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Like Mike, I work in a large metro area chapter that works primarily in the crew system. We have a draft that involves the highest 2 classifications of public schools. Each spring, those coaches assemble and draft crews to work their games. After the draft, the rest of the games are assigned to crews, those left in the pool, and a mixture. The mixture could be as simple as someone in the pool filling in on a crew to work a game received via the draft, or it could be an assigned game where those on crews work with those in the pool instead of their crew for that particular game. Really depends on how many games your crew got in the draft and what experience level you are. If your crew got 10+ games, you probably won't get any more, unless you are requested to fill in. Some crews only get 2 or 3 (or fewer) draft games and get more games assigned to them -- both with their crew and the pool. In the last 2 years, I've worked about 25 varsity games with about 2/3rds of them being with my crew. I've filled in a couple of times, and the rest have been with other guys.
With a big chapter, its hard to get noticed to be selected to work on a crew unless you go in knowing someone or work a lot of subvarsity with crew chiefs or other heavy hitters. Last year, they made a big push to get guys the opportunity to be seen and evaluated in subvarsity games so crew chiefs who needed guys could call and get recommendations. I filled one opening on my crew that way.
I like the crew system. I hate being a R in the pool. While I like working with other guys, the administrative tasks of getting everyone there on time, the pregame, etc., are a pain. If I go back into the pool, it will be as a BJ.
We have standards for crew chiefs, but not really any ones for crews, other than they must fit within a total number of division ratings (each official is a division 1-5, with 1 being the most experienced) points. This is to make sure that the crew is experienced enough but also that there is opportunity for new blood to come in. Some guys don't like this because elite crews have been broken up with, for example, all the guys on the crew reach division 1 (there must be at least 2 division 2 officials). I've proposed that we give crews that "grow" into too experienced a crew position a waiver for at least 1 cycle, to allow that crew to (hopefully) reap the benefits of a solid crew that's worked together for several years and could likely be one of the best in the state. In other words, you can't form a solid division 1 crew from scratch, but if a previously "legal" crew became "illegal" due to advancement, they would have a waiver.
The other issues that are being discussed is crew member eligibility. While I think its nice that we have an open system, it has caused problems. There have been guys who worked their first varsity game in a Texas 5A matchup between 2 state powers in front of 20K. This isn't ideal. We work a lot of smaller schools and even many 6 man football games at the varsity level, and there's a proposal that one work a minimum of 4 years at that level -- with their first year being at the 6 man level.
There's no perfect system.
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