September 29, 2010
In the last week, many of you received an email from the UIL office. Based on
the telephone calls and emails I have received, the message from the UIL caused
more confusion to the UIL’s attempt to dominate and control all officiating in
Texas. The purpose of this note is to add clarity to the subject and provide you
the organization’s official stance on matters as they relate to the UIL. As a
result, the length of this message is longer than usual.
Joint Statement Has NOT Been Released
On Monday, September 27, 2010, many of you received an email stating the UIL
position regarding the September 21, 2010 meeting between TASO, those
representing the UIL’s position and the UIL staff. This correspondence is not
the joint statement between TASO and the UIL that you may have heard was
forthcoming.
Rest assured, until you see my signature on the same page with the
representative from the UIL, a joint statement has not been released.
Background leading up to the September 21, 2010 meeting
Over the past few weeks I have been contacted by many members and chapter
officers about the November 1st deadline for TASO members to register with the
UIL. Many parties including TASO members, coaches, athletic directors and other
school administrators did not understand why the UIL selected this date.
Did the UIL consider the impact their action may have on volleyball playoffs,
and the final week of the regular football season when district championships
are on the line and playoff implications are determined?
The confusion is understandable given the UIL’s position is somewhat fluid.
Given the confusion caused by the UIL’s arbitrary deadline, some of the Football
Secretaries asked me to get clarification from the UIL and wanted to meet in
Austin to discuss. I felt the best way to get answers was straight from the UIL,
so I called Dr. Breithaupt to invite him and arranged the meeting.
Dr. Breithaupt immediately passed me off to Tony Timmons. I explained what the
Football Secretaries were asking and invited him to attend the meeting so the
UIL position could be explained. Since the coaches and ADs are also impacted, I
invited representatives from the Texas High School Coaches Association and the
Texas High School Athletic Directors Association. The Coaches Association
representatives could not attend due to previous commitments, but the Athletic
Director’s representative accepted the invitation.
I have received many calls asking, “Why was football the only Division invited?”
and “Why just the largest football chapters?” As I answer these questions,
please consider the original invitation only included the UIL staff involved
with officiating. Originally, it was expected the meeting would have roughly
equal numbers of TASO and UIL representatives. Meetings are more productive when
a small number of individuals attend. I also thought it would be more
professional to keep the number of attendees to a minimum.
The reason the football division attended the meeting was the Football
Secretaries were primarily the ones asking me for the detailed information. As
explained above, the number of chapter secretaries was limited to keep the
meeting focused, and I know it would have been a hardship for all 23 football
chapters to be in Austin on a Tuesday morning with only four days notice.
As you will read later, the November 1st deadline only affects volleyball and
football. The deadline for the other sports is not November 1, 2010.
NOTE: I encourage all sports to meet with the UIL and me. The meeting on
September 21, 2010 was not intended to be the final meeting between TASO and the
UIL. This is your organization. Chapter Secretaries and Presidents, please let
me know if you want the UIL and/or me to meet with your chapter.
Highlights of the September 21, 2010 meeting
The UIL took it upon themselves to invite a total of 15 people to the meeting
including superintendents, athletic directors and representatives from the Texas
Girls Coach’s Association, the Baseball Coaches Association and the Basketball
Association. Even though this was unexpected (they knew it would only be
Football Chapter chapters, so why the Girls, Baseball and Basketball Coaches
representatives???), it was not disappointing as TASO has requested meetings
with this level of attendees in the past but was always refused.
The UIL recorded the entire meeting, and I asked all attendees to sign their
name and affiliation on a sheet of paper. We had a gentleman’s agreement that we
would exchange the audio recording and sign-in list the next days.
When the meeting began, I was asked if one of the superintendents, the Chairman
of the Legislative Council could make a statement. I agreed and he made a
statement in support of the UIL registration policy. He immediately yielded the
floor to another UIL invitee who basically said the same thing followed by 5 or
6 similar statements from the UIL invitees. Since these men were invited to the
meeting by the UIL, it is no great surprise that they were unified in their
support of the UIL and their registration process. Unfortunately, many of them
left after the first hour, so they did not hear much from us or our perspective.
