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Football Officiating => General Discussion => Topic started by: NorCalMike on October 13, 2013, 08:05:21 PM
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One of our local coaches is quoted in the our local paper describing the officials as "the worst ever - even worse than the officials I have seen in Europe."
I was wondering if any one has seen a high school coach disciplined for comments made to the press? Our association has a policy of not responding so coaches can say anything without fear of being shown the error of their ways.
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Does your state have a single oversight body that oversees HS athletics? Seems like they would have policies on this.
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California Interscholastic Federation is the over seeing body. I don't remember ever hearing a coach getting in trouble for this.
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We would report this to the AHSAA for further action. And, being human, his team would probably not be the beneficiary of any close calls during their next game.
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From the OHSAA General Sports Regulations (last page of linked doc):
Coaches’ Comments to the News Media
OHSAA Bylaw 8, Section 2, reads in part, “Great care shall be exercised in the selection of officials, well in advance of the contest and agreed upon by schools involved. When the contest begins each school waives all of its rights so far as objecting to the officials.” Public criticism of officials is a direct reflection upon those who were responsible for assigning the officials to the game. Officials are trained and expected to make no derogatory comments regarding the players, coaches, or schools. Coaches are expected to follow the same procedure. Failure to follow this request will result in penalties as outlined in Bylaw 11.
http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/rglts/GeneralSportsRegulations.pdf
Bylaw 11 simply states the possible penalties: probation, suspension, fines, etc.
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Page 99 in the 2013 NFHS rule book (under Coaches Code of Ethics):
"Public criticism of officials or players is unethical."
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We would report this to the AHSAA for further action. And, being human, his team would probably not be the beneficiary of any close calls during their next game.
That is Bravo Sierra (but maybe you are just trying to be cute)
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It's really doubtful that anyone worth worrying about, who would read such comments, would think less of the coach, rather than the target of the criticiam, so why pay any attention. One would think a coach, would be more concerned about advertising his immaturity, and publicly display his lack of decorum as a very visible representative of his school.
Football can be a very immotional game, but as the primay adult leader of a group on interscholastic athletes, the ability to control your emotions seems a primry prerequisite.
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That is Bravo Sierra (but maybe you are just trying to be cute)
I'm absolutely not saying we would intentionally cheat his team. He & his staff would likely be under a high degree of scrutiny for things such as sideline control, sportsmanship, etc. And if there were a call that could go either way, the subconscious reaction would be that he probably wouldn't get the benefit of any doubt.
Being human, of course.
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I'm absolutely not saying we would intentionally cheat his team. He & his staff would likely be under a high degree of scrutiny for things such as sideline control, sportsmanship, etc. And if there were a call that could go either way, the subconscious reaction would be that he probably wouldn't get the benefit of any doubt.
Being human, of course.
Funny thing about being human: since we can become reflectively aware of our "subconscious" biases, we are often able to correct for them to a considerable extent. Social psychology has shown that this is possible, though not easy (and we're not as good at it as we think).
Perhaps you'd be on your toes to be especially fair to such a coach, under the circumstances. :)
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Part of our problem in Sacramento is the sports writer who covers high school football is always criticizing the officials. I think he lead the coach into complaining. In the article, the reporter complains about the game I called Friday night saying we over officiated. Apparently calling chop blocks, late hits, illegal helmet contact and false starts is over officiating. So according to him, we should let safety fouls go along with a false start that everyone in the stadium sees.
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Part of our problem in Sacramento is the sports writer who covers high school football is always criticizing the officials. I think he lead the coach into complaining. In the article, the reporter complains about the game I called Friday night saying we over officiated. Apparently calling chop blocks, late hits, illegal helmet contact and false starts is over officiating. So according to him, we should let safety fouls go along with a false start that everyone in the stadium sees.
Meh, I'd ignore him. Many "sports journalists" seem to think that being critical means being negative, rather than articulating a view about what is best for the game.
They can't be negative about coaches without losing access and/or having their azzes kicked. Officials never fight back, so they're patsies. Under the circumstances, about whom would you write? ;)
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Meh, I'd ignore him. Many "sports journalists" seem to think that being critical means being negative, rather than articulating a view about what is best for the game.
As both an official and a sportswriter/newspaper editor, it is exceedingly rare if I criticize an official. I will only do so if the situation is grievous, or if the situation is a matter of fact - as in a player with three stick infractions in a hockey game was allowed to continue to participate, etc.
My understanding of mechanics also allows me to interject a different interpretation of contentious events, such as "The official, whose view of the play was likely obstructed by a maze of players, did not call a penalty on the play."
Likewise, my writing will, I suspect, contain praise for strong positioning and good calls: which are often forgotten by my peers in the media business.
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Our local newspaper often "quotes" coaches but I know for a fact they never even talked to them. I had a run in with our local guy last year and set him straight. Now we have a new sports guy that has photos of some "blatantly missed holding" that was going on in the game, so he claimed, but yet he wasn't making excuses for the reason the team got beat. I need to clue him in that you can't judge something based on a photo.
