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Football Officiating => NCAA Discussion => Topic started by: ilyazhito on September 23, 2019, 03:38:37 PM
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College officials, there probably is a time when you gave up working high school football games, or at least considered giving up HS football. I know that D2 and D1 games either require longer travel, or require that one show up the evening before. Either of those requirements make officiating high school football difficult or impossible. Are there any other reasons why you may have stopped working high school games? Are there any reasons why you continue to officiate high school football, even though that means lost sleep and having to navigate multiple sets of rules and mechanics?
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College officials, there probably is a time when you gave up working high school football games, or at least considered giving up HS football. I know that D2 and D1 games either require longer travel, or require that one show up the evening before. Either of those requirements make officiating high school football difficult or impossible. Are there any other reasons why you may have stopped working high school games? Are there any reasons why you continue to officiate high school football, even though that means lost sleep and having to navigate multiple sets of rules and mechanics?
Reps. As someone who's been at it only 10 years, I still value reps. When I got into college early in my career, my Friday night was a great warm up for Saturday.
I started doing the hotel thing and driving after my HS game to a point closer to my College game and sleeping there. Best decision I ever made. Get a solid 7-8 hrs of sleep and work refreshed.
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I still love doing both! I have considered giving up HS and focusing on college, but I think I would really miss Friday nights. I have established relationships with several coaches and ADs, and I love helping them and their programs. D3 is a fun level to work. Mostly great kids and great coaches. Every level you move up the more scrutiny you get and less fun you have even though you are working bigger games.
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I was ready to give up Friday nights for a few reasons. Biggest challenge is, as you get older, it's not as easy to put 100% into back-to-back nights. One of my college crewmates works a lot of basketball and as he continues to age (seems he gets older every year....), he makes the same observations. Granted, we are still doing it, but there'll come a time when the body will only be able to take so much punishment, and I know high school will no longer be an option. You can be in excellent physical shape (Ed Hochuli, anyone?) but it still gets to you. Maybe not as quickly, but it gets to you. Even in my young(er) days, my feet would kill me the day after the game. It's worse when I work two or more games back-to-back....and keep in mind, working college ball means you work college JV, and some of those games are on Sunday or Monday. I have worked four football games in a row before. My body still is mad at me.
Second reason: I'm sick of driving to a high school game on a Friday and then having to drive to a hotel after a game. I'd much rather leave work Friday, drive to my hotel (if I'm getting one) and get decent sleep versus 4 or 5 hours.
Third reason: I honestly am done with attempting to keep track of two very different rule sets, penalty enforcements, etc. I won't even bother to open the NFHS rulebook/casebook anymore, and haven';t in years. I have had a few "High School Oopsies" at the college club/college JV level, thankfully minor and unnoticed except by the crew, and since I stopped paying attention to the high school rules and focused on college rules, that's not happened.
Main reason I haven't: My college assigner said not to. His rationale made sense to me. There's a massive shortage of officials, and the players on Friday nights deserve good officials, too. Don't sell them short to convenience yourself. My secondary reason is that some of these high school ballgames I've worked in the past few years have been massive (school size, spectators, stadium, quality/level of play, etc) and blow some of the NAIA/D-3 schools out of the water competition-wise. It's hard not to be impressed when a high school team is disciplined and runs rings around college teams.
I therefore stay working high school ball because in that one moment, what my assigner said, made total sense, and I agree. I know the physical toll will be my #1 reason for finally saying good-bye to the Friday Night Lights.
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Some low-level college assigners who think too highly of themselves have told their officials they're not allowed to work Friday nights.
That's just ridiculous. I grow weary of the "independent contractor" nonsense when I hear assigners pulling s*it like this.
I don't work college, but I know a WH in a D2 conference who still works HS. He only has five on-field games in that league this year; the rest of his assignments are ECO. Why would anyone give up HS for the sake of working five college games and a bunch of clock games?
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working college ball means you work college JV, and some of those games are on Sunday or Monday.
Not to try and hi-jack this thread, but what conferences still work college JV games? I've worked in 4 difference college conferences at 3 different levels over the past 18 years and none of them had JV games. I've heard about them from guys much older than me, but I haven't heard of any since I've been working. Just curious.
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If you value a long career at FBS, in particular, you should voluntarily discontinue working anything else. The conversation you may regret is, "Mr. (coordinator), I broke my foot last night and won't be able to go work the game at State U tomorrow. What was I doing? Well, I was working a high school game, and I.... Uh, yes, sir, a high school game. I'm very sorry, but the doctor says I will be out for about four weeks."
