Finding a Crew
 

Gentlemen,

This is my seventh year offiating and I was wondering if anybody had any good advice on finding a crew to work with. I consider myself a decent official and would have gotten my first sectional last year barring an injury. I live in northeast Indiana and my association has very slim pickings at this point. I'm having problems breaking into some of the "clicks" and getting games. I pick up a lot of games on my own but to get the varsity schedule I want I need to get on a crew. Most AD's are really stressing having a whole crew. If anybody knows somebody that is looking please contact me.

I think that after 7 years you must have made friends with some of the officials you've partnered with. Networking is the answer to getting through cliques. Create your own clique.

Now if you haven't made any friends in your 7 years, I think it's time to start buying the beer after some of the games you work.

Unlike football having a regular "crew" in my area for basketball is a foreign concept.

I believe that the ADs in your area are stressing it for one reason only, simplicity for them in filling games.

I personally feel that having regular crews is not a good thing for the game of basketball.

I also feel that AD's shouldn't be assigning games but that it a topic for another thread. I am lucky that the majority of games of mine are assigned by an assignor.

In Illinois and outside the Chicago area most of the state that I am aware of uses partners. I do not think there is a trick to doing that other than finding people that you will get along with and that have similar philosophies. In most cases you do not find partners, they tend to find you based on many factors.

This is usually not something you put and ad in the paper and you interview prospective partners and you choose one after going over each resume. Usually your potential partner is someone you know or have worked with many times and you decide to work together.

Peace

I thought that was legal only in Vermont. ;)

But recognized civilly in several other states...

Speak for yourself. I have a regular partner in Wisconsin and we fill our schedule by negotiating with leagues and ADs directly. My integrity is not for sale and I've lost a conference because of a couple of well-timed and deserved technicals (they did me a favor -- the closest school in that conference is 70 miles away).

Even with a few schools I won't deal with (and they with me) I work 35-40 varsity dates from the second week of December until the third week of February. It's enough for me (I work football and baseball, too). I work nothing else -- no rec, no AAU, no underclass games, nothing after my final playoff game. After my season ends in early March, I won't work basketball again until early December. I do already have games scheduled for 2010, though.

I could be mistaken but I think I did speak for myself.

I didn't mean to hijack the thread but I must be misunderstanding your point here, isn't this one of the exact things that working for an assignor avoids, the repercussions of calling a T on future assignments?

I worked in both systems, and to a point I still do, and IMVHO working with an an assignor far outwieghs any perceived advantage to working directly with the AD's. You can have all that paperwork and phones calls and positioning for dates and faxing contracts etc etc etc. I have to sign one piece of paper.

I have worked in both systems and still work in both systems currently. The thing that seems to be mostly true of AD assignments, are the fact that ADs are mostly looking to fill their games. They are not looking to always hire the best people or to have set standards that bring the best official to the table. Assignors on the other hand have standards. You might not agree with their standards, but they usually are trying to hire people that they feel are qualified (which are very subjective) to work those games and will not just fill a game to just fill a game. At least that is the case at the varsity level. IN my opinion this is why ADs tend to assign years in advance and assignors will give out their games on a year to year basis.

Each system has their flaws. ADs give many of us some security that we know when and where we will be working for many years in the future. Assignors might not hire you years in advance, but if you are not a bad official, chances are they will continue to use you over and over again.

Peace

This brings to point my original statement regarding the OP's complaint. In his area not only are they mostly looking to fill games, but only having to do it once per game as opposed to 3 times, by stressing a "whole crew".

There are advantages to a crew. I work 90% of my 3-person games with the same two guys and I know their officiating and personalities inside and out and we complement each other well.

I just don't care for putting all the power in one person's hands. I have one conference here that won't hire me. Period. I'm only in my SIXTH year in the state (21st overall) and he just will not hire me. If he was the only assignor, I would not work at all. Nope, I don't like that system.

On top of that, when I worked in an assignor system, he evenly distributed the games and I would sometimes only have 1 or 2 games a week. We weren't allowed to work down (JV/FR) so we got one game for an entire week. Now if I want to work 6 days a week, I can. It's up to me.

I'm curious why you feel having a crew is not good for the game?

First off I'm glad your scheduling situation works out for you.

Just curious, do you ever feel that working with the same two people makes you complacent?

Throwing this out there for debate. What about the (perceived or real) issue that a coach/AD could hire/not hire you or a now a whole crew depending on how it befitted his/her team vs a particular opponent? Now coach B could think not only did we get "homer ref" but now it's "homer crew"?

Yes it's easy for an AD to assign, working with one instead of three. Yes its nice for you because your comfortable. But is it best for the game? Being hired individually by an assigner with random partners would alleviate all those concerns in my opinion.

I work with a crew every night I work. My two partners and me are my "crew", we work together and I trust them and they trust me.