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Had a game last Friday at a small class school. Very close game (12-6 final.) It was tied 6-6 in the last minute of the game. The PA announcer did play-by-play throughout the game which he is not suppose to do. We ignored him throughout the game but he did make several comments about our calls/non-calls. I did want to penalize the home team for it but I thought it would probably be best not to incite them as towards the end of the game every move we made was scrutinized by everyone.
What would some of the rest of you done with this?
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I assume that by play by play you mean that he was doing it during the play not in between down. As officials we need to put stop to this right away. Advise game administration that to have the PA announcer stop. If he continues you could flag for UNS under 9-9-1.
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Sometimes life can be difficult, and there always thorns among the roses. Football officiating has it's own blend of thorns, which nobody should be surprised by, of believe their points are not sharp.
Coaches whine and complain, that's a given. Thankfully most are reasonable about it, are reacting to the emotion of the game and regain, some level, of control, most of the time and can be usually ignored or convinced to modify their behavior. Unfortunately, a few are just arrogant, nasty people and we have to be prepared, and willing, to deal with them. Chances are, however, none of that is going to change. We have to learn to differentiate between the emotional outburst and the premeditated sniping and develop ways to deal with each.
Journalists and sports writers are NOT our friend. There may be rare exceptions, but in general they have absolutely no interest in complimenting, explaining or supporting ANYTHING an official does, whether it be right or wrong. When we were little, our mothers told us to beware of, and don't talk to strangers. She may not have realized it at the time, but she was warning about journalists.
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NoCalMike:
Coaches discussing officials is prohibited by the FL HS Assn, FYI.
Not sure, but it would seem the CA press assn would have 'something' about neg talk about HS officials and/or an agreement w/ the CA HS body would request they do not.
My deceased brother was an award-winning press writer - so I have a bit of knowledge on the topic. a press guy is to report the story. Unless the press guy is a fellow official that can speak w/ expertise, not sure how the press guy can have neg comments about officials.
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Had a game last Friday at a small class school. Very close game (12-6 final.) It was tied 6-6 in the last minute of the game. The PA announcer did play-by-play throughout the game which he is not suppose to do. We ignored him throughout the game but he did make several comments about our calls/non-calls. I did want to penalize the home team for it but I thought it would probably be best not to incite them as towards the end of the game every move we made was scrutinized by everyone.
What would some of the rest of you done with this?
I would get game management involved and have it stopped the very first time it happened. Don't worry about penalizing the home team if one warning doesn't stop the problem. After all, the PA guy is their guy. I call it accountability.
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Had a game last Friday at a small class school. Very close game (12-6 final.) It was tied 6-6 in the last minute of the game. The PA announcer did play-by-play throughout the game which he is not suppose to do. We ignored him throughout the game but he did make several comments about our calls/non-calls. I did want to penalize the home team for it but I thought it would probably be best not to incite them as towards the end of the game every move we made was scrutinized by everyone.
What would some of the rest of you done with this?
Stop the game 1st time any play-by-play and/or comments re officials' calls happen.
Have home administration/coach shut it down.
After the game tell your Assn to they can follow w/ the same suit.
Some other items I have heard is the Assn to write an FYI letter to the state and perhaps the Assn write a letter to the AD of that school.
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Had a game last Friday at a small class school. Very close game (12-6 final.) It was tied 6-6 in the last minute of the game. The PA announcer did play-by-play throughout the game which he is not suppose to do. We ignored him throughout the game but he did make several comments about our calls/non-calls. I did want to penalize the home team for it but I thought it would probably be best not to incite them as towards the end of the game every move we made was scrutinized by everyone.
What would some of the rest of you done with this?
It is important to address this in the pre-game when visiting with the clock operator and when meeting with game management. There are times when the PA announcer may introduce himself in order to correctly pronounce our names; take this opportunity to discuss our expectations.
I agree with the others whom have said you need to address this the first time it occurs. Get these types of problems cleaned up early.
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When we were little, our mothers told us to beware of, and don't talk to strangers. She may not have realized it at the time, but she was warning about journalists.
Silence can't be misquoted, and a closed mouth gathers no feet.
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California Interscholastic Federation is the over seeing body. I don't remember ever hearing a coach getting in trouble for this.
I believe that your particular section (Sac Joaquin?) would issue any type of punishment. The sectional level is what handles most of the administrative duties of that nature. If your association were to lodge a complaint, I would imagine it would be with the Sectional Office first.
This type of behavior here would probably be greeted with a profuse apology to the coach. ::)
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Not sure our association would do anything. I sent an email to our leader and didn't even receive an acknowledgement back.
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Not sure our association would do anything. I sent an email to our leader and didn't even receive an acknowledgement back.
Time for a new "leader".
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Stop the game 1st time any play-by-play and/or comments re officials' calls happen.
Have home administration/coach shut it down.
After the game tell your Assn to they can follow w/ the same suit.
Some other items I have heard is the Assn to write an FYI letter to the state and perhaps the Assn write a letter to the AD of that school.
I think the closest I've ever seen to that was the announcer at Michigan Stadium made a subtle comment. On a 3rd down play where Michigan had the ball, it was obviously pass interference by the cornerback and it wasn't called. He announced it as,
"Robinson's pass is incomplete, intended for Jeremy Gallon. No flag, 4th down and 5."