosses make a lot) and workers make a livable wage. When inflation goes up, corporations raise prices and employee pay in lockstep with inflation. The problem with public education using the corporate model is they don’t have a product to sell so there isn’t a price hike that increases the pay for the employee. Teachers are leaving teaching and coaching in droves because of stagnant wages, whereas administrators are not because they make significant wages. Example: large county principals make close to $130k, assistant principals make $100k, and teachers make $37k. Textbook corporate model. T$$AA is no different. Referees and others that get things done make nothing, while a very few individuals make significant money at the top. I am a capitalist conservative, but it’s moronic for public ed and T$$AA to follow a corporate model. The more inflation goes up, the more teachers, coaches, referees, etc will be leaving the job forever. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by TheLiaison
Added content

[wholder]

4 minutes ago, TheCommissioner said:

thanks for helping make the games possible 

Thanks 

[jhawk23]

9 minutes ago, wholder said:

 

I know this for a fact because I’ve done it 14 years…..

$115 per Friday night game ...

3:30-5:30 .. Drive to game (you pay the gas)

5:30-7:00 .. Get dressed, pregame, talk to coaches, go thru all checklists for the game, check equipment

7:00-8:00 .. Kickoff and first half (get screamed and cursed at, run about a mile) 

8:00-8:20 .. Halftime (rest, eat a bag of chips and a bottle of water if the school is nice enough to provide it) 

8:20-9:30 .. 2nd half (get cursed and screamed at even worse, especially if the game is tight going down the stretch, run another mile)

9:30 -10:00 .. Leave the field with police as security, shower, change clothes, leave the school

10:00-10:15 .. Drive to the closest fast food jointbecause you're starving

10:15-10:45 .. wait in line and eventually scarf down a dry burger with fries

10:45-12:45 .. Drive home (you once again pay the gas) 

Hopefully be in bed by 1:30 am .. 

3:30 - 12:30 is 9 hours ... 

$115 for 9 hours equals $12.77 per hour 

Oh yeah, take off $20 in gas .. 

$95 for 9 hours equals $10.50 per hour .. 

(You've also spent $400 on equipment, officials pants, shirts, shoes, flags etc) 

Any idea what a high school profits on a Friday night game ??? These officials are the guys you gotta have to make that money ... They do it because they love it .. not for the money ... While you are watching your kids play, they are away from their families .. Pay em .. they earn it .. and from what they have to go thru, theydeserve it !!!!

 

 

Then you have all the Association politics to deal with. If your not in the “Click” you get left out. The Assigners in each association gets paid $100 a game just to assign. They never set  foot on the field. 

Officials are underpaid and under appreciated for sure. It’s a tough job

Appreciative of all the folks who are willing to do it because they love the game 

[The Drunken Sailor]

7 minutes ago, wholder said:

 

I know this for a fact because I’ve done it 14 years…..

$115 per Friday night game ...

3:30-5:30 .. Drive to game (you pay the gas)

5:30-7:00 .. Get dressed, pregame, talk to coaches, go thru all checklists for the game, check equipment

7:00-8:00 .. Kickoff and first half (get screamed and cursed at, run about a mile) 

8:00-8:20 .. Halftime (rest, eat a bag of chips and a bottle of water if the school is nice enough to provide it) 

8:20-9:30 .. 2nd half (get cursed and screamed at even worse, especially if the game is tight going down the stretch, run another mile)

9:30 -10:00 .. Leave the field with police as security, shower, change clothes, leave the school

10:00-10:15 .. Drive to the closest fast food jointbecause you're starving

10:15-10:45 .. wait in line and eventually scarf down a dry burger with fries

10:45-12:45 .. Drive home (you once again pay the gas) 

Hopefully be in bed by 1:30 am .. 

3:30 - 12:30 is 9 hours ... 

$115 for 9 hours equals $12.77 per hour 

Oh yeah, take off $20 in gas .. 

$95 for 9 hours equals $10.50 per hour .. 

(You've also spent $400 on equipment, officials pants, shirts, shoes, flags etc) 

Any idea what a high school profits on a Friday night game ??? These officials are the guys you gotta have to make that money ... They do it because they love it .. not for the money ... While you are watching your kids play, they are away from their families .. Pay em .. they earn it .. and from what they have to go thru, theydeserve it !!!!

 

 

Then you have all the Association politics to deal with. If your not in the “Click” you get left out. The Assigners in each association gets paid $100 a game just to assign. They never set  foot on the field. 

Good post wholder. While we gripe and complain about officials, the TSSAA, which venue is better than the other, which announcer is biased, we can often forget there's another side to the story that can bring parts that we don't know/forget/don't think about to light. Your post and this thread in general can help others (myself included) understand the other side of things. 

