How do you measure your board's success??

[fbljuj]

NEED HELP! Our High School board is going through a cultural change of trying to get from 'that's the we we've always done it, it's work that way for 30 years, why change now"? to a more innovative, proactive outside the box type of thinking and get to be the best board in the country. Does anyone have a matrix or a way they measure success compared to other boards?

Some thoughts are : consistent mechanics, review of film, open to honest feedback, meeting decorum, proactive feedback from coaches via customer surveys etc.... Please let me know and thank you for your help. Enjoy the rest of the season.

[Ralph Damren]

You need to start by making all members accountable via some form of an internal rating system. There are many variations, ours has the following components : (1) score on NFHS part I = 30%; (2) fellow officials' rating = 40%; (3) meeting / clinic attendance = 20%; (4) seniority = 8%; (5) rating your fellow official = 2%. The coach of the schools we serve has the following input : (1) preseason - must submit a list of at least 25 acceptables - our chapter has 41 - remaining can be unknown or unacceptable with a reason; (2) post season - submit a list of ranked "top 20" - this will be paired with opposing coaches list to provide crew; (3) championship - every coach can vote for 10 officials - pool is formed from coach's votes and paired by top 25% of officials' internal ratings. hope this starts to help.

[TampaSteve]

I endorse guys being accountable and that is factored in when deciding who has playoffs, 9 game v 10 game season, position rankings, or even whether to work V v JV.
BUT when many assns are short on guys, it's sometimes hard to fully roll something like that out.

Mechanics: NFHS has their manual.  Seems it should be followed to the T if the state has no other mechanics changes (no way to argue what NFHS has in writing)

Coaches: sigh.  To me their opinion holds some credence, but only so much.

Maybe swap evaluating officials with a neighboring assn.
AssnX evaluates AssnY officials and vice versa.  Considering they both are following nfhs mechanics (from above), it should not matter who is evaluating as the mechamics criteria is all the same.

I went to MS game a few weeks ago. Each official seemed seasoned.  First thing I wrote:
"Why is U blowing every play dead?"
Now if the U was an ACC official (where U's there do blow play dead) that would explain it, but with consistent mechanics fbljuj brought up, we immediately ID this mechanic is way out of wack.

[Ralph Damren]

Well said, TampaSteve, consistency is very important in both mechanics and calls. We follow the NFHS Manual without exception , for once you start making exceptions it becomes an exception when you don't have an exception. When asking for coaches input, if you ask on a weekly basis, you get responses on calls he perceived missed. On a pre or post season basis, they tend to be much more objective. The "unacceptable" are usually few & far between and often are workers or kids at the school, or dating the coach's ex-wife . Our meetings consist of 3 segments : (1) business/assignment adjustments -usually 10 minutes; (2) training -rule or tape review usually 50 minutes; (3) Previous game review, led by WHs - always last - we are not as long winded if we are the only thing standing between departure.

[HLinNC]

With about 70 registered FB officials, we are not nearly as large as groups to the east of us but are larger than our neighbor to the west.

The state has a rating system for playoff assignments- Classes 1-4.  Only class 1 & 2's are to be playoff eligible.  Points are scored for state clinic attendance, local meeting attendance, test scores, experience, scrimmages.

Internally, evaluations are hit & miss.  Several years ago, we had a D1 official get injured during the season so he went to various games and evaluated the crews.  This season, we have a retired ACC official observing and sending reports to the RSO.

We have the ability to rate our fellow crew members from game to game on the Arbiter but I don't think it is used much.  Referees do have to turn in a game report and have a weekly in-season conference call on Sunday night.

[fbljuj]

I endorse guys being accountable and that is factored in when deciding who has playoffs, 9 game v 10 game season, position rankings, or even whether to work V v JV.
BUT when many assns are short on guys, it's sometimes hard to fully roll something like that out.

Mechanics: NFHS has their manual.  Seems it should be followed to the T if the state has no other mechanics changes (no way to argue what NFHS has in writing)

Coaches: sigh.  To me their opinion holds some credence, but only so much.

Maybe swap evaluating officials with a neighboring assn.
AssnX evaluates AssnY officials and vice versa.  Considering they both are following nfhs mechanics (from above), it should not matter who is evaluating as the mechamics criteria is all the same.