Putting a coordinator in that position does not go over well. You just might be out for good.
Robert
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Not to try and hi-jack this thread, but what conferences still work college JV games? I've worked in 4 difference college conferences at 3 different levels over the past 18 years and none of them had JV games. I've heard about them from guys much older than me, but I haven't heard of any since I've been working. Just curious.
I work NAIA and D-3 ball (mostly Ohio, Kentucky) They have JV squads. I've worked College Club/JV ball for D-1 schools as well. From what I understand, JV/College Club happens in no particular pattern and various schools have or do not have it based upon demand and availability of players.
Note: JV games are NOTORIOUS for cancellations due to injury, illness. I've had two this season become "no contest" due to one team not being able to show for one reason or another. One of the teams couldn't secure a bus for transportation.....
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I don't work college, but I know a WH in a D2 conference who still works HS. He only has five on-field games in that league this year; the rest of his assignments are ECO. Why would anyone give up HS for the sake of working five college games and a bunch of clock games?
Ehh, I don't know....we have guys around here who just go absolutely bonkers because they are now working as "replay assistants" in the NFL (they are NOT replay officials in the booth as you and I understand them...they are ASSISTANTS!) and they have given up their high school AND college careers to be NFL "replay ASSISTANTS" because it COULD - COULD - be a step into the NFL as a replay OFFICIAL. Which, by technical terms, means you are now an NFL official. If you want to give up working on the field and turn back your full-time college schedule to work as an assistant, I can't tell you how to live your life. But, make no mistake about it: An NFL replay ASSISTANT is NOT an NFL Replay OFFICIAL...but, again, guys have dumped their full-time college schedules to be an ASSISTANT. I suppose if that floats yer boat, you do it for whatever reason(s) makes sense.
I guess it's no stretch that some guys will dump their high school schedule to work the clock at D-2. To a certain degree, I think I'd be tempted to dump my schedule if I could do something kinda-sorta related to officiating **if I don't want to work on the field**. Clock operator? I've done it before when I had a "bye" that week and it was a local college....but not to drive for 6+ hours, get paid fifty bucks....not worth it. Let a local high school guy work the clock for the D3/D2 games.
I'd never give up a schedule to do something that isn't on the field. I can't imagine I'll do that until I'm at the age where I can't move like I do/used to move. But there are guys in their mid-30's dumping all of it to work something that they think will be a massive leg-up. Bottom line is, it's not surprising to me 'cause I've seen four local guys take the offer to move up to the NFL as an ASSISTANT.
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I work NAIA and D-3 ball (mostly Ohio, Kentucky) They have JV squads. I've worked College Club/JV ball for D-1 schools as well. From what I understand, JV/College Club happens in no particular pattern and various schools have or do not have it based upon demand and availability of players.
Note: JV games are NOTORIOUS for cancellations due to injury, illness. I've had two this season become "no contest" due to one team not being able to show for one reason or another. One of the teams couldn't secure a bus for transportation.....
Thanks. I guess it just isn't common in my area of the country.
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If you value a long career at FBS, in particular, you should voluntarily discontinue working anything else. The conversation you may regret is, "Mr. (coordinator), I broke my foot last night and won't be able to go work the game at State U tomorrow. What was I doing? Well, I was working a high school game, and I.... Uh, yes, sir, a high school game. I'm very sorry, but the doctor says I will be out for about four weeks."
Putting a coordinator in that position does not go over well. You just might be out for good.
Robert
FBS is big-time money and extensive preparation and you're usually required to be in town the night before.
D2 and lower? Sorry, but assigners giving a "no Friday nights" ultimatum at those levels are full of themselves.
And officials at that level who voluntarily give up HS? To each his own, I guess.
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Ehh, I don't know....we have guys around here who just go absolutely bonkers because they are now working as "replay assistants" in the NFL (they are NOT replay officials in the booth as you and I understand them...they are ASSISTANTS!) and they have given up their high school AND college careers to be NFL "replay ASSISTANTS" because it COULD - COULD - be a step into the NFL as a replay OFFICIAL. Which, by technical terms, means you are now an NFL official. If you want to give up working on the field and turn back your full-time college schedule to work as an assistant, I can't tell you how to live your life. But, make no mistake about it: An NFL replay ASSISTANT is NOT an NFL Replay OFFICIAL...but, again, guys have dumped their full-time college schedules to be an ASSISTANT. I suppose if that floats yer boat, you do it for whatever reason(s) makes sense.
