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W.Va. Football Officials Classification
Unfortunately, we do not get to rate the coaches. We do, however, rate schools on stadardized forms with regards to facilities conditions; sportsmanship; conduct of players & coaches.
West Virginia coaches, however, get to rate our ability-- whereas we only get to rate their conduct. They receive standardized forms which ask them to categorize our ability thusly:
1-- Excellent, good enough to officiate tournament games
2-- Good, able to work at the varsity level
3-- Average, Needs Improvement
4-- Unsatisfactory
5-- Poor
Coaches may also mark "areas of improvement." These include: Promptness; appearance; Pre-game/halftime duties; relationship with teams; rules knowledge; application of rules; signals/coverage/positioning; reaction under pressure; fosters fan sportsmanship; works well with other officials; and hustle.
The rating system does provide incentive, especially to younger officials. Their generally lower ratings seem to have a lot to do with simply their young appearance, etc. It gives us something to strive to improve every year-- and these coaches' ratings are the linchpin for playoff assignments for qualified officials.
But, the system also has obvious flaws. We don't get to see what coach gave us a rating-- we just see our average. So we can't go back to that game and try to pinpoint the reason for the rating we get. (Coaches have said they fear retribution). And, obviously, some coaches give undeserved low ratings which sink your overall avg. Some coaches, on the other hand, don't take them seriously and rate give all the officials on a crew on a given night the same rating. So, at best, the ratings are a baseline for performance, but should not be taken as the sum total of your capability. (4 and 5 ratings are rare, since they require a written statement to accompany the low mark.)
Here is the classification system as spelled out in the WVSSAC Official's Handbook:
Class 1 -- 100-90 points, minimum 6 yrs. exp.
" " 2-- 89-75 points, min. 4 yrs. exp.
" " 3-- 74-40 points, min. 2 yrs. exp.
" " 4-- Less than 40 pts, or less than 2 yrs. exp., or less than 55% on Part 2 exam... not eligible for varsity level games.
Points are then set at diff. amounts based on yrs. exp., meeting attendance, number of games worked...and coaches' ratings.
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