New White Hat...

[NWA_UMP]

I am taking over a crew that has been together for 3 seasons. We are "new" in the eyes of our association which means no one on our crew is (a.) over 45 (b.) has more than 5 years of football officiating (c.) does not have a fulltime Varsity schedule. We were put together by a College "R" who works both DI and DII and he has instilled a solid fundamental base of mechanics and philosophies into our crew.

The issue we are having is our association does not have a mechanics manual or a stated set of philosophies that it uses to evaluate crews. I had a meeting with the head of our group and was given a couple of items to incorporate into our crew mechanics. I talked with my former "R" and he basically asked why do them when they are clearly counter to every mechanics manual he has ever read. So I am setting out to write a manual and philosophy guide for my crew in the off-season. Well, maybe not write but to at least outline the sources we will use for mechanics and what stated philosophies we will use in decision making during games. I want it in black and white so if a question arises we can point to a publication instead of that's just the way we were taught...

Here is the question:

What sources would you use to do this? Be specific...books, videos, web sources...what are they? We run Fed rules so NCAA is not an issue. I don't have a problem with using some NCAA type mechanics...we do already..nothing outrageous . We make the box flip to down 4 for a try after a score...most crews don't do this in our area. I am not going to have my guys hold their hands over their head when they have a spot, that is clearly something NCAA does and that is not our game.     

[bama_stripes]

Does the AOA not have a State Manual?

[NWA_UMP]

If they do, I have never seen it. We tend to have 14 crews doing 14 different things. In baseball we use CCA manual, train with it, study it and dang sure better not stray from it or you will get dinged....not that way in football.

[TampaSteve]

I've seen some good things as far as axioms, etc. from here (certainly some would be modified from NCAA to NFHS rationale though):
http://www.eaifo2.org/

[GoodScout]

I rant about some of the things the GHSA does regularly (writing their own awful Part 2 test rather than use NFHS for example), but I can only praise their officials manual. Since if I remember Arkansas uses 6-man mechanics, it's a great place to start:

http://www.ghsa.net/files/documents/football/2011-GHSA-Football-Officials-Manual.pdf

[Grant - AR]

I think you still get a mechanics manual either every year or every other year from NFHS.  Is that right?  If so, I would think your best bet would be to create a supplemental mechanics manual for anything you do that is different than the standard NFHS mechanics. 

I know your former R and you've been trained by one of the best teachers I've ever worked with.  If you and your crew listened to him closely, you have a great foundation to start the crew. 

Good luck!

[NWA_UMP]

GoodScout, thanks for the link. I will take a look and see what it has.

[Tom.OH]

If they do, I have never seen it. We tend to have 14 crews doing 14 different things. In baseball we use CCA manual, train with it, study it and dang sure better not stray from it or you will get dinged....not that way in football.

This is the very reason why Ohio made our own mechanics manual. Our director of football had watched crews from all over the state do different things and he changed that so we all do the same mechanics. He has a good background, 15 years in the NFL and has a PhD in sports officiating (professor at The Ohio State University).
It has helped when we have had a sub for our crew we do not have to tell him "this is how we do it".

[HLinNC]

What's wrong with the NFHS Officials Manual for starters?  If you are on the Arbiter, its part of the package, I think.   If not, they can be ordered- $7.20 plus S&H.

http://www.nfhs.com/p-615-2010-2011-football-officials-manual.aspx

[NWA_UMP]

HLinNC...

I am asking what materials you would recommend...

I have a Bin Book now. Have a CCA 5&6 man mechanics and the NFHS officials manual on the way. What else?

[Grant - AR]

HLinNC...

I am asking what materials you would recommend...

I have a Bin Book now. Have a CCA 5&6 man mechanics and the NFHS officials manual on the way. What else?

I would think a combination of those should give you almost everything you would need.  Of course, there may be some things that aren't in there that are specific to your association or that your association does differently.  You could just make those changes as you are compiling the document.

[HLinNC]

HLinNC...

I am asking what materials you would recommend...

As one of our white hats told me this year, "why re-invent the wheel?"   If your former R said this:

why do them when they are clearly counter to every mechanics manual he has ever read.

and you are in an NFHS state, it sounds to me like the prudent thing would be to start following the Federation manual before you go off morphing a bunch of different mechanics into your own manual.

That is a pretty strong comment he made and I believe I would take the hint. 

[NWA_UMP]

HlinNC,

Maybe I was not as clear as I should be. My state gives us zero direction and my association has given us zero direction on mechanics and assumptions. I am trying to school myself in as many ways of running a crew as I can. I'm not trying re-invent the wheel or write a new way to work a game. I want to find a way to help guide my crew on the right way to work a game. Since we work Fed rules I will probably use their mechanics unless CCA makes more since to me.

As I stated earlier, we were told to do things that are contrary to any manual. When you are given suspect advice from a "senior" member of your association it just makes you want to do it right...

[biltheref]

"We are "new" in the eyes of our association which means no one on our crew is (a.) over 45 (b.) has more than 5 years of football officiating (c.) does not have a fulltime Varsity schedule."

"Since we work Fed rules I will probably use their mechanics unless CCA makes more since to me."

Respectfully, with 5 years of experience or less, your crew would be wise to stick with the NFHS manual until you gain the wisdom to understand what makes sense.

[NWA_UMP]

"We are "new" in the eyes of our association which means no one on our crew is (a.) over 45 (b.) has more than 5 years of football officiating (c.) does not have a fulltime Varsity schedule."

"Since we work Fed rules I will probably use their mechanics unless CCA makes more since to me."

Respectfully, with 5 years of experience or less, your crew would be wise to stick with the NFHS manual until you gain the wisdom to understand what makes sense.

If it were that easy...we use CCA for baseball that is played under Fed rules.

I'm not just looking at mechanics such as CCA or NFHS. What other resources would you use to build up the knowledge of the crew? Most guys in our association can't tell you what set of mechanics they use on their crew. They simply use the mechanics and assumptions they were taught when they joined the crew.