Then the next night I get to work with a new crew. ;)

I have by quirks of scheduling worked with the same people more than two games in a row, i personally don't like it.

I feel working with new people keeps me sharp and focused and makes me take care of my own business. My opinion.

I too have a partner and we have a third for our 3 person games as well. We contact AD's ourselves to contract for games JV and below. Varsity contests are scheduled by conference commissioners who I assume are the same as your assigners.

If a commissioner contacts the head of our association to get officials for varsity contests - a 3 man committee of experienced officials in the association assign them to the people who have enough officiating experience - that they feel would do a good job, and usually to partners if possible. There have been times when partners have been split because one was not yet ready for that level of play. Other times - partners may split for an evening if one or the other has some type of conflict with a particular team. example - I was once assigned to do a varsity game for the school I work for. I called the commisioner and explained I had a conflict. He called the association president and he and I did one game, my partner and his partner did the other at my school. It all works pretty well.

Complacent? Nope. It's called pride and all three of us have it.

I have to work the game exactly the same as if I was working with two people I didn't know. I think I work even better with these guys -- I have no temptation to work more than 1/3 of the game because I know these guys and how good they are.

You're in a different area of WI than me, cause our association assigns nothing.

You're right -- the commissioners are the assignors. Only nonconference games are assigned by the schools where I live.

I have ten of them instead of one and it means I don't have to tolerate if one of them does something unacceptable. I can work out my contracts and not schedule with those assignors again.

I'm not a loner and I like the company I keep. *We* take care of business. My partners and I are a team.

So be it. It works for me, but I could just as easily go back to having a single assignor, although I would have less ability to turn down games that way.

I'm far more comfortable working with same guys. In my case, I focus on the calls more and have more trust in my partners , the mechanics , rotations, switches become second nature. The fear of the unknown isn't there.

Just my opinion too.

This is the part I love - after a season or so - I find they are more than willing to eat a little crow because they are having such a difficult time getting officials. They find that unacceptable to one is usually unacceptable to many! :D

Good debate, some more questions I have...

If you do have a bad game can you really have a fresh start the next night?

What would happen to your friendship(s) if something went awry?

If someone gets sick or hurt is the whole crew done?

What about the issue of advancement? Do you take that into consideration? Is it a "as the crew goes" mentality? Do you fear that a partner(s) could hold you back because you're now viewed as a single crew? Are you trying to advance only as a crew?

If this is the best way, then why isn't it this way in College/NBA?

Nothing wrong with being comfortable, but that can also be a problem (not with the individual, but for the game). If you only work with the same person, you forget to do the little things that got you to where you are unless you take great strides to keep your edge. I am just saying I have seen officials that work with the same person so long, that they forget to keep up on mechanics or procedures because it is not in the way they have been doing things for years. And personally I liked working with the same people, but the reality is when I work post season and college games, I cannot choose who I work with at all. Working with the same person is nice on many levels, but the higher you go the less you have that privilege. And I also like working with different people because I tend to learn more from those different styles and personalities which I feel prepares you for more unusual situations. Not all things work for everyone equally.

Peace

Don't have any idea - but are you implying the College/NBA do it better?

College is a hybrid, actually. Many assignors, but you work with different guys all the time. We could do the same thing here, too, but the assignors want to assign as a pair/threesome so I'd still have to arrange a partner for each conference.

I don't worry about advancement. The playoffs here are assigned......well, the way they are assigned. I worry about the things I control.

My partner works college women's and I will work with more people this year as his schedule grows. I have no desire to work college basketball. I am a good HS official and I'm happy with that.

There have been the occasional strains on friendship, but I think it works better than working with a guy you can't stand and not saying anything post-game because you won't see the guy again for 2 seasons. It was far easier to subscribe to "get in, get done, get out" in that system than when you have 3 more games that week with the same guy.

What leagues/level/region would this be? I'm unfamiliar with any college assignor/league/system using packaged crews (not being derogatory, just couldn't find another way to put it :D )

Well, as this thread proves I guess better is in the eye of the beholder. However I do think that at these levels they would tend to do it the best way possible. Would you think that the NCAA/NBA leagues would assign games in a manner that are not in their best interests?

I would say the way they do things is the best way.

Peace

It's a hybrid in that officials work for multiple assignors. Nobody's exclusive (or I should say forced to be).

Watch it. I didn't vote for that screamer. Not even once.

JR......

The grass is greener theory is where I'm at. I don't have a crew and always work with someone new. The few times I've had the same partner/partners is like the first few months of dating.......it's all good.

I agree that you could become complacent and sloppy with same crew as it would be easier to slack off in various areas.
In the case of replacing a crew member, it would be like a divorce to tell an old partner you're ditching him for a "trophy ref".

I'll trust your judgement as you've had it both ways with partners. I'm still on that love boat cruise.