To the original point of PowerP's post though, what do you see as being the answer? What do you and your colleagues feel would make this situation better?

[Pantherpride45]

I think instant replay needs to be enforced especially at championship level this would help officiating to get the call right and reduce the amount of negativity towards the official these kids work to hard to get here to not have a properly officiated game

[MidTNFootballFan]

This is sad that this has to be brought up, but everything mentioned above is true. Money and time seem to be the biggest issues. Maybe TSSAA can figure it out. 

[Indian]

In state title games, wouldn’t mind replay on turnovers and touchdowns if any question at all. Give them 60 seconds and if nothing is decided, call stands. 

[crow]

Better pay is non-negotiable. This is the same issue that is facing a lot of industry but none more than the emergency services community right now. You may get quality people if you offer low pay but you will not keep them. There will always be quality people that want to do the job for the love or desire to just do the job be it EMS, Police, Firefighters, Rescue, officiating, social work, whatever. On the other side of that there will be just as many terrible one sign on as well. After enough time passes the quality people will leave faster than they can be replaced which leads to shortages. Shortages lead to hiring anyone “with a pulse and a license/certification” just to have enough people to get by. Just ask someone in emergency services if this is true. When this occurs the reputation of the industry suffers because one the word gets out how the pay isn’t worth the hassle and two people no longer consider being associated with that profession as being viewed in a good light so they’re reluctant. If there are to be high quality people in ambulances, fire trucks or official uniforms on any given night there must be two things. First and foremost are high standards and higher accountability based on performance. Second is satisfying compensation and appreciation for the time and effort they put into the job. The standards, accountability and appreciation are typically better tools for retention of quality individuals than the pay is in virtually every circumstance. Unfortunately both fixes rest squarely on the shoulders of the T$$AA and I have little confidence in them to do either. 

[TheCommissioner]

3 hours ago, TheLiaison said:

Overall economic decline is killing everything associated with public education. Public education follows a corporate model where you have high administrative overhead (bosses make a lot) and workers make a livable wage. When inflation goes up, corporations raise prices and employee pay in lockstep with inflation. The problem with public education using the corporate model is they don’t have a product to sell so there isn’t a price hike that increases the pay for the employee. Teachers are leaving teaching and coaching in droves because of stagnant wages, whereas administrators are not because they make significant wages. Example: large county principals make close to $130k, assistant principals make $100k, and teachers make $37k. Textbook corporate model. T$$AA is no different. Referees and others that get things done make nothing, while a very few individuals make significant money at the top. I am a capitalist conservative, but it’s moronic for public ed and T$$AA to follow a corporate model. The more inflation goes up, the more teachers, coaches, referees, etc will be leaving the job forever. 

you’re correct

[wholder]

Back in July the Big Dogs of the TSSAA brought in nine different seven man crews to work the MBA vs Independence. I was one of the seven from my association. Our association has the same people working together every Friday night. The seven man crew I was with came from different crews. We never set foot on the field together again. 

We was promised either a semi final or final game. Nothing!!!
 

So why go through the trouble? Only about eight minutes for nine crews to work together? 

[tradertwo]

6 hours ago, TheLiaison said:

Overall economic decline is killing everything associated with public education. Public education follows a corporate model where you have high administrative overhead (bosses make a lot) and workers make a livable wage. When inflation goes up, corporations raise prices and employee pay in lockstep with inflation. The problem with public education using the corporate model is they don’t have a product to sell so there isn’t a price hike that increases the pay for the employee. Teachers are leaving teaching and coaching in droves because of stagnant wages, whereas administrators are not because they make significant wages. Example: large county principals make close to $130k, assistant principals make $100k, and teachers make $37k. Textbook corporate model. T$$AA is no different. Referees and others that get things done make nothing, while a very few individuals make significant money at the top. I am a capitalist conservative, but it’s moronic for public ed and T$$AA to follow a corporate model. The more inflation goes up, the more teachers, coaches, referees, etc will be leaving the job forever. 

 

You say there's no product to sell, yet the state mandates that all kids are educated. While I agree with your assessment (officials need a raise), I disagree with most everything else. If you're a capitalist, you know the "law" of supply and demand. We're at a low point regarding job performance and availability, necessitating a salary increase... TSSAA will make it happen willfully, or they'll be forced to in order to continue their own revenue stream. Not trying to enter into a debate about when, but you can rest assured that they will not jeopardize their own existence, and no officials equals no TSSAA.

  You really need to research your salary figures too...way off, but irrelevant in this discussion.