What you think of Bobby Knight's comments about officials?
 

Was watching interviews the other day and caught Bobby Knight's on ESPN, they were talking about the officials, surprise. He suggested that games would be officiated a lot better if our officials were more fresh for the games. He says some guys call 5 some 6 nights a week and are worn out by this and just barely make it through some games. He said that we should limit our college games to 2 maybe 3 at most a week to have better called games. What does everyone think about that? I know it makes a lot of sense in a way, but do we have enough officials to cover so many games if we limit them to just 3 a week? probably not possible.

Bobby Knight <strike>doesn't think his proposals through</strike> is an idiot.

Of course there are enough officials to do it. It would be one thing to do that many games in your own neck of the woods and be home every night. But these guys are flying somewhere new every day and then expecting to be fresh physically and mentally? It would be hard enough for a 30 something let alone the age a lot of these guys are. But everyone is an independent contractor and fill their calendars as they see fit. I guess the barometer is the observer's reports on their games.

I couldn't care less what Bobby Knight thinks, says or does when he's alone in the bathroom.

I will say that the fact that one D-1 official worked a game every single day from November 14th until December 22nd is absolutely ridiculous. The human body can only do so much. Perhaps that partially explains why he's out for the rest of the year with a fractured foot.

This may or not be true. I know that many times, they fly into a city and do two games there. For example, if you work the Big East and the Ivy League, you can fly into NYC and work St. John's one night and Columbia the next. That cuts down on the travel quite a bit. It's not always like that, and I know that you can find certain big dogs in a different town on many nights in a row. But it might not be as bad as you make it sound.

I think it's a great idea. The NCAA can hire the officials as employees, pay them $100k+ per year, with health insurance and retirement benefits. Then they can send them where they want as often (or not) as they want.

Oh, the NCAA isn't willing to spend that kind of money on officiating? What a shock!! That means that the officials are still independent contractors and can work as many games as assignors will offer them.

Officials are not responsible for assigning, supervisors and coaches often are. The supervisors might assign the games, but the coaches throw a fit if they see someone they do not like or that they feel is not "good enough." If you want to see more officials, then stop getting upset when you see a newer official or someone that you do not know very well. Case in point the game Welmer got hurt, it was clear that the Coach Izzo and Coach Self did not get on the senior of the officials about much of anything. If you do not give newer guys a chance, you will get the same officials over and over again. You are not giving the supervisors any incentive to use other officials.

Peace

Great post. You could not have made a better post that makes sense. :)

The thing is when Knight was coaching, there would be officials that work 5-6 games a week work his games. At that time he could stop, it a least for himself, and his team, by tell the assignor what he wanted. And for some reason he did not stop it.

Ah, but Bobby wouldn't have wanted it that way. He would have wanted Welmer, Higgins, Hightower, et al to be on his games and not the other less important games.

Exactly!

there really seems to be the same officials out there who do the games over and over again. Get some new blood in and yes there should be a limit of the number of games. 4 a week should be max.



----but yeah Knight is an idiot. I actually like Lavin better than him on tv.

Then you are going to have to hire officials and make them employees (Heath Insurance other benefits) which would cost the schools much more money than it does now. I personally do not care either way other than the new blood part, but then that means they would have to commit more to a larger staff. I do not see that happening.

Peace

Agree completely. The only time this becomes an issue is when there is a controversial call and the coaches/media then complain about the number of games an official is working.

Remember Jim Bain in the 90's working two conference finals in one day (he flew his own private plane to the 2nd game) and only because he made a controversial game deciding call in the 2nd game was there an issue with it.

Why is it so different for college officials? Don't NBA officials work 5-6 nights a week? Most people work 5 days a week. I don't see the point.

How about a sliding scale based upon age? (That ought to stir the pot. http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...il-naughty.gif )

Official's age: Max number of games per week:
20s 5
30s 4
40s 3
50s 2
60s 1

I don't think so. I think NBA officials generally work 2 to 3 nights per week. There are 30 teams, I think. So there is a maximum of 15 games in one night. That's 45 officials, meaning that at least 18 officials are off on any given night.

They cannot work more than 3 a week. As you stated, fewer teams and they are employees of the league, unlike NCAA Officials that are independent contractors. The NBA pays benefits and pays for travel expenses all travel expenses. Is the NCAA willing to do such a thing?

