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Originally Posted by bossman72
Rich, you bring up another question:
When you first start out (or after a few years for that matter), do you have to know ALL of the positions on the field, or are you put at one when you start out and just learn that one?
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Everyone does this different. This is just my way:
I'm in a unique spot as our crew chief (compared with people who have games assigned by associations). I recruit people to my crew and decide when we need to make a change. I've "fired" 2 crew members in the past 3 seasons and 3 of my guys on the crew were rookies when they started. 2 of them worked their first games on Friday night.
For VARSITY games, I start guys at back judge. We go over the mechanics of working the position and emphasize the dead ball aspects of officiating as well as the live ball aspects (to me, moving the ball between plays is incredibly important to a game's flow and how well the crew does). I've had three rookies start at back judge and all three of them picked up the position quickly and have good judgment when it's needed.
But HS football doesn't have a huge amount of passing in my area, so the role is mainly dead ball officiating -- extra set of eyes, move the football. There's been one non-call that I saw on video in 3 seasons I think needed a flag and didn't get one, so I think the three guys who've worked back there have done a good job.
On the non-varsity games, I start the same people out at line judge. By the end of the first season, that person is ready to work a varsity game on a wing. I'm trying to groom a back-up white hat, so normally in the non-varsity games he'll work one of them (if a DH) back there. If we have 2 games, though, I usually put the crew in our varsity positions for the second game (JV) so we get some non-Friday night practice as a group.
The second year, new guys can pick up linesman and umpire on non-varsity nights if they want. My first recruit is now my varsity umpire and is outstanding at the position. Probably better than me, which isn't saying much.
And anyone is encouraged to pick up some youth games on Saturdays, although I've stopped working them. It's good for the guys to have to rely on their own rule knowledge rather than having me there to be a rulebook resource.
I've done this three times, now. I've got three guys with no bad habits and I know I can be a demanding crew chief at times, but I'd take my crew (with a fourth, third, and second year person as my umpire, linesman, and back judge currently) over a lot of 20-25 year guys.