As many of you know I switched over from officiating to coaching this year. This past week we had a game at a much larger school. I coach at the JV level. Guess who I see officiating? The athletic trainer/teacher at this particular school. I knew him well from my officiating days. There was no coachs box marked on the floor, yet he continued to tell me to get back into the box. He did everything he possibly could to try to provoke me. At half time I went to him with tape and ask him if he would like to put it down or should I. He responded with go ahead. Just before the second half started he ripped up the tape and attempted to put down new...that was before it got wrapped around his foot and he nearly fell. The crowd loved that. During the game he turned to one of our fans and told him to "shut-up." I didnt argue one call all night but he continued to harrass me. My team won by 10 pts. I was very displeased with him so I approached the AD after the game. He informed me that this official works all of their games. I asked, is this not a conflict of interest. He replied with you worry about your school and I'll worry about mine.

I'm sure our reginal assigner would not allow an official to call games at the school in which he/she works. I feel very strongly that this AD is paying the guy on the side and not calling in his games. He is getting off with a cheaper officating bill and some HOMECOOKING. How do you guys feel about this???

[Edited by Nate1224hoops on Jan 2nd, 2006 at 09:07 AM]

At the JV level, the records usually don't count for much (except pride) so in the big picture, it probably doesn't make much difference if this one school uses this one teacher.

However, from the viewpoint of the local officials' association, if the association has an agreement with the school's league that the league will only use that association's officials, then the association has a legitimate complaint. Its members are not getting assignments (and therefore, game checks) that they should be receiving.

As an official, I would report this to my local association. I'm not a coach, but I think I would probably report the incident to the league or state athletic association.

A trainer and teacher of a school officiating their games? <i>Oy vey!</i> There couldn't be many greater conflicts of interest than that one.

Find someone to report that one to. It's just wrong- no matter what kind of a job he does.

Btw, if the coaching box isn't marked, then there is <b>no</b> box. The coaches have to sit, unless they're doing the things allowed in the book.

Yeah it was awful. The guy was very unprofessional. BTW, thats a new one on me about the coaching box. If the box isn't marked then there is no box...i agree with that. The coach has to sit??? Never heard that before. Citation???
Concerning the box, I coached all night long, not once questioning a call. I was always taught as an official that it was the home teams responsiblity to insure that all equipment was functional. To me this includes the coaching box, and if there was no box marked then if I as an official wanted to enforce a box then I must use tape to do so.

In our league we have a JV championship. The top two in our league compete on the same night as the Varsity Championship. So to me and the other 6 JV coaches in our league, this is a big deal.

We have a very good official who teaches at one of the HS's in town. This year our association finally decided to not schedule him for any games at any level with that school. It just makes sense and it doesn't put him in a tough spot.

Also, games at ANY level are important to the players, coaches and parents of those teams. I treat any level game as a Final Four for those kids. I am a varsity official and this Saturday I will be doing a JV game between the two rival schools in town. It will be like a Final Four for those kids, I guarantee you! We wanted to make sure we put varsity level officials on that game. It will be a war.

Well, then that's a different kettle of fish. In my defense, I did say that the records usually don't mean much. :)

Around here, there's no JV post-season, which was why I made that comment. But if the JV records really do mean something, then I would definitely report it to the league and/or state athletic association.

Thanks Chuck

I am an assistant principal at a local high school. I have told my assignors to not put me at my school for any level. I really don't like to do games at the high school on the other side of the city, but will take them occasionally.

Every Christmas my school hosts a freshmen and JV tourney. THe varisty coach usually calls the officials for this tourney. Because it starts so early in the day I help out and take a few games. This year I had to do my own school. It was not fun. Probably won't do that again.

Completely understandable. Good,respectable officials should never work a game at the school in which they teach.

The coaching box is a privilege that is given as an extra, it's not automatic according to NFHS. There's no coaching box at all, unless otherwise specifically stated. The box is an expansion of "territory" in that it's bigger than just the seat your butt is allowed to be in. You are viewing it as a restriction of "territory" as in "the coach can go anywhere unless there's a box marked." So if there's no box, you must sit.

But if your state has the coaching box, then there should be one marked on the floor. For you to offer to mark it was fine. It was very low-level of him to try to move your marking!! Just out of curiosity, did the home coach have a box marked? Did he abide by the rules?

