High School Football Observer Use

[Curious]

Does your state and/or officials' association use former officials (or anyone) in an observer capacity?  If so, what level(s) are observed; what feedback is provided and to whom; and are the observation reports utilized for regular and/or post-season assignment purposes?

Interested in as many regions of the country as possible.

Thanks

[maven]

Ohio uses observers in the playoffs. Officials are to be assessed in terms of their conformity to the state mechanics manual, not (mainly) the quality of calls. Evaluation forms are available on the OHSAA website (I think), and copies go to the state and to the crew chief.

[HLinNC]

My first association used retired officials.  I don't know who they shared their info with but they did come down at halftime and cover their first half notes.  I was fairly new so I didn't say a lot but the vets tended to scoff once they left the locker room.

We have no current eval system in my present area save for the online system the Arbiter offers to rate your crewmates.  I think it is opened up to coaches and AD's too but I may be wrong.

We had an official injured last year doing a college game who evaluated crews each week while he was  on the DL.  He shared the results with each crewmember, the booking agent and I guess the training committee.

[Rulesman]

Ohio uses observers in the playoffs. Officials are to be assessed in terms of their conformity to the state mechanics manual, not (mainly) the quality of calls.

So it's not whether you get the call right but how you look doing it? WOW! 

[maven]

So it's not whether you get the call right but how you look doing it? WOW! 

If a call is obviously blown, we might ask about it. But these are tournament games with (presumably) the 400 best football officials in the state. We're not going to challenge every flag.

[bama_stripes]

In Alabama, there are eight officiating districts, each with their own District Director.  Each DD is responsible for evaluating every official in his district within a three-year period.  He can appoint as many evaluators as necessary to assist him, and these evaluators may be retired, injured, or college officials who no longer work HS football.  Evaluations may be performed at any level, although they're mostly done at HS varsity games.

Like Ohio, judgment calls are rarely questioned.  Adherence to our mechanics, uniform requirements, and procedures are of primary importance.

During playoffs, our state also uses observers, who do not evaluate the officials.  They are present to note any problems or irregularities with the schools involved.

[NorCalMike]

My association uses retired officials to evaluate us during the regular season. These evaluations are entered into the same eval system that we use to evaluate our crew mates. This evaluations are used to pick playoff crew members. The observers evaluate the crew based on our mechanics mostly but will also use foul calling and missed fouls as part of the evaluation.

Usually the observer will meet with the crew at halftime and give a preliminary eval. They will also meet with the crew after the game to review the final evaluations. The goal of the system is to improve the crew.

The one time this year that we had an observer at our game, he came down at half time and advised us that he didn't have any suggestions for improvement. I thought he didn't do a thorough job until our assignor who happened to be at the game came down and told us the same thing. Glad we had a good game that day.

Out of the 250 officials in our association about 50% are evaluators. They evaluate the crew they work with each Friday night.

Each official is ranked according to the evaluations the receive for each game, their score on the certification test and the penalty enforcement test, their attendance at training meetings and the if they are an evaluator that they complete their evaluations in a timely manner. Using these score, the assignor and the association meet to create play off crews.

[srhendon]

Bama stripes covered Alabama process well this is my first year to evaluate. We do send an email to the members of the crew giving them a report on his position and there are over 50 areas they are graded in for position, all deal with how well they worked the game according to the state manual. The only judgement call a questioned this year I just asked what he saw and based on that it was a correct call.
I dislike the idea of a member of the crew evaluating an offical based on if he is doing his job he won't have time to watch someone else.

[VALJ]

Dunno about the rest of the state, but my association has several retired officials who work as observers.  We get comments both on how we look and the occasional "ding" or praise for a particularly good or bad call.  That gets factored in to our end of the year scores, which the commissioner uses as a tool to determine playoff assignments.  We're supposed to be evaluated at least twice during the season.

I just wish I could be evaluated on a position that either I'm comfortable in, or where I really need help.  In the past three years, I've been evaluated as an F twice, an S once, B once, an L once, and an R once (in my second-ever varsity game).  I've been evaluated once at my normal position, once at the position I'm transitioning to and really NEED feedback (R), and 4 times out of position!

[ECILLJ]

Our Association in IL uses retired officials as Observers. The IHSA provides evaluation forms. The forms include ratings of M (Meets Standard) and I (Improvement Needs). In the comment column the Observer's make notes on Areas of Strength, Items to Work On and Other Comments. The categories are Uniform & Appearance, Physical Condition, Attitude and Personality, Game Control, Mechanics, Knowledge and Other. Each category has subcategories. Some examples of subcategory- Uniform & Appearance: Uniform clean, pressed, fits, well groomed; Physical Condition: Adequate foot speed; Attitude & Personality: Confident, approachable, businesslike; Mechanics: Gets in Proper position to make calls; Knowledge: Knows and understands the the basic strategy of the game; Other: Handling of unsportsmanlike acts. The Observers also record game plays on an IHSA Officials Evaluation Recording Form. This form is a tool to record Time/Score and  Mechanics or call made. The Observer records then can check Good or In Question and make a note in the Review of Play column of the form. The Observer's share the evaluations with the officials in a meeting immediately following the game.

The IHSA Observer's program has been well received by our Association officials. Most of our refs welcome the constructive feedback. It works to make all of our members better and provides a more consistent product on the field that is appreciated by the coaches.

[TampaSteve]

While Observers are always a good thing, hopefully the Observers are also fully up to speed with
1 - new rules, as well as (perhaps more importantly)
2 - most recent mechanics too.

Not 100% sure if some retired officials I know of could meet both criteria.

[Rulesman]

While Observers are always a good thing, hopefully the Observers are also fully up to speed with
1 - new rules, as well as (perhaps more importantly)
2 - most recent mechanics too.

Not 100% sure if some retired officials I know of could meet both criteria.

That is a huge problem in many areas.

[VALJ]

While Observers are always a good thing, hopefully the Observers are also fully up to speed with
1 - new rules, as well as (perhaps more importantly)
2 - most recent mechanics too.

Not 100% sure if some retired officials I know of could meet both criteria.

That is a huge problem in many areas.

That is indeed a problem in areas.  Our association had the observers meet with our VP of Rules & Mechanics to discuss those.  I've heard officials complaining that they've gotten "dinged" for doing someting that is in our newest mechanics, though, so either not all of the observers attended, or not all of the observers remembered something.

[NorCalMike]

While Observers are always a good thing, hopefully the Observers are also fully up to speed with
1 - new rules, as well as (perhaps more importantly)
2 - most recent mechanics too.

Not 100% sure if some retired officials I know of could meet both criteria.

Our observers are required to attend all the training that we do each year so they are up on any mechanic or rule changes plus they get to review every thing they will be reviewing.

[yarnnelg]

When I had the pace maker installed, I couldn't work for two weeks. No hands or arms above the head for 2 weeks ..... So I evaluated ...

Almost every evaluation critique started with ... On Kickoff the entire crew looks up and watches the ball in flight. My question would always be .... has anyone ever seen a football block below the waist, hold, grab a facemask, rough the kicker ? Get a quick view of the ball and where it is going then cover your zones ....