I guess it's no stretch that some guys will dump their high school schedule to work the clock at D-2. To a certain degree, I think I'd be tempted to dump my schedule if I could do something kinda-sorta related to officiating **if I don't want to work on the field**. Clock operator? I've done it before when I had a "bye" that week and it was a local college....but not to drive for 6+ hours, get paid fifty bucks....not worth it. Let a local high school guy work the clock for the D3/D2 games.
I'd never give up a schedule to do something that isn't on the field. I can't imagine I'll do that until I'm at the age where I can't move like I do/used to move. But there are guys in their mid-30's dumping all of it to work something that they think will be a massive leg-up. Bottom line is, it's not surprising to me 'cause I've seen four local guys take the offer to move up to the NFL as an ASSISTANT.
A lot of truth here.
Many an official has turned his back on "lower levels" with misconceived notions of making it "big time." Unfortunately most officials don't ever make it to those big-time levels and then either quit altogether or struggle to get back into HS.
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If you value a long career at FBS, in particular, you should voluntarily discontinue working anything else. The conversation you may regret is, "Mr. (coordinator), I broke my foot last night and won't be able to go work the game at State U tomorrow. What was I doing? Well, I was working a high school game, and I.... Uh, yes, sir, a high school game. I'm very sorry, but the doctor says I will be out for about four weeks."
Putting a coordinator in that position does not go over well. You just might be out for good.
Robert
That, and the limited amount of high school games available in my current association, is why I have considered ending my high school football career to focus on college.
It's weird to have more college games than high school games in my 1st college season, don't you think?
Some colleges in my area do have JV games, but new college officials around me are more likely to travel to NY, NJ, and PA to do junior college football games. My 1st college game was just this past Saturday in Scranton.
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That, and the limited amount of high school games available in my current association, is why I have considered ending my high school football career to focus on college.
It's weird to have more college games than high school games in my 1st college season, don't you think?
Some colleges in my area do have JV games, but new college officials around me are more likely to travel to NY, NJ, and PA to do junior college football games. My 1st college game was just this past Saturday in Scranton.
Not as familiar with football, but in basketball it's not an unusual occurrence for a young official to get into college before getting a varsity schedule. Blame association/assigner politics at the HS level.
I would advise against quitting HS if I were you. At the very least continue going to meetings and being active in your association. You are a young official; it would be different if you were in your later years. You have to understand that at the college level you are very replaceable; many officials are let go each year and there is always someone to take their place. That is not always the case with HS. If you break your relationship with your HS group you may find it difficult to get back in if college doesn't work out.
Many an official has advanced "too quickly" and has been put in situations that they do not handle well because they were not prepared. Then the bottom falls out and they have nothing to fall back on. Don't be a "well, that won't happen to me" guy. Don't put all your eggs into advancing in collegiate officiating at your age.
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Ehh, I don't know....we have guys around here who just go absolutely bonkers because they are now working as "replay assistants" in the NFL (they are NOT replay officials in the booth as you and I understand them...they are ASSISTANTS!) and they have given up their high school AND college careers to be NFL "replay ASSISTANTS" because it COULD - COULD - be a step into the NFL as a replay OFFICIAL. Which, by technical terms, means you are now an NFL official. If you want to give up working on the field and turn back your full-time college schedule to work as an assistant, I can't tell you how to live your life. But, make no mistake about it: An NFL replay ASSISTANT is NOT an NFL Replay OFFICIAL...but, again, guys have dumped their full-time college schedules to be an ASSISTANT. I suppose if that floats yer boat, you do it for whatever reason(s) makes sense.
I guess it's no stretch that some guys will dump their high school schedule to work the clock at D-2. To a certain degree, I think I'd be tempted to dump my schedule if I could do something kinda-sorta related to officiating **if I don't want to work on the field**. Clock operator? I've done it before when I had a "bye" that week and it was a local college....but not to drive for 6+ hours, get paid fifty bucks....not worth it. Let a local high school guy work the clock for the D3/D2 games.
I'd never give up a schedule to do something that isn't on the field. I can't imagine I'll do that until I'm at the age where I can't move like I do/used to move. But there are guys in their mid-30's dumping all of it to work something that they think will be a massive leg-up. Bottom line is, it's not surprising to me 'cause I've seen four local guys take the offer to move up to the NFL as an ASSISTANT.