I went to MS game a few weeks ago. Each official seemed seasoned.  First thing I wrote:
"Why is U blowing every play dead?"
Now if the U was an ACC official (where U's there do blow play dead) that would explain it, but with consistent mechanics fbljuj brought up, we immediately ID this mechanic is way out of wack.

Ah-men brothers on consistent mechanics. All great comments but what I was looking for is if you had 5 boards in one State and each one says "their the best" how do you prove which one really is?

[HLinNC]

We have 10 regions in NC to cover 8 state finals.  There is a rotation system set up skewed towards the larger regions.

I don't think we concern ourselves much with the whole "mine is bigger than yours" thing.

[FBUmp]

...and get to be the best board in the country.

Now why do you think the rest of us would want to help your board become the best in the country? 

[FBUmp]

We have 10 regions in NC to cover 8 state finals.  There is a rotation system set up skewed towards the larger regions.

I don't think we concern ourselves much with the whole "mine is bigger than yours" thing.

Being in one of those larger associations to the east, no, we don't. 

There's only one man in the state who's opinion matters with regards to how he views each association.

[TampaSteve]

Ah-men brothers on consistent mechanics. All great comments but what I was looking for is if you had 5 boards in one State and each one says "their the best" how do you prove which one really is?

Help me: what is meant by what a "board" is in relation to the state you are in? - maybe we're talking the same language but not understanding each other.
If the boards are part of the state, wouldn't they want to work together to make them all better? - or is differentiating a board from another an advantage?

[fbljuj]

We have 10 regions in NC to cover 8 state finals.  There is a rotation system set up skewed towards the larger regions.

I don't think we concern ourselves much with the whole "mine is bigger than yours" thing.

Now why do you think the rest of us would want to help your board become the best in the country? 

Why? Healthy competition? No? OK, let's lower the standard and how about helping us be all that we can be. We are just trying to raise the bar within our own State and assistance and guidance as to how others measure success is greatly appreciated.

[fbljuj]

Help me: what is meant by what a "board" is in relation to the state you are in? - maybe we're talking the same language but not understanding each other.
If the boards are part of the state, wouldn't they want to work together to make them all better? - or is differentiating a board from another an advantage?

TampaSteve, what a concept to work together and make them all better (sorry, sarcasm). We have 5 boards/chapters/regional separate organizations all within the same state and all 5 do something a bit different. Some good, some not so good practices and no one person really oversees all 5. They vary in membership size so I'm going outside of the State to see specifically (not counting internal rating systems (ours could be much better) coaches ratings (we do not use them) how organizations use measurements and controls to see how good they actually are. Hope this helps and thanks for the reply.

[fbljuj]

Looks like this died on the vine, any chance of reviving this topic since just a little has changed in 2 years?

[HLinNC]

 I guess it died because most of us really don't see this as being about competition with other officials beyond good natured ribbing.   As Ty Webb said to Judge Smails in Caddyshack when asked how he compared himself to other golfers - "By height".

Even if I feel deep down that I'm the best high school linesman in NC and the State Supervisor says its so, I'm still not working the state finals every year so what does it matter?


 

[Rulesman]

As Ty Webb said to Judge Smails in Caddyshack when asked how he compared himself to other golfers - "By height".

Judge Smails: "I'm no slouch myself."
Ty Webb: "Don't sell yourself short, Judge. You're a tremendous slouch."

[Patrick E.]

Carl Spackler:  "Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga"

[VALJ]

"So I've got that going for me.... Which is nice..."

[Rulesman]

"I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down for quite a while."

[Ralph Damren]

After 2 1/2 years of hibernation, this topic or measuring tool really hasn't changed much. I like to look at it as not trying to be the best board/chapter/group/crew/tribe/band/gaggle in the state/nation/world/solar system; but just being the best we can be. Some "yardsticks" that make me feel good :

   (1) When the LOSING coach thanks us for doing a good job.
   (2) When the media shows and supports your crew's challenging call.
   (3) When coaches that use other chapters vote for officials from our chapter for state game.
   (4) When our attendance at our state meeting outnumbers the other 3 chapters combined.
   (5) When greeted by a coach on/in street/mall/bar/game.
   (6) When Momma Bear or Poppa Bear say thanks for doing what you do.
 
IMHO, we should do all we can to help each other in our common endeavor. I field several calls per week during the season from officials from other chapters, as their state interp. I always feel good if I feel that I've helped them get a better understanding. Hope all of you feel the same.   

[bigjohn]