The coach is full of "something." There are legitimate reasons for some crews (even outstanding crews) to not be considered for games at this level. A crew that calls mostly 6-man wouldn't be a good choice for this level. A West Texas crew that that called 10 games with a total of 5 passes combined might not be the right crew. But to say an exceptional crew from San Antonio, Waco, Central Texas or anywhere in Texas should not be chosen because they don't call games with inner city "kids" is stupid. He approved of this crew and he had every right to ask if anyone in the crew lived in PNG, Waco , San Antonio or Louisiana (or anywhere else he thought might actually be against inner city players). His comments are inappropriate and unsportsmanlike.
The Houston chapter and the R should also not have accepted the game. This crew had obviously called other state championship games. With the knowledge that one member of the crew lived in PNG, it presents the perception of a possible conflict. At the least, the R should have replaced this official (which we all know that Houston has at least 100 more that are more than qualified to fill-in).
It is a shame that this is even a "thing" but Deion S brings a lot of this into inner city coaches.
'A crew that calls mostly 6-man wouldn't be a good choice for this level.'
I strongly disagree with this. In fact, you're essentially agreeing with the SOC coach, just for differing reasons. Six-man has its quirks, for sure, but based on your logic one need only look at how one of the six man games was officiated to recognize that crews that never call six man, should never, ever be given six-man championship games.
There is a assumption that I see statewide, particularly in metro chapters, that 6-man football isn't 'real' football. It's as real as it gets, it's just a little different. It's absurd to say that a crew that works primarily six man wouldn't be able to 'handle' an 11-man championship game. If anything, six man is more challenging because your field of vision and responsibilities are much wider - 7 man officiating is a daydream compared to a competitive six-man game, not to mention the ability to move quickly and react, which for be a challenge for some of the officials I saw working 11-man championship games.
'A West Texas crew that that called 10 games with a total of 5 passes combined might not be the right crew'
Another very odd perception - that West Texas football isn't as good, as real, or competitive as metro area football. There's literally no crew in the entire state that would call 10 games with 5 passes, or anything even remotely close to that. But again, it's a common misperception.
'The Houston chapter and the R should also not have accepted the game.'
Based on what? There' no provision in the conflict of interest policy that would prohibit this... that's like saying if Lubbock High made it to the Championship game, (and coaches agreed on this, obviously) that all Lubbock crews are disqualified from calling that game. There' already enough imbalance in chapters that get vs chapters that don't, and sure there might be an optics issue but I'm not going to impugne any official - including the one from PNG - just based on where he lives.
And why would the Houston chapter have declined the championship? Wouldn't SET (Southeast Texas Chapter) out of Beaumont be their home chapter?
My biggest peeve in all of this is that TASO had a GOLDEN opportunity to make a statement condemning the actions of the coach who said on social media 'they need to find that guy' regarding the call. You couldn't ask for a better example of potentially putting officials in harm's way, and is indicative of how officials are not respected by coaches, because they have the power to pick crews. TASO has indicated that this is acceptable behavior by not condemning it and making an example of that school/coach. I'd be 100% in favor of no officials working Brookshire-Royal's games of any type until the coach publicly apologized. So disappointing that TASO didn't step up to the plate here.
Just my thoughts, sorry I'm argumentative today.