I have 3 friends who have done this over the past few years. They started in FCS and fairly quickly moved into NFL roles (within 3-4 years). Two of them worked the AFC and NFC Championship games last year and one of them worked the Super Bowl. One is a replay official this year. It's not a bad path for some guys to go and everyone I know who did it willingly loves it. A couple guys who were suggested to step off the field and pursue it not as much.
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A D2 Referee told me he quit high school because he was tired of the antics of the coaches and little to no support form the organization.
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A D2 Referee told me he quit high school because he was tired of the antics of the coaches and little to no support form the organization.
This isn’t exclusively a HS problem.
There are plenty of college assigners out there who take every coach complaint at face value and don’t support their officials flagging unsporting behavior out of fear of losing their league(s).
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FBS is big-time money and extensive preparation and you're usually required to be in town the night before.
That is true, but, in many parts of Texas, in particular, a guy could would a full schedule of high school games on Thursday nights. And, there is the occasional week off that would allow one or more HS games. During my FBS days, my coordinator didn’t expressly prohibit guys from working HS, but he made it clear that an injury that occurred during a HS game that impacted our ability to work a game assigned by him, either completely or at less than full capacity, would not be appreciated.
Nobody in my conference worked high school games.
Robert
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This isn’t exclusively a HS problem.
There are plenty of college assigners out there who take every coach complaint at face value and don’t support their officials flagging unsporting behavior out of fear of losing their league(s).
Amen to that. Thankfully, both of my college assigners back the officials to the teeth and so do the commissioners. My misery has been the high school assigners who, after getting a complaint from a coach/A.D., will kiss the BUTT of those people so the assigner doesn't lose his/her precious assignment privileges.
That is true, but, in many parts of Texas, in particular, a guy could would a full schedule of high school games on Thursday nights. And, there is the occasional week off that would allow one or more HS games. During my FBS days, my coordinator didn’t expressly prohibit guys from working HS, but he made it clear that an injury that occurred during a HS game that impacted our ability to work a game assigned by him, either completely or at less than full capacity, would not be appreciated.
Nobody in my conference worked high school games.
We have several D-2 officials in my area (Ohio) who gave up working high school. Biggest reason is the driving distance (6-8 hours, one way). They want to drive down Friday evening, get a hotel, get decent sleep, work a game the next day versus the Friday Night Lights scramble. I can honestly say if I had a solid D-2 schedule, I'd probably give up high school without thinking about it.
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Ehh, I don't know....we have guys around here who just go absolutely bonkers because they are now working as "replay assistants" in the NFL (they are NOT replay officials in the booth as you and I understand them...they are ASSISTANTS!) and they have given up their high school AND college careers to be NFL "replay ASSISTANTS" because it COULD - COULD - be a step into the NFL as a replay OFFICIAL. Which, by technical terms, means you are now an NFL official. If you want to give up working on the field and turn back your full-time college schedule to work as an assistant, I can't tell you how to live your life. But, make no mistake about it: An NFL replay ASSISTANT is NOT an NFL Replay OFFICIAL...but, again, guys have dumped their full-time college schedules to be an ASSISTANT. I suppose if that floats yer boat, you do it for whatever reason(s) makes sense.
I believe I know who you speak of, some make decision to be in the booth now as opposed to taking the chance that their abilities could advance them on the field.
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Giving up HS became a very easy decision for me. As a backjudge I was actually bored and anxious watching blow out games, watching the clock and starting to do math in my head of: when this game would end, when would I get home, hopefully fall asleep, get up early and drive to the college game. The reps were not quality reps, the pace of play was slow, the coaches inability to understand the rules was frustrating, the monetary consideration was worth it. I might have felt different if I was on the line or referee full time. I wanted to be a college official and advance as far as I could.
Much better reps and time spend on Monday night college JV games or working practices at the local NFL team during the week.
The spring and fall practices is much more beneficial for me in getting ready for the season for reps, rules, speed of the game.
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I have a similar situation in my area, at least for extra college reps. A D2 team in my area has officials come to practices on Tuesday, and the University of Maryland has officials come to their practices Monday through Thursday. UMD practice officials even get paid a small amount for working practices.
I'm a deep official, so I'd have limited reps doing 5-man games in DC. I could try my luck going back to doing 6-man games in MD, but I'll play it by ear, and make a decision on high school in the next few seasons. I won't be making the decision before next spring at the earliest.
