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Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes
On the subject of officiating, Knight did not let a public reprimand by Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg stop him from blasting game officials who work five or six games a week.
"To have some guy 54 or 55 years old referee six times a week is a real disservice to the kids who are playing," said Knight, who was reprimanded last week for criticizing officiating in one of his games.
"They have plenty of other places they can go. They can go to the NBA, they can go to the NAIA, they can go to junior college, they can go to high school. For years, the NCAA has hidden behind individual employment contractors. I think that's all [baloney].
"You say, 'All right, if you're going to work in this league, this is how you're going to work. And if you don't want to work in this league, fine, you've got other leagues to work in.'"
Knight said he would support an effort to have the Big 12 hire its own officials who do not travel the country working different games in different leagues several nights a week.
"But these guys are so greedy, they end up trying to work these six games a week. And they're not capable of doing that," he said. "Check schedules and you'll rarely see where kids play three games a week. These kids are 19, 20 and 21 years old."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Thoughts anyone?
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I agree with his point of view, but this is not new. The DI officials have been doing 5-8 games a week since I started in 1978. So he has a point, but nothing has changed in almost 29 years.
There is no set protocol for moving up. One conference does it one way others do it the other way. Until the NCAA has a set protocol for all officials, nothing is going to change.
The coaches are just as much to blame. They want the best or the officials they know working their games. Hypothetically, if Duke is playing UNC and Ed hightower is available, the assignor knows that Coach K would rather have him than someone new or he doesn't know. Then if Kansas is playing Oklahoma and Ed is avaiable, the assignor knows the coaches want him. Coaches don't like no one new. Working my way up into college, I have done and still keep doing scrimmages left and right so the coaches know me and I can get on the list. The assignor has to wait unitl the coaches feel comfortbale wiht me before I am assigned. Now at the lower levels NAIA, JUCO, and DIII - are sometimes different, but you still have to work all the scrimmages to get noticed.
I agree with Bobby, but it's the system he helped create. He doesn't have to Ed Hightower working his Texas Tech vs Texas A&M, but he would take him over me, even though I may be just as good as Ed (which I am probably not, but close). He could say Ed you travel to much, I am going with a local referee. Chances are in the conference games and rivalries, Knight would want Ed Higtower, Dave Libby, Jim Burr, etc. They are the known commodaties, I am not. But He can be the first coach to give us aspiring DI officials a shot, but he and many other coaches have not. It's just the system the coaches have helped to create.
The law of inertia states that an object in motion will stay in motion until an outside force changes it, or an object at rest will remain at rest unless an outside forces changes it. The official system in place will stay in place until an outside force (referees united, coaches, and the NCAA) get together to change it. But for now, it will remain.