[JRutledge]

Another thing that is not discussed often, but really advancing is also doing all those things and proving you can handle the bigger stages. If you cannot handle a big rivalry game or a game that has high profile coaches and players, people are not going to just give you a State Final. You have to at least in Illinois probably work for a lot of different people and prove yourself in tournaments, big conference games before that becomes the norm in your schedule. It took me a long time go get the so-called better games until I worked with a lot of different people and showed I could handle those situations. Yes getting calls right matter, but you also have to prove yourself to coaches when they yell at you and everything is not solved with a T. You have to be able to communicate or know when to stop communicating with coaches. It is often the things you do that have nothing to do with calls that can help and certainly hurt you. We have many official that can get a block/charge call right but when questioned about it, have no idea how to talk to a coach and have not earned the respect of the coach to say anything.

This is the same reason you see the same guys on TV all the time, because the coaches trust them and do not get calls about those official's calls often. But if they put a new guy in that spot, they might just start complaining about those calls more often. Since the IHSA was referenced, that is the process that people want to see you prove here. You might have a good schedule for one assignor, but do you have a good schedule with all the other assignors? Are you working the big games in other conferences? Are you working the better tournaments in the area? Or are you working the start up tournaments (for the officials) as your Christmas schedule? And most of all, why is an assignor going to use you over a guy that the coaches trust and do not have complaints about? Are you a good partner? Does an official that has been very experienced have to babysit you during a game?

It is so many things I hardly have time to cover them all, but it is not always about a call. Even if you are big, you might have to do some other things to prove that will not be a constant problem.

Peace