RE: booth vs field, I'd rather be on the field. 3 on field games this year, 1 game clock assignment, 1 play clock assignment. Maybe I get another game on my 2 weeks off. Looking forward to college camps and scrimmages next year.
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I believe I know who you speak of, some make decision to be in the booth now as opposed to taking the chance that their abilities could advance them on the field.
Don't get me wrong - if that's the path they wish to go, that's all them, I support it 100%.
I DO question the decision to do such when you're going from on-field action to sitting in a replay booth or working the sidelines as an assistant and there's no action.
Maybe my mind isn't working right, but it seems to me that replay is a great position for officials who are past their physical prime versus able-bodies on-the-field D2/D1 officials
who make the jump.
Regardless, whatever their choice, if they're happy with it, that's awesome. I can't ever see myself doing that until I can't walk anymore.
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I did not give up High School until I moved to the FCS which did not allow me to work it. What I did do near the end of my HS and Small College career was work different positions. We were fortunate enough to have JV games for Small College so I would work Referee, B, or a deep wing...and mainly did that so I could see the views each position had during the plays. I knew what I would see at my normal position (L) but it gave me a different perspective and allowed me to focus on areas where I knew the other positions had blind spots.
The rule book was a different story...after a year or two in small college, I did not open the NFHS book at all. I knew the differences at my position, but relied on my crew to deal with the enforcements.
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it seems to me that replay is a great position for officials who are past their physical prime versus able-bodies on-the-field D2/D1 officials
who make the jump.
The trend now is to get replay officials before they are past their physical prime. There is at least one conference who is using replay assistants who have never officiated a game on the field (from what I have been told...I can't prove it). It's the Dean Blandino model. It looks like the guys who work into their 60s won't have the opportunity to go to the booth anymore.
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Don't get me wrong - if that's the path they wish to go, that's all them, I support it 100%.
I DO question the decision to do such when you're going from on-field action to sitting in a replay booth or working the sidelines as an assistant and there's no action.
Maybe my mind isn't working right, but it seems to me that replay is a great position for officials who are past their physical prime versus able-bodies on-the-field D2/D1 officials
who make the jump.
Regardless, whatever their choice, if they're happy with it, that's awesome. I can't ever see myself doing that until I can't walk anymore.
The guys I've talked to who have done it say it's a lot more stressful than being on the field. And it's a way for those who likely won't advance on the field to be able to advance to D1 or the NFL. Doing it a younger age greatly increases that opportunity for advancement. They have found the retired guys who do it don't have the ambition to get better that the younger guys do. I've strongly considered it and have had conversations with D1 supervisors about it, but I love being on the field and interacting with players. I think I would miss that part too much. But I haven't ruled it out as a path.
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The trend now is to get replay officials before they are past their physical prime. There is at least one conference who is using replay assistants who have never officiated a game on the field (from what I have been told...I can't prove it). It's the Dean Blandino model. It looks like the guys who work into their 60s won't have the opportunity to go to the booth anymore.
Our local Big Ten schools used to do that for red hats and communicators. We would tap a newer applicant as it would give them a great opportunity to work with top college crews and see college officiating first hand. It seemed to work well. The B1G has now started using their replay supplemental staff for the communicator role so they are now usually people who have worked at least some college football on the field. I believe the red hat is still a D3 applicant at both schools though. That role is more associated with the production crew than the officiating crew though.
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Our local Big Ten schools used to do that for red hats and communicators. We would tap a newer applicant as it would give them a great opportunity to work with top college crews and see college officiating first hand. It seemed to work well. The B1G has now started using their replay supplemental staff for the communicator role so they are now usually people who have worked at least some college football on the field. I believe the red hat is still a D3 applicant at both schools though. That role is more associated with the production crew than the officiating crew though.
These aren't guys who have applied to the conference as on-field officials. They are strictly in the booth. They are bringing younger guys in to go straight to the booth. Those guys haven't worked any college football at all. I've heard they have never worked high school football either. They are just young, technical guys who they think can learn the ins and outs of instant replay. I guess we will see how well it works.
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These aren't guys who have applied to the conference as on-field officials. They are strictly in the booth. They are bringing younger guys in to go straight to the booth. Those guys haven't worked any college football at all. I've heard they have never worked high school football either. They are just young, technical guys who they think can learn the ins and outs of instant replay. I guess we will see how well it works.
