How about an opinion:

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by jicecone

When was the last time you were asked to evaluate the coaches from a school system or league.

We don't hire coaches, school systems, or leagues.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by mbyron

We don't hire coaches, school systems, or leagues.

Schools and Leagues don't (generally) hire individual umpires... they generally hire a scheduler or a group of umpires. It is up the the association to ensure that their umpires are good enough to umpire the league so that the association is retained. None of this says coaches should have individual input into the hiring or use of a specific umpire. I really hate the "we have to cowtow to the coaches because we are their employee" nonsense. It's NOT the case. And even if a school was SO upset about a particular umpire that they threatened the contract of the association, the association should not cave - as in general it is not an individual school doing the hiring, but rather a group of schools. And if a district chooses to get rid of an entire association, good luck finding umpires.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Schools and Leagues don't (generally) hire individual umpires... they generally hire a scheduler or a group of umpires. It is up the the association to ensure that their umpires are good enough to umpire the league so that the association is retained. None of this says coaches should have individual input into the hiring or use of a specific umpire. I really hate the "we have to cowtow to the coaches because we are their employee" nonsense. It's NOT the case. And even if a school was SO upset about a particular umpire that they threatened the contract of the association, the association should not cave - as in general it is not an individual school doing the hiring, but rather a group of schools. And if a district chooses to get rid of an entire association, good luck finding umpires.

You're reading a lot into my post. The fact that we don't rate coaches is not a reason to reject coach input about umpires.

Fwiw I agree that coaches often have too much input. I suspect that happens because there's nobody else to offer criticism.