Peace

No, they do not. The average NBA official works 50+ games a year.

The NCAA does not have to make officials employees to limit the number of games they work. If they decide that's what they want to do, all they have to do is tell the supervisors, "No official may be assigned more than 4 times a week." They are independent contractors which means you do not have to assign them if you do not want to, or if you're told not to.

In a perfect world that might work but we don't live in one.

Let's say Mr. "Big-Time" referee works 3 conferences Pac-10, Mtn West/WAC, Big 12. Pac-10 assignor gives the referee 2 games in one week, Mtn West/WAC assignor gives the referee another 3 games that week as well, and Big 12 assignor gives the referee 1 game that week. According to your plan, the assignor did not give more than 4 games to that referee.

The problem is that assignors only care about the conference they assign and they want the best officials on their games; assignors don't worry about what the other assignors give the same referee as long as that referee can work the game for the assignor or not.

If the games are all at the same level that might be easier to do. The problem is that there might be people that would be willing to work (and already work) other levels. So you might prevent be able to control that at one level, it might be harder to do it at another level. And if you are an independent contractor, you can work when you want and who you work for, or the people making the limitations might have some legal issues to fight.

Most supervisors do not assign each official that many days in a week in the first place. Unless you work for Dale Kelley, chances are the officials that work a lot of games work for multiple people at multiple times. They would all have to get together and regulate such a thing and once again put themselves in a kind of legal quandary that took place with an organization in my area. There was a local association that tried to tell people who to work for and when to work for them and ended up owing the government a lot of money because they violated some independent contractor laws without compensation to the membership.

Peace

If all the assignors use the same scheduling service like Arbiter they could see were "Mr. Big Time " is working and if he already four games that week. and the NCAA can control it through Divisions I, II and III. I am not sure if they can for NAIA and Junior College.

And if the supervisor disregards that directive?

I have been asked about this as well and I have been trying to catch his show. Seems to me he has become the noted authority on what we are doing or not doing....

As others have stated they average about 3 games a week. Plus they take a 2-week vacation during the season.

