How to move from NCAA to NFHS

[Morningrise]

Most NCAA officials start out learning Fed and eventually take up NCAA as a second language. But Massachusetts is likely switching to Fed next year. And that means I - and every other football official in the state - have to transition in the opposite direction.

For a veteran who knows the NCAA rules comfortably, I feel like there are two possible methods to make the switch. Should I go "up" from the ground level e.g. with the Redding Study Guide, or should I go "over" from the NCAA side with a Rules Differences book?

It seems like each method will have its pros and cons. What would you recommend to the fine men and women officiating in
the great state of Massachusetts?

[SCHSref]

Most NCAA officials start out learning Fed and eventually take up NCAA as a second language. But Massachusetts is likely switching to Fed next year. And that means I - and every other football official in the state - have to transition in the opposite direction.

For a veteran who knows the NCAA rules comfortably, I feel like there are two possible methods to make the switch. Should I go "up" from the ground level e.g. with the Redding Study Guide, or should I go "over" from the NCAA side with a Rules Differences book?

It seems like each method will have its pros and cons. What would you recommend to the fine men and women officiating in
the great state of Massachusetts?

The rules book is the place to stay. I think there are some officials that have a cheat sheet of rule differences.  I would go with finding the major differences and then sink to the minor ones. 

[JasonTX]

We have openings in Texas.  You could always relocate.   

[CalhounLJ]

I believe I would go the ground up method, and simply note the differences as I learned the NFHS rules


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[Ralph Damren]

I believe I would go the ground up method, and simply note the differences as I learned the NFHS rules


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The major adjustments will be by the referee in penalty enforcement. All officials will need to learn the restrictions of the free blocking zone , that some QBs never throw a catchable pass and once a kick enters the endzone we stop. The wings will have to learn that B/R can't get out of the neutral zone legally once in. Your seasoned instincts should lead to success without much difficulty. I officiated in Connecticut for 2 years, back when it was a NCAA state, before moving to Maine and didn't find the rule differences much of a problem. Good luck and welcome to the NFHS party ! 

[NVFOA_Ump]

I would agree with Ralph here.  I've been working about 50-50 between MA and RI for the last 3 years and would offer that the game is still football and the rules are not as different as some would think.  That being said, I would start by getting a copy of the rules differences (there are several good ones available on-line, the one posted by Ralph is the best IMHO).  Read and understand the rules differences, then study the rule book with the rules differences in mind.

The biggest differences that I see are in information support, not the rules themselves.  There is very limited on-line info that I can find, and none of it comes close to the info available for NCAA rules (pdf rule book), extensive videos (CFO site), regular rules clarification memos, etc.  Lots of good posts on this site, but nothing close to the NCAA information available.  Sure would be a great improvement if the NFHS rule book and case book were "officially" available on the NFHS site in a text searchable pdf format.

[riffraft]

I would agree with Ralph here.  I've been working about 50-50 between MA and RI for the last 3 years and would offer that the game is still football and the rules are not as different as some would think.  That being said, I would start by getting a copy of the rules differences (there are several good ones available on-line, the one posted by Ralph is the best IMHO).  Read and understand the rules differences, then study the rule book with the rules differences in mind.

The biggest differences that I see are in information support, not the rules themselves.  There is very limited on-line info that I can find, and none of it comes close to the info available for NCAA rules (pdf rule book), extensive videos (CFO site), regular rules clarification memos, etc.  Lots of good posts on this site, but nothing close to the NCAA information available.  Sure would be a great improvement if the NFHS rule book and case book were "officially" available on the NFHS site in a text searchable pdf format.

For about $6 each, you can get a kindle version of both the rule book and the case book on Amazon. Completely searchable, able to mark up, comment, etc.

[bossman72]

Most NCAA officials start out learning Fed and eventually take up NCAA as a second language. But Massachusetts is likely switching to Fed next year. And that means I - and every other football official in the state - have to transition in the opposite direction.

