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In Indiana, the coaches are asked to vote on or around week 7 (until this year they received a paper listing but this year it was online). The "ballot" includes all the crews in the state that applied for the playoffs. The coaches are asked to rate (on a scale of 1-5) the crews that have worked their games the past 2-3 years. There is no other feedback on this vote. There is nothing that verifies the crews they voted for actually worked their games. There's no requirement that they have to vote for every crew that worked for them. There's not even a requirement that they have to vote! (participation was up to 94% this year so online definitely helped)
Because of this system some crews get 80-100 votes and others get 8-10. You don't find out until the final week of the season if you have a playoff game (Indiana has an all-in tournament so almost every crew gets at least one game). Then you don't find out until the next Monday if you get a game in the next round.
After the season is over you get a list of your scores and a list of the schools that voted for you (you have to guess which schools gave you which scores). You also get a list of the average scores for all the other crews so you see where you fell.
Because of this system it's largely based on who you know rather than the quality of the crew. Officials who have been around for many years or who work in education or who officiate other sports (especially basketball) are the ones who advance beyond the first round and especially into later rounds (it's a 6-round tournament).
The Indiana Football Officials Association is working with the Indiana Football Coaches Association and the IHSAA to change the system but it will probably take time. They did develop a separate feedback form this year to get specific feedback from coaches on things like appearance, rules knowledge, game administration and mechanics. I believe the intent is to try to evolve this form into the voting as long as coaches are involved.
I don't have an issue with coach's evaluating officials. The feedback could be valuable. The fact that your playoff fate rests on it is a little disconcerting.
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