A question about your associations board of directors responsibilities.

This is just a thread to get a consensus about who handles what in umpire associations across the states.

Who in any of your association(s) would deal with coaches complaining about an ejection? If you could say whether your association is high school, college, or both, that would be helpful. Also, is your commissioner/assignor a position the membership votes for or is that position appointed by the board of directors?

Let's say the ejection is somewhat "routine".

Let's say the ejection is non-"routine" and possibly an umpire messed something "minor" up. Would somebody else get involved?

Let's say the ejection is a big ol' crapfest, and the umpires handling of it came into serious question. Would somebody else be involved?

In my local high school association, the commissioner would handle everything. But in a big ol' crapfest, the President of the association might get involved.

I am interested in particular to college associations, but a consensus from high school associations would be helpful too.

Thanks.

[ozzy6900]

I belong to a High School Association. Our Varsity and Sub-Varsity Commissioners are voted in by the membership. In the past, complaining coaches would contact the appropriate commissioner but this year, we instituted an Association Liaison position. All complaints from coaches or from the umpires go through that person now. The liaison handles the minor and run of the mill problems and sits with the BOD for larger problems as needed.

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

I belong to a High School Association. Our Varsity and Sub-Varsity Commissioners are voted in by the membership. In the past, complaining coaches would contact the appropriate commissioner but this year, we instituted an Association Liaison position. All complaints from coaches or from the umpires go through that person now. The liaison handles the minor and run of the mill problems and sits with the BOD for larger problems as needed.

Thanks ozzy. That is the kind of reply I am looking for.

[gordon30307]

In the Chicago Metro area games are assigned by assignment chairman. You may or may not belong to the same association that the assignor belongs to. All ejections are reported to the state. Complaints and great thoughts coming from coaches are reported to the appropriate assignment chairman. Coaches are supposed to rate every official at every game. ie. if you do 40 games you should have 80 ratings. If you have more than 30 from Coaches that would be a lot. Coaches could give you a 5 (only qualified to do underclass only) if they give you 5 they must provide a written explanation.

[lawump]

Our association (high school) is fairly large (at least for our state) as we provide umpires for 27 high schools, american legion, USSAA summer tournaments and other "stuff".

Anyways, we have a President, VP, Secretary and Treasurer. Our secretary is both our corporate secretary (handles the money) and our booking secretary. We also have 4 "at-large" board members. So, our board has 8 members (4 officers and 4 "at-large" board members). Our board is THE authority for our association.

Our secretary is the primary contact person for coaches. He'll deal with coaches' complaints. However, he always keeps me (the President) informed. If there is a major issue, I'll bring it to the attention of the entire board, or I'll talk to the coach/AD directly.

Now, as President, I communicate with the High School League office. I also will send out all "offiical" communications from the association to the schools and other organizations. For instance, I signed my name to a letter this past winter informing the schools that our rates were going up in 2008. I also fielded calls complaining about this fact.

Finally, I will say that our organization is incorporated, so we make sure to follow corporate formalities as those are defined by South Carolina state law.

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by gordon30307

In the Chicago Metro area games are assigned by assignment chairman. You may or may not belong to the same association that the assignor belongs to. All ejections are reported to the state. Complaints and great thoughts coming from coaches are reported to the appropriate assignment chairman. Coaches are supposed to rate every official at every game. ie. if you do 40 games you should have 80 ratings. If you have more than 30 from Coaches that would be a lot. Coaches could give you a 5 (only qualified to do underclass only) if they give you 5 they must provide a written explanation.

Gordy, I believe you're referring to high school, though, and not college ball, because for some college stuff, it's handled by associations and has nothing to do with the state. Also, there isn't a system of coaches rating umpires in most of the college ball. The exception would be D-1 primarily, which is under the assigning control of basically one man, Rich Fetchiet, who heads the CBUA (Collegiate Baseball Umpire Alliance). Note the word "alliance" and not association, BTW.

In terms of associations, there are probably many around, but two of the most prominent are Fox Valley Blues (FVB), of which I am a member and whose assigning chair is a friend and colleague; and Des Plaines Valley Umpires Assn. (DVUA), of which I am president and the assigning idiot (I reserve the right to call myself an idiot for still doing the assigning). FVB is probably the largest, whereas we're one of the oldest (20 years old this June 1st). FVB's assignor and I also work for other college assignors as well. I personally do games for 6 college assignors including myself and individuals like Mr. Fetchiet.

Don't ask me how I keep things straight. I still struggle with trying to tie my shoes every morning.

[bossman72]

Not sure about high school season, but for summer, we have the assignor of each of the 4 leagues affiliated with us act as a liason and deal with each league respectively.