Assignor an active official

crabber · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 08:26am

I'd like as many replies to these questions as possible:

1) Should an active official assign games for leagues in which he officiates?

2) Should a coach ever hold an office in an officials association?

These situations currently exist and we wold like to change them!

bob jenkins · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 09:54am

I'd answer "Yes" to both, assuming the coach is also an official.

Hawks Coach · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 10:22am

I am not clear what is meant in your second issue, so I present several alternatives and my thoughts.

1. Do you mean that a coach/ref is an office holder in an officials association and coaches and refs in the same league?
Should not happen, conflict of interest

2. Do you mean that a coach/ref in a league that an association governs holds an office but does not ref those games?
Doesn't sound like a problem, in cases of potential conflict between the parochial interest of the coach and the business of the association, the coach should abstain from any decisions. Most decisions should be fairly neutral in nature and not impact the individual's ability to do either job impartially.

3. Do you mean that a non-referee coach holds an office in an official's association?
Could provide valuable input, so why not? I would recommend that the job rotate so that many coaches get a better understanding of the official's side of things and that the officials receive different viewpoints over time.

4. Do you mean that a referee/coach holds an office in an association that has no authority over their league?
Clearly no problem, many people on this board both coach and referee, and some of our club coaches also referee.

rockyroad · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 10:24am

The High School association I work for has both...our "head" assignor is currently one of our varsity officials - there have been complaints made from the disgruntled, but everytime he simply pulls up the computer records and shows that he gets fewer varsity games than others and fewer of the "big" games than others...pretty much shuts them all up. I can see possibilities for problems, but not with this guy. We also have several officials who coach other sports (baseball and football) at local highschools...they have barred themselves from working games at their school or in that particular league...I don't really see any problem with that...now if they are coaching basketball and reffing basketball, well that could be a problem...

Tim Roden · #5 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 12:34pm

Should an official be an assignor. Most definitely. He would better be able to judge who should be calling what level of game. Should he be an active official? Why not. If he can't find someone to cover a game, he can run out and do the game himself. I've seen it happen.

Should a coach hold office? I've never seen it done so I don't know the ethics or pitfalls of such a move. If the coach is also an official, I don't see any problems.

Glenn Lampman · #6 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 04:45pm

I currently am assigning and officiating. Have been assigning for 15 years and have seen and heard the pros and cons from both sides. I see no conflict as long as the assignments are subject to review by your Executive Bd to insure that the position is not abused to the benefit of the assigning secretary. I usually do not assign myself to a set schedule but use myself to "fill-in" for cancellations and nights when we are short varsity (or other levels) officials. I do some post season but am not eligible to go to the state level from our organization due to the position as assigner. it is an advantage for the assigner to be an active official. It gives me the credibility I need to deal with officials and school administration. Our varsity assignments are done utilizing Arbiter and we do not "tweak" them after the auto assign.
As long as the assigner has credibility and the personal standards to not abuse the position I think it works well.

If the coach is coaching another sport, I see no problem with them being members. We have one Varsity coach who is a member but he is limited to late season JH and Rec level because of his coaching responsibilities. I would strongly oppose him being elected to an office for the obvious conflicts of interest and do not think that the membership would allow it. A BB coach is going to be a part of the officials group for one reason, What he thinks he will get out of it on the floor on game night!!!

BktBallRef · #7 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 08:44pm

The NCHSAA forbids booking agents from officiating varsity football and basketball.

As for the issue of the coach, I don't understand what the problem is. How much havoc can one man create? Perhaps you can enlighten us. Our by-laws require us to have 4 school representatives on our board of directors.

crabber · #8 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 01, 2000, 10:47pm

The coach in question is still an active official and coaches in the same sport that he is officiating.
He took the coaching job this past fall, but did not step down from the position as president. In fact he is rumored to be interested in runnning again.

Glenn Lampman · #9 (**permalink**) Thu Nov 02, 2000, 03:20pm

Crabber.. Looks like this guy has created a real situation. I cannot believe he did not step down.. There are several issues, the least of which is his integrity.. Other issues that impact the situation are; does he impact ratings of officials and/or does he impact assignments of officials? what would you think of if you were a visiting coach, aware of the situation and you get a call that goes against you???
or if you are a varsity official calling one of his games and you see a situation that calls for a gutsy whistle at crunch time, knowing that he has impact on your rating or assignments?? There is no doubt that he thinks that he will benefit from his postition in your group. The credibility of your officials in any of his games will be in question.. People that think there is no problem with this do not get the picture.. I hope he is not officiating games at the same level that his team plays??

bob jenkins · #10 (**permalink**) Thu Nov 02, 2000, 03:53pm

Quote:

Originally posted by crabber
The coach in question is still an active official and coaches in the same sport that he is officiating.
He took the coaching job this past fall, but did not step down from the position as president. In fact he is rumored to be interested in runnning again.

The same sport -- not a problem (yet).

The same "league" -- now it could be a problem. Would your association officiate his games? Would he officiate a team one day and coach against them the next?