Years of playing Madden football is all the experience required. ;D
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Irrelevant. Madden doesn't have Be-A-Ref mode, so no way they get practice from Madden.
I'm not going to take that opportunity unless I'm in my 50's and don't get invited to the ODP. By then, there might not be an NFL. Who knows.
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The rule book was a different story...after a year or two in small college, I did not open the NFHS book at all. I knew the differences at my position, but relied on my crew to deal with the enforcements.
This has been my mantra for a few years. Stopped opening the rule book for NFHS as it was causing interference. I have a large high school game this evening, working a different position than normal, and I've been asked to give a presentation on Rule #10 (my crew is bye this week, so I'm flying solo) by the host crew. I had to actually *find* my high school rule book, open the damned thing for the first time in years, and familiarize myself with it. Fun times.
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Even with reading both rulebooks, I sometimes think about the college response to the situation (A substitutes = Iron Cross), even if the specific college rule is different. I can't imagine myself a few years later making a college call in a high school game just because college rules and mechanics will be so ingrained in me. Maybe I need to move to Texas, where both high school and college games use basically the same rules ; ).
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Giving up HS became a very easy decision for me. As a backjudge I was actually bored and anxious watching blow out games, watching the clock and starting to do math in my head of: when this game would end, when would I get home, hopefully fall asleep, get up early and drive to the college game. The reps were not quality reps, the pace of play was slow, the coaches inability to understand the rules was frustrating, the monetary consideration was worth it. I might have felt different if I was on the line or referee full time. I wanted to be a college official and advance as far as I could.
Much better reps and time spend on Monday night college JV games or working practices at the local NFL team during the week.
The spring and fall practices is much more beneficial for me in getting ready for the season for reps, rules, speed of the game.
This is a great reason to make a change. Either to another level, another sport, or another vocation. When your heart is not in it, nothing else matters and you are not doing justice to the sport.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Maybe I need to move to Texas, where both high school and college games use basically the same rules ; ).
Texas guys struggle with the same issues and have for quite a while. I don't recall exactly when it was, but a few years ago, the small college conferences (around here anyway) went mostly TOWARD feeder/trainer type conferences for D1 (with camps, crews from different areas, etc.). Not that that's a bad thing but it created the problems we're talking about here. Prior to that, the assignors would hire the crew chief, have him form the crew from his area and expect good results. That's how many of us got some college games.
Its one thing for the FCS/FBS conference guys to think about quitting high school (especially in Fed states) but it is ridiculous for small college guys to. In my experience, you don't get paid enough and don't work enough games per year to keep your skills up. Snaps, even at the high school subvarsity level, are important. Anything to keep your mind in the game. Its funny that, years ago, assignors in D3 conferences in the south loved Texas guys (due to using NCAA rules on Friday night) so much, they insisted on putting ONE Texas guy on each crew instead of a few Texas guys on one crew so they could travel to their game together (or more easily). Yet now assignors are saying don't work HS football for whatever other reason. I know guys that quit D3 ball because after travel, they made more money working peewee on Saturday and it took less time to do it.
High school has a huge problem. The good, young officials that get started want to go to college ball as soon as they can and the older guys are retiring. What's left is, well, ...
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I live in Texas in a major metropolitan area. For the guys I know that call college ball, this is roughly how I have seen it break down (I am sure there are exceptions).
D2 and down - they still call High School. Periodically there is a game that is far enough away they have to travel on Friday and give back a game or two. But generally speaking, those calling D2 and down still call high school ball.
When they start getting into D1-AA they start giving back a lot of their high school schedule. Again, they will still work high school, either as part of a crew or fill ins.
D1 - generally they do not call high school ball. Every once in a while as a fill in on a Thursday night they might get an assignment. That is few and far between.
That is what I have seen.
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I live in Texas in a major metropolitan area. For the guys I know that call college ball, this is roughly how I have seen it break down (I am sure there are exceptions).
D2 and down - they still call High School. Periodically there is a game that is far enough away they have to travel on Friday and give back a game or two. But generally speaking, those calling D2 and down still call high school ball.
When they start getting into D1-AA they start giving back a lot of their high school schedule. Again, they will still work high school, either as part of a crew or fill ins.
D1 - generally they do not call high school ball. Every once in a while as a fill in on a Thursday night they might get an assignment. That is few and far between.
That is what I have seen.
I live in SLC, Utah and this is pretty much how it goes here as well.
