I have had my entire schedule since early November. This is standard for our association annually. So far this is the only assignor I have so an availability schedule is not an issue.

Rich, I hope it's close to your home: the forecast in WI is terrible for that day! :eek:

I was at a school earlier this season and had the following story related to me:

Volleyball official didn't show for a match contracted 2 years earlier. AD was annoyed and started calling other schools to let them know of the official's unreliability. One caller knew the guy and said, "Um, you know he's dead, right?"

I figure between football, basketball, and baseball if I should happen to die while still an active official, I'll have about 90 dates still on the calendar. For football I have 5 varsity dates on the books for 2011 (three conferences just tell me to hold certain weeks and I have commitments from them for 3 years in advance that renew each year unless I hear from them).

My biggest current problem is my business travel. I take the games and then just have to find replacements when I'm asked to travel on business. 3 games from the 16th to the 24th just replaced as I'm going to Europe. Some commissioners do not like that and I pretty much lost a conference cause I had to turn back about half of my conference dates I had received 2 years earlier. But like I told the commissioner, when my officiating pays my mortgage, I can make it the top priority -- until then, it's gotta be the day job. Most assignors understand this.

I have approximately 25 varsity dates for next year and just received 6 for 2011 this past weekend. My varsity schedule is completely set for next year by the end of March with the exception of make-up dates and tournament assignments. Lower level games are usually set by October.

I've noticed that when ADs have to schedule the officials, they go way in advance (years). When they have assigners, the schedules are typically done much closer to game day (within a month or two).

Wow...Very interesting thread. We have our schedule set before the season starts and beyond. I'm not extremely established with the assignors in basketball so I'm going year-to-year. However, in baseball I'm a year ahead in scheduling. I don't know if I could go week-by-week for scheduling, shew

-Josh

the ones I got over weekend for 2011 came from assigners who in our case are called conference commissioners.

It's the opposite here. Of course, each conference has a commissioner that assigns and competes with the other commissioners in getting officials lined up. So it's like an AD who hires for 6-12 schools. :D

Personally, I like the system. I moved here, made a lot of calls, sent a lot of letters and emails, and built up a full schedule (35+ varsity games) within a year. I worked 18 varsity games my first season here having only started looking for games in August (and remember, most schedules are done 1-2 years out). Other officials have been here 7 years or more and grumble about not being able to land varsity dates. I always wonder if they put the time and effort in that I do.

Having one assignor? Nah. I remember being in that situation and getting 2 games a week. Sometimes 1, as the assignor had to spread out the schedule across the whole group of officials. So I'd either have to work middle school or freshman or not work (and actually, varsity officials weren't allowed to work down, so it was really "not work" unless the guy was really in a bind). Here I can work as much or as little as I want and I control (to a certain extent) how much I work, how far I drive, etc. (when I complain about the length of a drive, it's self-inflicted). And if one assignor decides not to use me (it's happened) I can still work a full schedule at the level I want to work. And I can drop a conference where the coaches are out of control (it's happened).

The land of OZ
 

In the KC area of KS:

Two of three college leagues use Arbiter and one uses their own system. I use the same calendar for both Arbiter. They assign in August/September after the camps.

1 HS Commissioner(29 schools, B&G) uses manual system and schedules for the season in November. 1 HS(5 schools, B&G) commissioner uses ISocs and schedules for the season in August. 1 HS commissioner(13 schools, B&G & competitive leagues, tournaments etc.) uses Arbiter. I use the same calendar for the college games.

Coordinating my business calendar, personal calendar, 3 arbiters, 1 isocs, 1 homegrown and 1 manual system are a real challenge. Personal opinion is same as one above on arbiter vs. the rest. Arbiter is much better by a wide margin. I call isocs "I S&cks" No emails about games can not block enough dates to handle all the games I work etc.

I have work in multiple states and areas, IN, IL(twice), KY, CT, MO, KS and they are all different. I have found that the larger the supply of referees the shorter the schedule time is unless the AD is scheduling. AD's all schedule way out. I have also found that the more commishes that you work for the more disorder there is in the systems. You can never keep them all happy. Suburban Chicago was by far the hardest area to work due to number of commishes, traffic and real job.

I know I have a game tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. Our assignor assigns week by week which has its advantages and disadvantages. I know I won't to turn back assignments very often. But it would also be nice to know my schedule ahead of time. My college schedule is worked ahead of time but I only do about a dozen college games per year.

As a side note, our high school assignor is very old school. He does not own a computer nor a cell phone. He assigns for approximately 55 officials. You can imagine the confusion during an emergency. You have to hope he's home when you call.

I'll second that.................no comparison

For exactly the reasons you listed, why is there a need to schedule two years in advance? I've never understood this.

Compared to other regions, I feel blessed! I work in 12 HS leagues for 5 different assignors. We have an officials varsity "draw" in October & everyone has their schedule for the entire season by early November.

Post-season assignments are the only thing we have to wait on. I couldn't imagine getting games on a weekly basis.

I fall somewhere in here.

First, I block my son's HS Schedule. Then one Assignor has given me all my weekday/weekend morning games for the season (spreadsheet) and another, has given me my weekend afternoon games for the season (also spreadsheet). League playoffs/All-Star games are always a joy in March.

These three schedule are applied to my MS Office and Arbiter calendars (synched with my blackberry). Then My HS Assignor gets what's remaining and schedules these games about a week out (usually three dates per week).

Like many, I certainly am on the go and do a lot of juggling this time of yr and actually can't wait until my son's out of HS (one less variable).

PS - My wife thinks I'm an idiot! :o Until of course those end of season checks start rolling in and she helps me decide what to do with OUR money!!

It's what the commissioners want to do. And they like to lock down people in advance. Replacing a handful of people is easier than looking to fill hundreds of slots, I'd suppose.