[LIUmp]

Thank you to all for the replies; they are very helpful.

In New York, (at least on Long Island), officials are ranked or "rated" by each head coach. It is done by a weighted rating system. Here's how it works.

The ratings are 1- 5.
5- Superior official; capable of working any varsity playoff game, including championship game.
4.5- Excellent official; definitely belongs in the playoffs, but a shade below a superior official.
4- Good official; may do playoff games, but only in the early rounds.
3.5- acceptable; not playoff caliber.
3- needs improvement - not acceptable at this level.
2-poor
1- inadequate


a coach who rates 3 or below must write down the reasons for giving such a rating. It must be reviewed by the AD.

Weighted system:
So, lets assume coach A has 10 games in a season. 10 games =20 umpires. This coach gives every official a 4 rating. But the last game of the season he has you, and you do a great job. He gives you a 5. You average .95 point higher than what he gives other officials.

At the end of the season, all the rankings and ratings come in to the assigning office. They start all officials at a 10.000 scale. They then compile how you did with each coach relative to how they grade all officials. In the above example, if you averaged the same as all other officials with every coach except for that game where the coach thought you did well, your final rating would be 10.95. At the end of the season, the rankings basically work like this: 10.00 is a job well done. Below 10 is considered a below average umpire, and above 10 is considered an above average umpire. The tpp rankings are somewhere around 10.2 - 10.3 each year.

Each umpire is then ranked in the county via the weighted ratings. The top 16 varsity officials make the playoffs, however you must have officiated 14 games to be considered for the playoffs. The higher rated umpire does the plate. After the first round of the playoffs, we go to a three umpire system. Usually the top two officials in the county are asked to go to the state championships.


Long story short, the coaches rank the umpires. So, come playoff time, the coaches get the officials that all the coaches that year ranked as the best in the county. This system prevents a coach who has a vendetta to take it out on the officials. Also if you have a coach 4 times who is notoriously a tough rater, it won't affect your ratings if he rates you low, so long as he rates everyone low.

I hope I explained that well enough so as not to confuse.

(By the way, I was number 1 in my county last year. I'm kinda proud because I take my work very seriously and I work really hard. We do get paid very well, so the coaches and players deserve my best. The game I do that day is the most important game in the world to me, because it is to them.)