Message from Bill Fecci

[TXMike]

My Fellow Officials,
As some of you may have already heard the Football Division had requested a meeting with Mr. Tony Timmons, UIL Director of Officials and any staff members including Dr. Breithaupt that could attend. The primary purpose was to discuss the registration of Football Officials.  This meeting occurred yesterday. In addition to Michael Fitch, Executive Director of TASO and myself, the assigning secretaries of the five largest Chapters were invited as representatives from TASO Football. In that we expected only Mr. Timmons and perhaps one other representative from UIL staff would be in attendance we did not want a large contingent to appear we were ganging up. As often happens with these meetings, unexpected events from one side or the other often occur. This meeting would be no exception. To our surprise, a pleasant one I might add, we were met with an approximate seventeen member group to sit down and have an open discussion with us. This group was comprised of members from UIL staff Dr. Breithaupt, Cliff Odenwald, Tony Timmons and Dr. Mark Cousins, Superintendents representing their own Districts as well a the Legislative Council, Presidents from the Athletic Directors Association, the Basketball Coaches Association, the Baseball Coaches Association, the Executive Director from the Girl’s Coaching Association, the IPP from the Athletic Directors Association and an Associate Athletic Director from a school district.
I mentioned this was a pleasant surprise, because we have for years asked that members of TASO could be afforded the opportunity to sit and discuss face to face with members of these organizations. To my knowledge this was the first time that a group of this composition has had the opportunity, in an informal setting, to discuss mutual concerns. Because of this meeting I believe all have a little better understanding of each others position.
A statement coauthored by Mike Fitch and Tony Timmons will be released summarizing this meeting, giving some clarification from the UIL about officials registration, and a factual listing of points we all agree on. Please give them some time to accomplish this task. It will be done as soon as both men’s schedules will accommodate.
As of yet, the registration deadline with the UIL is still November 1, 2010. The decision to register is a private free choice matter each of us must deal with on our own. I would encourage all of you to take the time to collect as much information about the registration process and what options are afforded each member. The deadline is still some 30 days away and you have time to do your investigation. Hopefully, once you receive the communiqué from Mike and Tony, the information you will receive will help you make a more informed decision.
Hope your season is going well. Please be assured I will keep you as informed as I can with factual not hearsay information as I acquire it.
Bill Fecci
President TASO Football

[Welpe]

That sounds like a positive step.  Thanks for sharing Mike.

[blindref757]

Just thinking out loud...If the UIL and the Schools are begging for all of this "Accountability", shouldn't they be the ones to pay for it?

This meeting sounds as if there were too many people to accomplish much.  I've been to a lot of meetings over the years...and if you get more than 7-8 in a room, not much happens--the best ones have 3-4.  If you put 20+ in a room...somebody reads a power point to you!  (Side rant...I hate when people read a PPT to me!)

I'll wait to draw a conclusion, but the joint statement seems to show me that UIL is still going to require registration and TASO is going to be doing what they do now.  It doesn't appear that TASO is ever going to have much of a voice as it relates to things like pay, discipline, or policy.  I've been saying for 10 years now that TASO has needed to be more like a union and less like a little brother to the UIL.  All of the backroom deals and good ol boy politicking is coming back to bite us in the butt.

I hope I'm wrong.