Here's an actual schedule this season for an official:
2009-01-26 25 0 0 Cal State Bakersfield 59 Oregon State 65 Corvallis OR
2009-01-24 33 0 0 Baylor 76 Oklahoma 95 Norman OK
2009-01-22 28 0 0 Oregon State 69 California 65 Berkeley CA
2009-01-21 37 0 0 Tulsa 75 Tulane 76 New Orleans LA
2009-01-20 38 0 0 Creighton 79 Evansville 57 Evansville IN
2009-01-17 33 2 0 Wyoming 66 Unlv 83 Las Vegas NV
2009-01-15 22 1 0 Fresno State 61 Utah State 65 Logan UT
2009-01-14 37 0 0 Southern Illinois 72 Creighton 73 Omaha NE
2009-01-13 40 0 0 Northern Iowa 58 Evansville 47 Evansville IN
2009-01-12 44 1 0 Loyola La 56 New Orleans 77 New Orleans LA
2009-01-11 32 0 0 Ucla 64 Usc 60 Los Angeles CA
2009-01-10 34 0 0 Texas El Paso 74 Southern Methodist 68 Dallas TX
2009-01-08 44 0 0 Nevada 79 New Mexico State 71 Las Cruces NM
2009-01-07 31 0 0 Southern Illinois 74 Wichita State 62 Wichita KS
2009-01-06 45 1 0 Texas El Paso 73 New Mexico 60 Albuquerque NM
2009-01-05 37 1 0 Idaho 61 Utah State 70 Logan UT
2009-01-04 43 0 0 Ucla 83 Oregon 74 Eugene OR
2009-01-03 37 2 0 Washington 68 Washington State 48 Pullman WA
2009-01-02 26 0 0 Arizona 55 California 69 Berkeley CA
2009-01-01 43 0 0 Stephen F Austin 55 Texas Tech 69 Lubbock TX
2008-12-31 43 0 0 Gonzaga 65 Utah 66 Salt Lake City UT
2008-12-30 33 0 0 Brigham Young 74 Tulsa 68 Tulsa OK
2008-12-29 43 0 0 Long Beach State 74 Oregon 86 Eugene OR
2008-12-28 37 0 0 Texas Tech 66 Stanford 111 Stanford CA
2008-12-27 39 1 0 Idaho State 63 Nevada 68 Reno NV
2008-12-23 42 0 0 New Mexico State 62 New Mexico 76 Albuquerque NM
2008-12-22 45 0 0 Oklahoma 70 Rice 58 Houston TX
2008-12-21 15 0 0 Washington State 55 Idaho 41 Moscow ID
2008-12-20 32 0 0 Arizona 64 Unlv 79 Las Vegas NV
2008-12-19 31 1 0 Prairie View Am 47 Colorado 72 Boulder CO
2008-12-18 31 0 0 Mcneese State 50 Southern Miss 69 Hattiesburg MS
2008-12-17 46 0 0 Texas Tech 78 Texas El Paso 96 El Paso TX
2008-12-16 34 0 0 Western State 73 Wyoming 100 Laramie WY
2008-12-15 40 0 0 Pepperdine 77 Usc 91 Los Angeles CA
2008-12-14 33 0 0 Stanford 74 Colorado State 63 Fort Collins CO
2008-12-13 35 1 0 Utah 52 Oklahoma 70 Norman OK
2008-12-11 42 0 0 Southern Miss 55 Kansas State 74 Kansas City
2008-12-10 45 0 0 Missouri State 67 Tulsa 70 Tulsa OK
2008-12-09 31 0 0 Drake 66 Iowa State 63 Ames IA
2008-12-08 23 0 0 Wichita State 48 Texas Christian 57 Fort Worth TX
2008-12-07 36 0 0 Cal State Northridge 67 Ucla 85 Los Angeles CA
2008-12-06 40 0 0 Baylor 58 Washington State 52 Pullman WA
2008-12-05 40 0 0 Texas Aamp M International 52 Southern Methodist 92 Dallas TX
2008-12-04 37 0 0 Usc 72 Oklahoma 73 Norman OK
2008-12-03 38 0 0 Wyoming 85 Boise State 86 Boise ID
2008-12-02 40 0 0 South Alabama 76 Southern Miss 73 Hattiesburg MS
2008-12-01 45 1 0 Kent State 60 Kansas 87 Lawrence KS
2008-11-30 42 0 0 Providence 75 Saint Marys 81 Anaheim CA
2008-11-29 54 0 0 Florida State 80 California 77 Las Vegas NV
2008-11-28 37 0 0 California 73 Unlv 55 Las Vegas NV
2008-11-27 43 0 0 Arizona State 84 Charlotte 56 Anaheim CA
2008-11-26 54 0 0 Texas State 96 Wyoming 97 Laramie WY
2008-11-25 37 0 0 Southeastern Louisiana 63 Texas Tech 74 Lubbock TX
2008-11-24 51 0 0 Unlv 80 Texas El Paso 67 El Paso TX
2008-11-23 31 0 0 Pepperdine 40 Arizona State 61 Tempe AZ
2008-11-22 32 0 0 Oregon State 71 Nevada 79 Reno NV
2008-11-21 23 0 0 Sacramento State 55 Washington State 76 Pullman WA
2008-11-20 40 0 0 Tulsa 73 Oklahoma State 91 Stillwater OK
2008-11-19 47 0 0 Nebraska 62 Texas Christian 50 Fort Worth TX
2008-11-18 36 0 0 Arizona State 59 San Diego State 52 San Diego CA
2008-11-17 28 0 0 Utah State 61 Uc Santa Barbara 59 Santa Barbara CA
2008-11-16 44 0 0 New Mexico 75 Creighton 82 Omaha NE
2008-11-15 39 0 0 Portland State 78 Rice 74 Houston TX
2008-11-14 43 0 0 Texas Southern 63 Texas El Paso 69 El Paso TX

Can he seriously be at his best all those nights in a row?

Absolutely not. But that's not really the question. The question is, "Do coaches want and accept him, even knowing that he might be tired?" The answer is obviously "YES". He's probably better when he's tired than I am when I'm fresh.

If people want to pay him for his services, then he should be allowed to accept the assignments.

Ah, come on Scrappy. It's so much easier to be jealous and whiny. You're just making sense here.