How about an opinion:

[HokieUmp]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Why does there need to be some type of nefarious reason for the OP.

I thought it was a rather mudane topic that would roll over and die quickly.

Not so much, actually.

Was just trying to inject a little levity into a topic that had gone on for a while - won't make that mistake again. If you don't want an army of umpires doing your bidding - good or evil - that's entirely up to you...

Nationally more and more coaches, at the high school level, get fired for their win/loss record. Many times these same coaches complain that their loss of employment was due to poor officials (something that they have no control over).

They have no control over it, and they generally have no way to prove it, either.

It's the way of it - coaches and players will blame the officials for their failings as their first option.

And it's all levels, not just HS. I worked an NABA game Sunday, and as I left the field a player said "Thanks for calling me out there, Blue", referring to a banger at first in the 5th or so. I didn't bother to mention his team had 20 other outs to work with, or that they'd had the lead more than once in the game, or that they went into the bottom of the 7th defending a 1 run lead, and couldn't hold it. No point to it - it was CLEARLY my fault, on that one call, in a 7-6 or 8-7 game.

That's why I said, a few pages ago, that coach input really needs to be minimized, if not outright ignored, since nearly all of their ratings will based on the emotions of winning and losing. Having evaluators from the umpire association itself is ALWAYS the better option. Sure, they might be biased - since umpires are the "third team" - but they won't have the emotional attachments a player or coach would have.