No there were no markings for either coach. And no, She was everywhere and received no warning. But again, the offical was probably a close friend being that he taught at the school. Yes our state does have a coaching box, therefore I as a coach am entitled to a box. If none is marked then I assume we use imaginary boxes...lol

I do JH at my school and would not have a problem doing JV except that they play on varsity nights and I am usually busy elsewhere. In my area, JV would be happy to have quality officiating and I would be appalled if they felt there was any homecooking going on. The reason we stay off of varsity games isn't because there would be any homecooking it's just to keep any questions for ever arising. I guess we are probably more laid back about lower level competition. Everybody realizes that each game is of the utmost importance to the kids involved but in many cases just finding qualified people to work those levels is difficult. It actually helps me build good foundations with my younger student athletes, they love having me officiate there games even though we sometimes have to have the discussions about why I would never give them any unfair advantage and how sometimes they may even get the short end of the stick.

AND YOUR ASSUMPTION WOULD BE WRONG.

Mark your own box! That is laughable. And you think the referee was nuts; he should have T'ed you immediately and made sure you sat for the remainder. He wasn't nuts; he was being overly generous.

And you, as a visiting coach, confronted him and put tape on his floor?!

Best of luck to you in your JV taping career. Perhaps there is a reason you are a past official?

Wow, how to defend the zebra.

I think in this situation you should report your side of the story to your AD. Also if you have a video tape of the game let them watch it and let the address the issue. You are not going to help solve the problem by making phone calls yourself for the same reasons you didn’t want that official working that game, you’re attached to a school and are personally involved in the situation.

You should contact your state HS association and ask them what the procedure is. (Maybe it was covered at the rules meeting, if you have one, and whatever coach from your school attended will know the answer.)

Here (IL), if the box is not marked, it's not used. If it's not already on the floor, game management can put one down using tape. If game management doesn't want to do it (reference the "home team doesn't want on, but the visitors do" discussion above), the visitors can apply a box to their side.

That was a joke...I guess your glasses got fogged up reading the LOL. If you had read the entire thread you would have seen that I ask the official if he would like to assist in marking the floor and he said for me to do it. The official of that game sounds a lot like you; you seem to think the game is about you and not the kids. He should have T'd me...lol...for what asking for a box. Maybe you are him. Hopefully with your attitude you'll never reach JV games. I choose to make the switch to coaching. If you officiate like you run your mouth on here you wont be able to say you switched....YOUR FIRED!!!

Wow. :(

A few years back we had an away game and one of the officials for the JV girls contest was a teacher from our school.

I'm in the stands opposite the benches with the varsity coaches and early in the first quaterter, the teacher-ref gives our JV coach a T and then a second one right after signaling the first one. So the varsity staff had to go down and coach two games that night.

I think something was said to our assignor, as the teacher-ref was still given games in our conference, but never against us.

Ideally, there probably would never be an occasion for an official to work any level game involving the school system that employs her/him. But, since we do not live in an ideal world, we must accept that there are less than ideal situations. Setting aside the problems that face schools and assignors, what should *our* approach as officials be?

I'd like to suggest the following:

1. Never, under any circumstances (any? well, I can't think of any), accept an assignment to work a varsity game involving your employing school district.

2. Never accept an assignment to work a sub-varsity game involving your employing school district unless the coaches and/or ADs of both schools agree. For example, the day of the game your school's AD gets a cancellation call from an official and the AD is scrambling to find a substitute for the Freshman/JV double header. You might tell the AD to keep looking, but if s/he truly cannot find someone else, you'll pinch hit as long as the head coaches for each game agree. Disclose the conflict to the coaches and ask if they want you to work the game. They'll agree ... the other choice is to have a single official work the games. Having first agreed to it, they cannot later complain about it. (Well, they can complain, but the complaint ought not to go very far.) The fact that you are disclosing the issue and dealing with it in a transparent way will (or should) remove any question about there being a "homer" motive.

For what it is worth, it sounds to me like the problem described in the original post is a problem that would repeat itself in games not involving that particular official's school....

TASO (Texas) has very rigid guidelines regarding this. You may not officiate any game at the school you teach at, but also not officiate any game for your entire School District if you or your spouse works in that District. That prohibition exists for 5 years after you or your spouse leaves the district.

You may also not officiate any games at a school if you have a child enrolled there. This crosses over to all sports, not just the sport your child may be involved in.

Joel