Conflict of Interest...

[BillyMac]

Many,many years ago, my son played in Little League, B Division, on a team that I coached. In this league batters batted against a pitching machine. First and third base coaches were also expected to act as umpires. In one partciular game, my son tried to go from first to third on a single to the outfield. I was the third base coach/umpire. My son made a great slide into third, but the outfielder made an even better throw, and the third baseman made a great sweep tag, just barely getting my son out. I called my son out, tough call, but the right call. My son and my wife didn't speak to me for the rest of the weekend. Officiating a game in which a family member is participating is a lose, lose situation.

I am a retired middle school teacher, and retired middle school basketball coach, in the town in which I live, taught, and coached. I close out our local high school from my officiating schedule, even though I've been retired for almost four years.

Occassionally I will officiate a private school or Catholic school game, and I am surprised to see a former player warming up, or a former teammate of my daugter who played AAU basketball at another town's high school. These situations are unavoidable, I'm not going to close out all the private schools and Catholic schools, or high schools where my daughter's AAU teammates play, that use our local board's officials. Over the years I have officiated games in which some of my former players, or in one case, a former volunteer assistant coach of mine, a student teacher in our school, were coaches or assistant coaches in games that I officiated. If I were to close out all these games, It would really limit my availability. In these cases, I make sure that my communication with my former players is limited to professional topics. I have never been uncomfortable in these situations. If I ever felt uncomfortable officiating these games, or if I were ever questioned about a conflict of interest, by an opposing coach, athletic director, or an official on my board, I would close out the school in question immediately.

When you've been officiating for 26 years, like me, you develop professional relationships with long-time coaches and athletic directors. They almost become a kind of friend, certainly more than just an aquantience. In these situations, like those that I've mentioned above, I've never felt uncomfortable officiating these games. If, and when, I feel any discomfort officiating these games, I will know that it's time to close out those schools.