After they all had an opportunity to state their positions, I opened up the core
of the meeting with a simple question for the entire UIL contingent: “Since the
November 1st date is causing so much confusion and concern for TASO members,
coaches and administrators and there is a very real chance that many of Football
and Volleyball members will not abide by the November 1st date causing even more
confusion during the Volleyball and Football play-offs, please answer this … How
is this in the best interest of the Texas High School Student Athlete?”
There was a solid 5 – 7 seconds of stone cold silence as obviously no one had a
good answer. After that, several chimed in with obvious canned and rehearsed
answers such as:
“It was the first available date after the first law suit was dismissed” …
Really? The first suit was dismissed on August 27th. How is November 1st the
first “available” date?
“It’s important that all sports sign up on the same date” … Really? Later when
it was asked if the spring sports (Baseball, Soccer and Softball) would also
have to sign up by November 1st, we were told that they only had to register
before they officiated in a UIL contest, so there seems to be nothing special
about the November 1st date.
…and my personal favorite … “It’s on a Monday.”
Now that brings us back to the “joint statement”. Towards the end of the
meeting, one of the TASO representatives suggested that much of the confusion
about the registration process could be cleared up with a joint statement of the
FACTS. It was suggested that if these FACTS could be committed to a document
signed by both Tony Timmons and me, that it would go a long way to the
understanding of the TASO member’s alternatives.
Both Tony Timmons and I agreed to the joint statement that simply stated the
facts.
We left the meeting with the understanding that Tony Timmons and I would share
our interpretations of the meeting’s discussion points and together agree on the
final document. To that end, I have been communicating with the TASO members in
attendance at the meeting to ensure we all had a common understanding of these
points as stated by the UIL.
Results of the September 21, 2010 meeting
On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, I sent Tony a copy of the sign-in sheet from
the meeting.
I have yet to receive a copy of the audio recording.
On Sunday night, September 26, 2010, at 7:59 PM, I received Tony Timmons’
version of the meeting. In his e-mail, he stated that it was for me to review as
he was sending it out the next day (Monday, September 27, 2010). I responded by
reminding him that he agreed to us working together to create a statement of
facts for TASO members to consider and that I would share his version with the
other TASO attendees and we would reply to him.
We all know what happened next; we received the e-mail from the UIL about the
meeting. It was issued with NO input from me or any of the TASO members that
attended at the September 21st meeting.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT YOU RECEIVED FROM THE UIL ON SEPTEMBER 27th WAS THE
UIL INTERPRETATION OF THE MEETING. NEITHER I NOR ANYONE ELSE FROM TASO WAS
ALLOWED ANY INPUT IN SPITE OF WHAT WAS AGREED TO IN FRONT OF EVERYONE ATTENDING
THE MEETING. THERE IS SOME FACTUAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE UIL MESSAGE, BUT
THERE ARE ALSO STATEMENTS NEVER MADE IN THAT MEETING AND SEVERAL NOTABLE
OMISSIONS.
It is important reiterate, all parties left the September 21st meeting with the
understanding that Tony Timmons and I would share our interpretations of the
meeting’s discussion points and together agree on the final document. The TASO
members in attendance and I have been working to develop an accurate statement
of the meeting to ensure we all had a common understanding of these points as
stated by the UIL.
As you can clearly see, the UIL leadership continues to say one thing, but do
another.
Conclusions
The UIL chose November 1st because they believe that you as an official will do
anything to work a playoff game. Signing up is free (for now), and once you are
registered, you are eligible to work playoff games. I understand that play-off
games are a reward for all the hard work and dedication during the pre-season
scrimmages and regular season. I have been an official for 37 years and I
understand how most officials think. After spending 10+ years on the Football
and TASO boards working with the UIL every year on numerous issues, listening to
what they say and observing what they do, I have much different perspective on
their long-term goals.
Many people have asked “what’s wrong with a free registration?” Good question,
and if taken by itself, nothing. However it’s a lot like the small leak in the
dam, it never remains a small leak, left unplugged it eventually becomes a total
collapse of the dam.