For a veteran who knows the NCAA rules comfortably, I feel like there are two possible methods to make the switch. Should I go "up" from the ground level e.g. with the Redding Study Guide, or should I go "over" from the NCAA side with a Rules Differences book?

It seems like each method will have its pros and cons. What would you recommend to the fine men and women officiating in
the great state of Massachusetts?

When I transitioned from NFHS to NCAA, I would read the rulebook cover to cover and highlight any rule that was different.  That way, they would stick out more.  There are many scenarios in both books where I had to look it up to see if it was actually different.  Made me a better rule book official.  I would start there.  The beauty of your situation is that you don't have to remember the NCAA rules too.

I've also found that the NFHS rule is "simpler" than the NCAA rule, so it's easy to go back down.  A few examples:

--Penalty enforcement - NCAA has many specific enforcement spots.  NFHS, everything is enforced "3 and 1" (all but one).
--Intentional grounding - NCAA the QB can be out of the pocket and ground it past the LOS.  NFHS you simply just have to have a receiver in the area.
--Timing - NCAA has 10 sec runoffs and 40 sec play clocks, and wind it when it goes OOB.  NFHS, you treat the whole game like you are under 2 minutes in NCAA.  No runoffs.  Just recently added the option for the offended team to go on the snap if the other team fouled under 2 min.

[toma]

I also worked RI and MA a few years back. I agree with NVOFA its still football. An important issue was enforcement. My board was able to find a lot of training info from other states around the country. The Alhoa Clinc videos are very helpful.  So is Refstripes!   

The biggest concern in MA, there are many college officials that don't want to have to learn the new rules. Will they work next year? How are the HS coaches going to adjust to the changes? Coach that holding call 10yds behind the LOS will the is a spot foul. That DIP is not a 1/10. On Its going to be interesting next year. In MA the MIAA did not consult with coaches, Ad's or officials. Just deal with it.     

[Morningrise]

The biggest concern in MA, there are many college officials that don't want to have to learn the new rules. Will they work next year?

Do not even get me started 

Consider veteran officials who have been doing this a long time but are on the fence about coming back for another year, maybe their kid is playing now, they want to spend time at her games... and then you find out you have to learn a whole new set of rules if you want to keep working? That is going to tip the scales for a LOT of officials - often the most qualified ones, no less.

Consider college officials who enjoy taking HS games whenever they can, but they don't want to do anything that would jeopardize their skill at the college level or harm their careers. Imagine a D3 guy hoping to move up. One accidental whistle for DOF on Saturday has the power to undo YEARS' worth of goodwill. The consequences are even worse for higher-level guys. I know for a fact that more than one of the best officials in the state are leaving the field on Fridays so they don't screw up on Saturdays.

Now, it's true, there are 48 other states where all the college officials handle two rulesets just fine and are perfectly capable of working the game differently on Friday and Saturday. But, those officials gained that "bilingual" expertise over time, not in just one offseason. They moved into their "second language" gradually, with a few scrimmages here and there, part-time schedules for the first year or three. And as they did so, they got to blend in among experienced veterans. Well, there are almost NO Fed veterans in Massachusetts. Except for a handful of guys who have worked in RI for a couple years, and people who relocated from elsewhere in the country, we are ALL rookies, all at once. And we don't get to start slowly with part-time schedules, either. No starting off in the shallow end of the pool.

[Ralph Damren]

IMHO, the complexity of moving from the NCAA code to the NFHS code would be dwarfed by the reverse. The fewer exceptions should make the change reasonably smooth. I hope all you Mass. guys stick with it.

[riffraft]

IMHO, the complexity of moving from the NCAA code to the NFHS code would be dwarfed by the reverse. The fewer exceptions should make the change reasonably smooth. I hope all you Mass. guys stick with it.

We had a 25 years in Texas official move to our area (Arizona) this season and join our crew. I don't remember him having any problems or issues, though few time he did tell us that the "real" football rules enforced a penalty differently. 

[CalhounLJ]

I've worked three playoff games this year with an official who calls college ball. He's asked me a ton of questions, all concerning different penalty enforcements...