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Originally Posted by Theisey
Just my opinion, but I see no sense even discussing mechanics in forums like this because there are just to many variations of doing the same thing.
Now I see that even within my state, there is an association unique way of doing something that the rest of the state doesn't do.
My opinion again, but if a mechanic in the NFHS book is as has been stated is outdated, then get the darn thing changed just like if it was a rule. Mechanics really are rules, they are rules in how to officiate the game. We should be doing it the same no matter what state you are in and no matter what association within a state you are in.
It's called consistency.
Every year, NF changes things in their (our) mechanics manual, so don't think they can't adapt. Someone has to propose change(s) and follow through until implemented so the rest of us can use it.
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That sounds great, but the NF is not going to field calls about missed plays because of mechanics. Or if a play was not covered in the suburbs of Chicago, I do not think a person in Florida is going to care much.
BTW, the NF does not care what states do mechanically and I have been told that by people in the NF directly. Mary Struckoff who is the NF Basketball Rulebook Editor and has some other significant roles with the NF, came to a conference in our state and discussed many things the NF was trying to implement and she made it very clear the NF does not try to influence mechanics with their membership. She even gave a couple of examples where states had mechanics that were so far away from the NF Manuals, that they did everything to convince their state, but there was nothing they could do about them using such mechanics.
Three years ago my state (which is a 100% membership state with the NF, whatever that means) created our own mechanics. The IHSA no longer sends out the NF Official's Manual in any sport. In football specifically the IHSA created all their mechanics on a PowerPoint Presentation. Now we use basic NF Mechanics, but there are many differences that are based on coverage mistakes that have been seen at the State Final level. One of the major differences we use is how the wings flow down field during pass plays. The NF suggests that we go down field 5-7 yards when you read pass. Well our state noticed that that mechanic was not putting officials in the best places to see plays or they would be completely out of position to cover pass plays. Our state wants the wings to flow downfield only after all eligible receivers have crossed our faces (on the wings) before going down field. Most HS passes are less than 10 yards and it was easy to cover most plays near the LOS. That is just one major change and there are others that were changed because of what happen in big time games because the NF either did not address an issue or what was used was considered outdated. I know that when they would send those books to us, nothing would be different. And even when there was a change, the diagram never changed. The same thing applied to the other sports as well and coverages have improved across the board.
Peace