If this is how they treat TASO members and leadership now, can you image how it
will be if they are in total control? DO NOT be fooled by their new approach
that a Chapter can remain a TASO Chapter and the individual members can
officiate UIL contests simply by a free registration process. That maybe true
today, but in my opinion, it will not remain so. They tried to bulldoze our
membership into joining previously and found that tactic did not work and now
they have formulated a new scheme of a kinder and gentler UIL.
As an example, we only have to look back to last week’s meeting, when the
registration process went from “free forever” at the beginning of the meeting to
“free for now” at the end. They can’t even keep the same story through a single
meeting!
I attended a TASO Softball Chapter meeting this past Sunday where Tony Timmons
referred (via a telephone connection) to TASO as the “former” organization. This
gives you an insight to their real intentions.
I have attempted to negotiate an agreement with the UIL to end the dispute and
the lawsuit. Many of you have expressed the opinion that “why can’t you just sit
down with them and work this out?” I have tried repeatedly. The UIL leadership
would not collaborate with us on a simple joint statement – even after agreeing
to do so in a room full of people. Tossing the agreement aside is a living
example of the tactics used by the UIL.
They do not want to negotiate. Their intent is to control every aspect of high
school officiating, including your high school officiating career.
Welcome to the world of high school officiating in Texas as they will have it.
Don’t forget that we will be back in court well before the November 1st
registration deadline attempting to stop the registration process. TASO is a
membership organization and our members are independent contractors.
Registration is an individual choice. I suggest you wait until after the court
date to finalize your decision.
I encourage you to ask these questions:
1. Where would TASO be if we did not take a firm stand in December 2009?
2. If we did not take a stand then, do you think you, as a high school official,
would be better off with only representation from a state bureaucracy controlled
by the same people that control the schools?
3. If the UIL treats us this way now, what do you think of their Due Process
when a conflict arises on the field, diamond or court?
Below are the points that came out of the September 21st meeting. ALL TASO
attendees are in 100% agreement as to their accuracy.
Regards,
Mike
Michael Fitch
Executive Director
Texas Association of Sports Officials
These are the points that were made during a meeting of Football Chapter
representatives and the UIL. Even though this meeting was focused on Football,
these points apply to all sports.
This is simply a restatement of the “facts about registration” as related to the
TASO attendees by the UIL and should NOT be considered as an indication of
support by TASO or a recommendation to register. TASO is a membership
organization and our members are independent contractors. Registration is an
individual choice.
· Meeting attendees included UIL Staff, Members of the UIL Legislative
Council, Athletic Directors, Athletic Director Association President,
representatives for the Girls Coaches Association, Basketball Coaches
Association, Baseball Coaches Association, TASO Houston Football, TASO Dallas
Football, TASO Fort Worth Football, TASO San Antonio Football, TASO Austin
Football, TASO Football President, and the TASO Executive Director;
· There is a very distinct difference between an official “registering”
with the UIL and a Chapter “joining” the UIL;
· Individual officials “register” with the UIL, a Chapter may vote to
“join” the UIL;
· Ultimately all chapters will have to decide which “Provider” they choose
to use, TASO or the UIL although Dr. Breithaupt and Tony Timmons both encouraged
current TASO members to remain with TASO;
· A Chapter that joins the UIL will pay $50 State Dues per member and
receive all of their services (testing, rule books, training, disciplinary
actions, etc.) from the UIL instead of TASO;
· Currently, individual registration is free although there may be a fee
established in the future;
· UIL Registration is an annual event and the UIL reserves the right to
make an official ineligible to work UIL contests;
· The registration deadline for Football and Volleyball is November 1st as
we are in the middle of those seasons. Officials in other sports must register
before they officiate any UIL game;
· All officials must register with the UIL to officiate in UIL games at
all levels;
· Individual registration by the UIL is not required to officiate non UIL
contests;
· All Officials must belong to a Chapter that is either a TASO member or
aligned with the UIL and cannot solicit games individually;
The UIL will not allow a UIL chapter to form in an area that there is a
chapter that opted to stay a TASO chapter where most of the members are
registered with the UIL and that chapter is covering the local UIL School’s
games;
· UIL assignments will not favor a UIL Chapter, and
· The ADs and Administrators pledged to enforce both sides of the 1204 fee
schedule and travel policy and make UIL member schools pay accordingly.
