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Originally Posted by rockyroad
A question for some of you MA people - is the MIAA trying to get rid of IAABO as the "governing" body for basketball officials in your state? From a (way, way) outside view, it kind of looks and feels that way.
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I do not believe so. The MIAA does not like anyone to question what they do: not coaches, not school administrators, not legislators, not officials, not the media, not parents and certainly not the courts. It has had run-ins with every one of those groups at some point in the past years. I think the same can be said of most high school associations, the NCAA and most professional sports leagues.
My personal view is this is a legitimate disagreement between the MIAA Sportsmanship Committee and some MIAA staff members and those who have to abide by or enforce the rules. I don't think the MIAA carefully thought out all the implications. For example...it was totally caught off guard by the NFHS rule that officials' jurisdiction continues until all officials leave the visual confines of the court and it had to get a "special ruling" from the NFHS to essentially change that rule.
I also do not think the MSBOA, which represents all IAABO officials in Mass., did a particuarly good job of sampling the feelings of rank-and-file members.
I have never felt that the MIAA had any problem with IAABO or with IAABO officials. More than 90% of Mass. officials that enrolled last year with the MIAA were IAABO...and I suspect the percentage of IAABO officials working all levels of basketball (below college) in Mass. is even higher.
And...there are some divided loyalties here. I know one official (IAABO) who is an athletic director, member of an MIAA Committee and basketball assignor. I know several officials that work in schools and are active with the MIAA and its tournaments, serving as tournament directors or tournament assignors.