Wanted, Reward, Dead Or Alive ...

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I thought same thing myself until I gave it more thought...

I feel no sympathy for schools that can't find officials for ridiculously early start times. They need to realize that no one is making a living officiating basketball.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Here, in my little corner of Connecticut, we used to have some strict local "years of service" rules regarding moving up the ladder...

In South Carolina you get five "experience points" in your rating for each of your first five years of experience until you reach the full 25 points. And until a couple years ago, it was seven years until you got full experience credit. The current system is such that an official likely won't sniff a varsity game until at least his/her fourth year, and even that might be too optimistic. And all that is assuming the official performs well on the statewide exam. District directors can "accelerate" an official's experience but it's not done that often.