Shareef Blough ejection

[say_oww]

Check the old threads. I've offered solutions in the past. But to reiterate, the PIAA could end the shortage by mandating school employees or coaches or teachers be assigned to officiate in a cross-check fashion (jr hi coaches ref varsity, and vice versa). Teachers/school employees have to do bus duty and café patrol, why not school athletic events??? Another previous suggestion I offered was to pay more money to officials. There is no greater motivator than a financial incentive. Perhaps then there will be more interest in the endeavour.

As it stands now, no matter the sport, its the same old gang of guys who like the power and the cash. To you it might not be much, but to many of them its a gold mine - where else are they gonna make $25 bucks an hour four-six hrs a week? And by the way, I'm not arrogant, nor am I chasing anyone down as they head to their car. I'm offering solutions to some of the age-old problems that never get solved. The school board can give them the axe to an unpopular, ineffective coach. But why are the same no-good officials allowed to work every sport, and get paid???

Often times its the guys who are the most passionate about their sport that are the most vocal about bad officiating. And rightly so... when someone puts in countless years devoted to a sport only to see it harmed by a bs call from a guy who shouldn't be doing anything near a field except eating a hot dog? I'm not advocating violence of any sort, but I am also not okay with mediocre officials who are the result of a backward system. And please, no "if you know so much, why don't you ref/ump/officiate" comments. I'll just hit you back with some if you know so much, why aren't you coaching???

[knowitall]

The junior high coaching staff at most schools consists of one guy making $1000 or so and an assistant making $500. Who do you assign to the other five officiating spots? The lunch ladies?

[say_oww]

I don't know. You figure it out... How about the 2 gym teachers that don't do anything else? Its not my job to figure it out. But it should be someone's job to figure it out. But make no mistake, it definitely needs addressed. Sports officials operate like mini-cartels. I am not familiar with how every sport works, but in many sports, the officials belong to chapters or associations and they basically have agreements with schools, districts, and leagues whereby they are the only group allowed to officiate. If they aren't so protective of their turf and their positions why not be independents? Why do they need to, in effect, unionize?

By the way, show me a school with only two jr hi football coaches.

[Footballer101]

Forest Hills Vs Richland. Who will come out victorious?

[Crimson's Ghost]

Knowitall is right. Most schools have one head coach and one paid assistant for junior high. Maybe an extra volunteer or two.

[knowitall]

Conemaugh Valley has a head coach and an assistant coach. Those are the only two paid positions. On the high school level they have a head coach and three paid assistants. They just added a third paid assistant this year.

You offered ideas but would they actually improve the quality of officiating? Probably not. Leagues at all levels up to and including the professional ranks are plagued by poor officiating. That is the nature of the beast when you have a winner and a loser.

[abpk2903]

There isn't a solution. Higher pay and security may help but you still have the local officiating chapter leaders protecting their good ole boy network and officials with an ego will just use the increased security to further enlarge their big head. So all that would really solve is bad officials would get paid more and egotistical officials will just feel that more in power.

At the end of the day, on a given Friday night D5/D6 area needs close to 30 competent crews which is close to 200 officials. Most of them keep themselves in shape, want to get the calls right, and care about the game. There are going to be a few bad apples in the bunch. Maybe the PIAA should require each school district (based on size) contribute to a fund to help with the evaluation, education, and fitness of the officials. Maybe require vision, reaction time testing, and physical testing to officiate at the varsity level. Make them retake a written test annually and have each official evaluated more. Review all of these results then assign crews and positions based on the score results. Of course for this to work you would have to compensate the officials for the added headaches. Don't forget there has to be other competent officials in the pipeline to take the positions of those that couldn't make the cut.

[Blueandwhitefan]

One of the biggest problems I see with officiating is the fans lack of knowledge when it comes to rules. I am fortunate to work with 3 officials. One being the rules interpreter for his chapter. When I question a call, I am usually wrong about what the rule actually is. If more people would take the time to learn the rules there would be far fewer complaints. High school, college, and Pro all have different rules AND different interpretation of the rules!!!!!

[TAHS92Alum]

Good point Blue, except for when people have an emotional attachment to the team they see the play differently than a "NEUTRAL" party

[Blueandwhitefan]

Good point Blue, except for when people have an emotional attachment to the team they see the play differently than a "NEUTRAL" party

That's a very good point. I just like watching high school football (even better then Pro). So maybe I am a little closer to neutral.