RefStripes.com
Football Officiating => NCAA Discussion => Topic started by: OSU65 on August 26, 2017, 08:02:05 PM
-
This question applies to all levels of play, but I'm posting it here because I am most familiar with NCAA football.
How much independence do officials have from folks like athletic directors, coaches, etc. when it comes to long term employability? I would think that there is a lot more pressure at the high school level. Are officials protected by a separate "chain of command" when it comes to being evaluated on their performance?
Who has the power to "black ball" a crew or an individual for a game?
-
It depends on the local area and state. Some allow drafts of officials, some allow scratches, some combinations, while others are assigned with no coach input (rare in Texas where we use NCAA RULES)
College is assigned usually with no input from the coaches, AD or others.
-
Each FBS and FCS conference has a coordinator of officials charged with assembling, directing, assigning, and evaluating a staff of officials. The coordinators are hired by, and report to, the commissioners of each conference. They keep their jobs by putting a high quality product on the field. An individual coach or institution, officially, has no right to 'scratch' anybody, or 'prefer' anybody. However, there have been cases where a coach/institution puts enough pressure on the commissioner to not allow an official or a crew to work their future games, that the commissioner, in turn, puts that pressure on the coordinator to do just that. But those are very unusual, if not rare.
May be the same, or very similar for, D2 and below (just not really sure).
Can't speak for any other state, but with regard to Texas public HS varsity football, it is governed by an organization called the UIL, which, for all intents and purposes, is run by the HS ADs and superintendents. Officials for HS sports in Texas are organized by an independent organization called TASO. TASO recruits and trains officials for all major HS team sports, and acts on behalf of member officials in dealing with the UIL. The UIL policy is that officials for any UIL varsity contest are to be mutually acceptable to both institutions. Generally speaking, TASO members work all UIL contests, assigned by TASO assignors in local areas throughout the state (i.e., chapters). How assignments are made varies widely among the chapters. But, the larger schools tend to have drafts of officials/crews from chapters chosen by the schools, to work their contests. The small schools more often get officials assigned directly by the assignor from the Chapter(s) of their choice.
The UIL's "mutually accceptable" policy means that schools can, effectively, 'scratch' officials or crews. They can also have 'preferred' officials/ crews.
FYI, the UIL compensation system is based upon the paid attendance at each contest. So, very generally, the bigger the school, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the check. So, that is the golden carrot that the schools dangle over officials. (Want our games? Be nice to us.). I hope with all my soul that no TASO official would ever deliberately 'assist' a school, in exchange for continued assignments with any institution.
Some chapters say that they do not allow schools to select or scratch officials. The schools get the officials that the Chapter assigns. If so, good for them, and I hope they are able to maintain that system. But it isn't the UIL policy.
But, that's our dilemma. Until the schools are taken out of the selection process, we will always have the specter of potential for conflicts of interest. But, that would probably take a literal act of the state legislature to fix that. Good luck.
Robert
-
THX for taking the time to respond tiphat:
I'm just guessing that the percentage of officials involuntarily "retired" from the NCAA ranks is much lower than that in Texas high school football.
-
Being that we don't have a lot of officials at our disposal, the coaches around here realize they can't get very picky. They very well may end up without a crew if they don't like the one they got assigned. If they scratch a crew before assignments have been made it is much easier to work around.
-
One thing Elvis said needs to be clarified. That is the pay system. Only one level (varsity) of one sport (football) gets paid based on game attendance. All other games get paid based upon a rate set by the UIL. TASO has some ability to influence those rates through a committee, but in the end the ADs and superintendents have the final word.
Coaches in Texas have way too much influence on the selection of officials. This only happens at the varsity level. At no other level, pop warner to the NFL or little league to MLB does this type of influence exist. It is imperative to our organization that we somehow get this idea removed from the process. Those that assign at the chapter level (individually or by committee) typically have the best knowledge of the capabilities of the officials and crews. These people are going to do the best they can to put a good product on the field that represents their organization (chapter) well so that a good reputation is built and the chapter will continue to get called to work. Or maybe that just my wishful thinking since the good ole boy system mucks that up all the time.
-
One thing Elvis said needs to be clarified. That is the pay system. Only one level (varsity) of one sport (football) gets paid based on game attendance. All other games get paid based upon a rate set by the UIL. TASO has some ability to influence those rates through a committee, but in the end the ADs and superintendents have the final word.
Coaches in Texas have way too much influence on the selection of officials. This only happens at the varsity level. At no other level, pop warner to the NFL or little league to MLB does this type of influence exist. It is imperative to our organization that we somehow get this idea removed from the process. Those that assign at the chapter level (individually or by committee) typically have the best knowledge of the capabilities of the officials and crews. These people are going to do the best they can to put a good product on the field that represents their organization (chapter) well so that a good reputation is built and the chapter will continue to get called to work. Or maybe that just my wishful thinking since the good ole boy system mucks that up all the time.
. I have been told more than once that there is no good old boy system and it is just sour grapes but i am talking about iArkansas. Guess who told me this. The ones in the system. One of those genuine hall of famers in particular
-
I hate when self-righteous officials scoff at the notion of a "good ole boys system" by just saying that it's sour grapes from those offended. Typically, those are the officials that are benefiting from said "good ole boys system."
There are politics in every state, every conference, every association, in some form or another. Denying that or criticizing officials for pointing out their own organizations' politics is asinine.
Of course, there are sour grapes everywhere too. Politics and sour grapes aren't mutually exclusive.
-
I hate when self-righteous officials scoff at the notion of a "good ole boys system" by just saying that it's sour grapes from those offended. Typically, those are the officials that are benefiting from said "good ole boys system."
There are politics in every state, every conference, every association, in some form or another. Denying that or criticizing officials for pointing out their own organizations' politics is asinine.
Of course, there are sour grapes everywhere too. Politics and sour grapes aren't mutually exclusive.
^good ^good ^good
-
There are politics in every state, every conference, every association, in some form or another. Denying that or criticizing officials for pointing out their own organizations' politics is asinine.
Of course, there are sour grapes everywhere too. Politics and sour grapes aren't mutually exclusive.
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/500x/61663006/on-the-head-nail-you-have-hit.jpg)