Not only are you wrong here, you are so wrong it is hard to describe how wrong you are. ;)

Actually assignors the higher you go like all officials to be "R" officials. Basically, that means that any official can handle any situation and can take the lead on every situation in that game. The actual Referee might be the most accomplished or experienced official in many cases, but if that person could not do their duties, then supervisors like to hire officials that are just as capable to do everything game brings. Whether that is T'ing a coach, adjusting the clock, handling game administration (things outside the lines) or just taking the big call. Usually, this is harder for younger/newer officials to fit in those situations when the pressure is on. Now we all have to learn somewhere so it is not out of the question to move newer officials up, but that cannot be the solution on multiple games or most of the season. And usually, it is an official that has proven over some years they can work.

Or associations could get out of the business of assigning. This seems to be part of the problem. I hear of all these shortages and in basketball, we are not having those issues. The assignor gives the games to the people they want and each conference has to do the same. Some people are willing to travel, others are not. Lower level games you can put almost anyone on those games. Varsity you have to be a little bit more deliberate, especially the bigger conference games. It is not totally a bad idea, but it is not something you can count all.

Peace

Good to know. I was under the impression that R's and U1's are usually the senior guys, with U2's being the junior officials. Thus, R and U1 would perform the heavy lifting when it comes to game management. U2 would be responsible for knowing the rules and making proper calls/corrections on correctable errors. By rule, R has responsibility for the official timer, official (and additional) scorers, shot clock operator, and making the final ruling if officials cannot agree on a call. Other than the responsibilities described in the mechanics manual, what game management responsibilities do U1 and U2 have? Once the game begins, all officials have the same responsibilities for calling fouls and violations, administering timeouts and substitutions, and correcting timing, scoring, and alternating possession errors.

The good ol' boys network would be a major problem, because it prevents talented younger (and older officials) from getting the experience that they need to become the go-to varsity veteran and crew chief officials in the next ~10 years when the current veterans retire. When I meet officials doing other sports, I talk to them, ask them about officiating experience, and offer myself as a resource, also giving them other relevant contacts. If each official can get other people involved, that would help with the shortage, but then there would need to be a way to keep the new officials engaged, so they continue.

There's an old phrase. Sometimes ypu just gotta ref. I get the feeling you will struggle with that.


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It is their fault if the pay is not good enough to entice officials to leave their homes and families to referee games. And someone like me, I'm not working a 2-man game at the same rate that I would be getting in a 3-man game. That would be in the category of "not worth leaving my house for".

To address a couple of interesting points:
We do have a pipeline of sorts. Our big metro conference gets 3 person for most of their JV games. That's a good place for new/young officials to network and figure out how to get varsity games. Then, you're typically trusted on a few small varsity games the first year of varsity scheduling. The next couple years will be full schedule if you want it of varsity small school ball. After you prove yourself, attend a few camps, our current assignor will give you a chance on a couple of big conference games. If you do well, you'll get more the next year. If you don't do well, you'll get a couple the next year to improve or improve yourself. I think that works well.

Rich, while I can appreciate your view as an assignor, the 2 man game is a LOT harder and more work than 3. If I were getting the same paycheck for 2 man, I would turn those games back. If that ended my time as an official, that's fine with me as I'm not interested in doing 2 man varsity double headers for $90 a night. I'm not sure if I would be in the minority or majority, and I'd have to think pretty hard about that decision but I just don't see myself driving to Glidden-Ralston, Iowa for a game in front of 40 people where the game check barely pays for fuel and not enjoying the game. Hell, I don't want to go there to do 3 man, but we all take our lumps a few times a season. 2 man, to me, is not fun. At all.

I think you're basing your assumptions on the NBA model, which clearly defines the expected roles of each official.

To me, it depends on who is requesting 2 officials. If the officials association tells certain schools they only get two, how is this the school's fault?

My 24 schools are in the smallest two divisions in the state. If anyone suggested that the bigger schools deserved that third official more than mine, I'd be as loud as I needed to be to make sure that didn't happen. Our games are physical and need the third official just as much.