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We have a white hat in his mid-70's. He made it to the best D1 conference as a U and had a nice career. He still worked Friday nights except for when he had to travel to the west division sites. Our booking agent would try and book him on Fridays in the direction he was scheduled to travel. When he hit the conference's retirement age, he went back to the FCS level to finish his field career. He's now working Group of 5 conference as an observer and still works most Friday nights.
He's also bionic with 2 new knees, a hip, and a reattached quad. Every time I think about hanging up it up (feet, knees, booking agent crap) I look at him and say "Don't be a weenie."
Meanwhile our local FCS conference now requires their officials to be on site Friday night so we've lost several quality HS officials. In the end I guess its personal preference or what your college supervisor expects.
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These aren't guys who have applied to the conference as on-field officials. They are strictly in the booth. They are bringing younger guys in to go straight to the booth. Those guys haven't worked any college football at all. I've heard they have never worked high school football either. They are just young, technical guys who they think can learn the ins and outs of instant replay. I guess we will see how well it works.
Carol,
I cant speak for anyone but myself, but this scenario sounds like a dream to me. I am young (ish...mid-30s) and absolutely love the technical / film side, but have to face some realities about my physical ability to make higher levels on the field. I think there is a lot of validity to taking someone who is hungry to get better from an analysis perspective and has the technical acumen to be successful on the production side, to get involved in the replay pipeline...contrasted against some of guys who have 24 point font on their cell phones when texting....just sayin
:sTiR:
TL:DR - where do I sign up?
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Carol,
I cant speak for anyone but myself, but this scenario sounds like a dream to me. I am young (ish...mid-30s) and absolutely love the technical / film side, but have to face some realities about my physical ability to make higher levels on the field. I think there is a lot of validity to taking someone who is hungry to get better from an analysis perspective and has the technical acumen to be successful on the production side, to get involved in the replay pipeline...contrasted against some of guys who have 24 point font on their cell phones when texting....just sayin
:sTiR:
TL:DR - where do I sign up?
Definitely connect with the college officials in your area. They can guide you on who and how to approach. Start with lower level guys if you know them, but you'll ultimately need an advocate at the D1 level where they hire replay officials. It's still a process so be patient.
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Carol,
I cant speak for anyone but myself, but this scenario sounds like a dream to me. I am young (ish...mid-30s) and absolutely love the technical / film side, but have to face some realities about my physical ability to make higher levels on the field. I think there is a lot of validity to taking someone who is hungry to get better from an analysis perspective and has the technical acumen to be successful on the production side, to get involved in the replay pipeline...contrasted against some of guys who have 24 point font on their cell phones when texting....just sayin
:sTiR:
TL:DR - where do I sign up?
I agree that it's a dream scenario for a lot of people. And, I've heard there are some young(ish) guys, like you, who are in the pipeline. They have some officiating experience and have the technical acumen for the job. I don't have a dog in the fight, but some of the rumblings I've heard are that some of these guys haven't officiated at any level. Without any officiating experience, I can see where there might be a higher learning curve. It might work perfectly, but it's too new to see at this point.
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Carol,
I cant speak for anyone but myself, but this scenario sounds like a dream to me. I am young (ish...mid-30s) and absolutely love the technical / film side, but have to face some realities about my physical ability to make higher levels on the field. I think there is a lot of validity to taking someone who is hungry to get better from an analysis perspective and has the technical acumen to be successful on the production side, to get involved in the replay pipeline...contrasted against some of guys who have 24 point font on their cell phones when texting....just sayin
:sTiR:
TL:DR - where do I sign up?
In your position, I'd try to get some college on-field experience to understand what the college game is like. Just my opinion.
General consensus for leaving HS football is Division 2 or higher, earlier if assigner says otherwise. Do I understand this correctly?
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There is no black-and-white answer that anyone can give you. You have to do what you feel is best, understanding and accepting the potential ramifications of whatever decision that is.
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This is a purely personal decision. I work in a D3 conference as an R. It was too hard for me to try to officiate well under 2 codes. Additionally, the Friday night travel was probably not a good thing. Sometimes, I have to wake up as early as 4:30 AM to get to pregame. With all of that being said, I made the choice to give up high school (while the money is nice, I do not do this for the money). At the end of the day, I decided I wanted to be the best D3 NCAA R that I could be so I gave up HS.
As I said above, this decision is purely personal, and someone else could decide differently. There is no right or wrong answer. Only what is right or wrong for you.