[LarryS]

I’m not sure I would pass on this, but I’m also not sure I would take an active role. How’s that for decisiveness?

If it were me, I would respond as follows…it’s long

Dear School X AD:

I applaud your desire to develop a fair and equitable method of evaluating the officials in your league. I also believe you are correct in your assessment that many fine young officials are being overlooked. That said, I am not sure a system with only 5 criteria to be used by coaches, AD’s and officials will serve your purpose. While it is probably a safe assumption that coaches and their AD are looking/wanting the same things from the officials calling their games, other officials may look at other factors in determining the skill level of an official.

For example, we would probably all agree that an official should have excellent rules knowledge. That said, everyone must understand that the rules of basketball may change from year to year. It is sometimes difficult for officials to fully understand and apply the changes at the beginning of the year. That would probably be amplified when a coach or AD (who may have never coached basketball) is attempting to rate a person in this area. That is not intended to be a criticism of non-officials, it is simply a matter of your duties as an educator and coach taking the time we use for training. I’m sure you will agree that there are many misconceptions related to the rules, which supports my concern.

Another factor that needs to be considered is the mechanics used by the official. That is not limited to the mechanics of reporting fouls, but also applies to pregame duties, positioning during the game, staying within their primary area of floor responsibility, etc. Those may be easy matters to evaluate if someone is concentrating on the official at all times. However, the coach has the primary responsibility of coaching the team and directing their actions. How many times do you not even notice the official until the whistle has blown? He or she may have taken several steps between the time the whistle has blown and you find him on the floor. Accordingly, you would have no way of knowing if he was in the best position.

Obviously, judgement is key to the success of an official. This could also be called “rules application”. That would be difficult for anyone to evaluate because nobody will have the same angle or line of sight as the official making the call. In theory, half of the calls made in the game will be 45 to 50 feet away from each coach. Properly evaluating the official’s judgement will be difficult at best from that distance, especially with other people moving between the observer and the calling official.

Things that could be evaluated fairly easily are:
The level of hustle exhibited.
The intensity that person puts into a contest.
How they handle/control the activity on the floor (i.e. rough play).
Do they interrupt the flow of action?
How do they handle questions/comments from coaches and players?
How do they handle tense situations involving the coach?

An additional concern I have is, unlike officials, a coach and AD have a vested interest in who wins the contest. Human nature being what it is how would you factor in the emotions of the evaluator? Given that everyone involved is an individual, how do you factor out the interpersonal portion? An official may not like a coach personally, but he can still fairly call his team’s game. Conversely, a coach may not like an official. That does not mean he is not an excellent official.

If a fair and equitable evaluation process is your goal, I think serious consideration should be given to the schools in the league contributing an additional game fee to hire a former or current official to serve as evaluators. By taking this approach, most of the personal factors would be removed. The problem of the coach having to divide his or her attention to properly observe the official would be eliminated and you would be guaranteed to have someone with a complete understanding of the rules and mechanics of calling a game. If you feel this is farther than you can go at this time, I will be happy to review the factors your league coaches determine to be the most important, help you define the parameters of each and possibly assign them a weight.