Ref60 : 60s of Officiating : Mickey Crowley on Pressure (Moving from HS to College)
 

Home Page : 60 Seconds on Officiating

Latest Article : 60 Seconds on Officiating: Mickey Crowley on Pressure

Video : YouTube - 1989 NCAA Basketball Championship

"It's Better a Year Too Late, Than a Year Too Early"

Good video to listen too, especially for officials that want to move up.

A very interesting listen...I was particularly struck by the end, where he states that "if you get knocked down, you won't come back up" or words to that effect..

I suppose I get his meaning, but what exactly is the process in moving up from High School to college? Does "knocked down" mean you screwed up, or got a lousy evaluation? What are the parameters for moving up or down above the HS level? What does "knocked down" mean?

Z

It means if you are not ready, and stand out in your first games as being weak or poor, you'll be replaced by another prospect the next year.

Lots of officials that advance to higher levels don't stay more than a year or two because they get dropped. Supervisors, like all managers, sometmies make mistakes in hiring/assigning, and they don't want the abuse from coaches about bad new officials. It kills their credibility. Advancing quickly can be a blessing if you take advantage of iot, or a curse if you cannot. Just like any other job.

I have known a few young officials who have rocketed to the top and got picked up for college ball early in their careers... before they were ready. They didn't last and they never got another chance, even many years later.

"The Peter Principle"
 

"The Peter Principle" seems to especially apply here. Cf. book by the same name, quite popular in business circles. The premise of the principle is this: often an individual rises to his own level of incompetence. When rising in rank becomes the chief goal, in spite of lack of corresponding competence, an individual is soon revealed as incompetent at that level.
Anybody else read it and see its application to this topic?

Not quite the Peter principle, which states that in a bureaucracy individuals rise to their level of incompetence and remain there. The point of this thread is that individuals who move up too fast blow their shot because they're released after a year or two.