Assignors and Assignments
 

Just curious……

Earlier in one of the threads we were discussing upcoming games – Jrut said he can look forward to: “Only 3 days off this year.”

My question(s) are these – How far out do you know your schedule? Do you Sr. V refs know your entire year’s schedule already (minus possible post season)? Do you V refs who only work a V schedule actually have less games than those of us who work lower levels as most V games are the same days (i.e. – Tuesdays and Friday’s here). When you use Arbiter (or another online program) do you have multiple Assignors look at one calendar or do use multiple calendars?

Reason for asking is – I ref in three leagues (2 Rec and one HS) and it’s tough to block my calendar and hold dates for my HS schedule. My HS Assignor schedules my games about a week out (wish it was further out, but understand). Is that normal for others? While I want to work as many games as possible at the HS level, I don’t want to miss opportunities by holding dates open and missing dates.

All that being said, my Association is bringing me along slowly but surely (I’m not in SoCal you know) and am I am really happy with what I’ve seen of my schedule so far. I have a full plate and love it!

I know this is a local thing, just curious how it works in your area. Thanks in advance.

Mine is being done about a month at a time. January's came out a few days before Christmas.

My assignor for HS does a few games right away for his Varsity refs with less experience (or less reputation). He then fills out the rest of the varsity schedule by mid December. Subvarsity is similar, with balance of schedule not completed till end of December, begining of January. This assignor only assigns for the high schools, not many middle school games.

The assignors for weekend ball typically don't know how many games they will be scheduling for until about 10 days beforehand. So I don't get those games till the week before.

out in wyoming
 

We have guys that know most of their schedule for 09-10 already...and our association schedules the entire season that we are responsible for about a month before the season starts

it depends on the assignor and the competition for games. In baseball they assigned last season all at one time because the little league assignor would pick up officials if they didn't.

basketball does not have competition so they assign the games twice. Up to jan 1 and the rest of the season.

In volleyball, the schedule was assigned a couple of weeks at a time.

there is no right or wrong

I have about 10 or 15 games for next year right now. I will get the majority of my high school schedule done by March. I will not find out my college schedule (which could change everything) until after the summer.

By season time, I know my entire high school schedule (where I am going and when I am working) unless there is a change in the game on the school's part.

I only accept varsity games before the season and I might pick up a game or two at the lower level. But I do not get asked to work lower level games anymore unless there is a special rivalry that the assignor might not have someone else available. Usually I am asked to evaluate officials for associations and assignors.

This has become a recent phenomenon in my area. Almost every assignor uses the Assign by Net or Arbiter. Now every college assignor except for one uses an online site for assigning. And with both Arbiter and Assign By Net, there is access from others to see all your sites. I am not happy about that, but that is a conversation for another day.

Peace

I had my schedule (varsity) for the season in the fall....which is typical in my area. Some assignors will guarantee dates, but do not assign the specific games until December. I also get additional games..usually non-league games or schedule changes...during the season, sometimes on just one or two days notice.

The Land Of Steady Habits ...
 

Here in my little corner of Connecticut, our local board assigner uses the Arbiter. We get almost all of our regular season high school games (V, JV, F), as well as many middle school games, assigned to us around Thanksgiving, including dates, sites, schools, times, gender, level, R or U, and partners. Snow postponements, a few schedule changes made by the schools, especially around midyear exam times, and turnbacks (injury, illness, family, business) may change our schedule a little during the season. Post season league, and conference, tournament assignments are made at the end of the regular season. State tournament assignments are not made by our local board assigner, but by the state tournament assigner, with input from, get ready for this, here it comes, the coaches, although to be honest with all of you, the coaches do an excellent job of selecting what we officials consider to be our best officials. Really.

We get our varsity schedule the week of Thanksgiving for the upcoming season. Sometimes there will be changes, but they usually are minor ones. And the weather can affect things as well. You may find that rec league will be less desireable as time moves forward and then you will not need to worry about blocked dates. Or you could simply do those games on a day when you know there will be no HS games. But I like Sundays off myself.

In my area of Washington State, our HS assignor is generally scheduling 3 weeks to a month out.

I have a game on February 8, 2011. Yes, I know that's 25 months from now.

I Guess We Have It Good Here
 

I guess I just sensed an enhanced measure of gratitude for our assignors around here.
One assignor for girls, one for boys; both use Assign by Web (tough for us because we need to keep up two availability calendars; hope they can harmonize them into one next year).
For those whose availability calendars are up-to-date, our assignments for the season, middle school through varsity, is pretty much set earlier than most--usually by mid-late August. More assignments seem to trickle in in September and October as some officials turn games back or don't bother to accept them after a period of time.
Assignors from the surrounding areas follow the same timetable.

We get our schedule for the entire year (for HS), with exceptions, in mid-October, about 2 weeks before scrimmages start. College schedules, for those that work that around here (at least small college and lower level D1 conferences) come out about a week or so later.

The exceptions include games that are added, reassignments due to turn backs, and many tournament games. I think I got all my tournament assignments after the season started but unlike previous years haven't had many additions yet. I have given a few games back.

Rut: since you use both Arbiter and ABW, can you compare the two?

The Arbiter is much better. I can be assigned two games on the same day. I can list one availability calendar for one person and another calendar for different person.

I can also cross out schools on the Arbiter and make it clear on certain days I cannot travel a certain distance. ABW.net is just garbage and if someone in my area was not trying to sell the program people might use the Arbiter. And there are so many problems with emails and stuff that I get from ABW it is annoying.

Do not get me wrong, both are decent programs that you can get games online much easier. But I cannot stand the problems ABW have caused and how it is used. I am probably more disappointed about how it is used, but the Arbiter has much more flexibility.

Peace

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.

You all don't get paid until after the season?

In my case, that is correct.

My Rec leagues pay me after the winter season, after tournmanet time, and after the spring and summer seasons. My HS league pays me one big check at the end of the winter season.

Gotta collect that interest...

A a few of my customers have come from ABW and Arbiter. I've heard nothing be complaints about ABW. Less so about Arbiter but those that have used both tend to prefer RefTown.