Fortunately, our system here has each league hiring licensed officials and I can use anyone willing to drive to the location and work. Right now, I have no shortage.

I try to make sure we're competitive with pay. We pay more than most and the big school conferences feel they can pay less cause officials want to work those games. As an official, I've realized that there's a lot of joy in worrking for smaller schools. Once everyone went to 3-person, I stopped worrying about filling my schedule with big school games. I'd rather stay closer to home.

But if I was a school who was told "You're only getting two" I'd fight paying more money.

An example from a few years ago. Scheduling mixup at a game I was working. Only 2 officials. Partner thought we'd get paid the three checks for the two of us. I said, "why should we? Not the school's fault. And our contract doesn't promise a crew size." I got one of the JV officials to stay.

As far as me as an official? I will simply never again accept a game with fewer than 3 officials. Easy.


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You know what? That's a really great point. I suppose it just depends from which perspective you look at it. I'm on the older end of the millennial generation and a part of Trump's America, so I was only looking at it from my own lens.

I imagine that would be my strategy as well. I don't know how well that would go over with my assignor though, so that may spell an end to a below average officiating career.

While the Navy keeps moving me around, I don’t have this luxury. However, in five years or so when I retire, I’ll have to settle somewhere. I told my wife I don’t care where, as long as they have 3-person. [emoji16]



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I guess I am. Al Battista did make a presentation on the different roles and expectations of a 3-man crew, and I did hear similar things about the roles of 3-man crew members during the years I went to Level One camp, so college officials apparently also have the same expectations. Que'z did say that he would come to the U2's on his games for rules questions, because they were more likely to be in the book than the veteran officials. On a related note, U2 did get his schedule improved for telling a crew that dead ball technical fouls are not POI in a difficult game, even though he was ignored by the senior crew members, because he did his job, while R and U1 did not do theirs.

Perhaps Al was using the NBA model for his presentation as well, and Que'z (and other officials) are also using that model at the college level without necessarily knowing about it.

I agree with Rich's sentiment on refusing 2-person games, although I'm not yet at a stage in my career where I have much choice. If I start getting varsity games consistently, then I could choose to work only 3-person at the varsity level, with 2-person subvarsity games. Of course, if and when I reach the college level, I would probably not have time for subvarsity games anyway.

That's certainly not the way it works around here... a lot of times, we designate who the R's going to be when we're in the locker room prior to the game. And it's sometimes as simple as "you sent the email to the AD? You're the R."

The R runs the pregame meeting in the locker room, the pregame coaches/captains meeting, signs the book, and tosses the opening jump ball. Once the ball's tossed, R, U1, U2 doesn't matter.

In fact, last year I worked a handful of games with two VERY experienced officials, who have probably 65 years of experience and probably a dozen state semi-final and final games between them.... and I was the R each time, despite only 7 years experience and zero state tournament assignments to my name.

Come back to Hampton Roads. My HS assignor is looking to make everything 3-man.

On my usual crew, we wait till all 3 are in the locker room and then call out the desired position. Loser is the R.


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In the college game, the rolls are not formalized, but there are some unwritten expectations. I've worked college games with 3 different D1 Final Four officials. An inexperienced U2 is expected to stay in his primary and worry about his 1/3. It is frowned upon for that U2 to grab calls outside of his primary. The FF official (or any well-established D1 official) is expected to poach in the U2's primary if a whistle is needed. And my highest level supervisor annually reminds his staff to let the vets deal with the coaches and for the younger guys to just worry about what's going on between the lines.

At the HS level, my assignor expects me to protect inexperienced officials and for the inexperienced officials to stick to calling the obvious in their primary. Some of the comments you are getting here are from folks who work over and over again with the same officials or in crews. There are no established crews where I work HS games, and I often get officials in the U2 slot who are not yet ready to manage/run a game.

Sounds about right... and some officials will do anything to not have to run a captains meeting. Personally, I don't mind doing it (mainly because it eliminates a lot of "that guy" moments), so I end up as the R on probably 75% of my games.