Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevadaref
Competition is the American way.
Numerous successful companies began because an employee became disgruntled with the current leadership and decided that it was better to depart, start his own business, and do it better.
There is nothing wrong with what is taking place in your area. Competition will sort it out.
As far as elections go, I've found that true democratic votes don't usually serve the best interests of an officiating association.
For example, if the group has 30% varsity officials and 70% subvarsity officials, understand that your group will be governed by the 70% who do not work varsity contests. If you elect an assignor, the subvarsity guys will dictate who that assignor will be. Will that be best for the varsity officials?
Another situation would be if an association has 20 truly top officials and another 20 who are second tier, an elected assignor will be obligated to keep as many of those happy as possible in order to get re-elected. This can lead to some lesser officials getting games that they shouldn't.
Situations like the above lead to frustration by some officials and can spur people to break away and form their own officiating group.
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The problem with tilting the bylaws to give varsity officials a disproportionate say in elections, etc. is that it leads to people being held down as in the OP's scenario.
The longer I live in Wisconsin (17th season out of 32 now), the more I appreciate the value of no association controlling all of the game assignments. I've asked an association to hire for six of my schools (I assign for 23 schools at the varsity level), but we have an agreement that those assignments should be made with an eye toward giving people opportunities. Most conferences here are hired by commissioners who are hired by the schools. Schools typically hire their own subvarsity officials, but many of them have outsourced those assignments to other people. Associations can get involved through this outsourcing and it's a win/win as people gain experience and schools have their games covered.
None of us will be around forever. My knee is telling me that every day. We need to do what's best for officiating and not be self-serving and drive people away. Putting the best official on the best game isn't always what's best for the sport and what's best for officiating.