"Wisconsin Refs" - 3 Person Question

[Rich]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

Deb Hauser (WIAA) doesn't think we have enough quality 3-Person officials to work 3-person for the entire tournament...and she is right. She answered this question at a camp I was working at last summer.

She is right, but the state (IMO) has failed to push hard enough in the direction of 3-person officiating.

(1) Mandate 3-person for all varsity games

(Amazing how not a single varsity football game is worked 4-person, even when the schools involved pass 10 times between them the ENTIRE game.)

(2) Suggest a pay structure for 2-3 years where the officials have to take a 3-for-2 deal for the first 2 or so years and this gives the schools time to figure out how to pay the extra $1300 or so that it would take to cover 22 varsity games (11 boys, 11 girls).

(3) The conferences should simply say: "For the next 2 seasons, we're hiring 3 officials and we are paying $40 per. Either you work it or you don't. Please let us know where you've received state-approved 3-person training." If the officials aren't willing to do this, hire people who are. Deal with the pain of transition and acknowledge that it won't be seamless.

(4) Restructure the playoffs so that half the first round is played on Tuesday and half on Wednesday. Do the same with the second round. Problem eliminated. You do not need to have every girls' team in the state playing on Tuesday February 26.

It's easy to say "there aren't enough good officials." The hard thing is to think outside the box and fix the problem with the goal being 3-person in every varsity game in the state within 3 years.

(It'll never happen.)

And the state should support those who WANT to work 3-person. Last season I worked a boys varsity game with a guy who spent the entire time there complaining about 3-person. He rotated ONCE the entire game (which was one more time than the other guy, while I kept annoying them by rotating whenever the play dictated, sometimes multiple times in a trip). Kept saying how he can't wait until they go back to 2-man. Then I turn on the state tourney and he's working. Gotta love it.

[BearBoy]

You mean WISCONSIN doesn't have enough "good" officials to ref 3-person? What a sack of crap - How do they train officials? Has there been any proactivity by the state association? No college experienced officials to help advocate for 3-person at HS varsity level during the season. Has WIAA "dropped the ball" on this issue? Too bad for the kids!

Does the state association train their refs like some substitute phy. ed. teachers do, when they just "roll the ball out" and let the participants figure it out? Sounds pretty backwards to me! Too bad for the kids!

When does Wisconsin move into the 21st Century?

Originally Posted by RichMSN

She is right, but the state (IMO) has failed to push hard enough in the direction of 3-person officiating.

(1) Mandate 3-person for all varsity games

(Amazing how not a single varsity football game is worked 4-person, even when the schools involved pass 10 times between them the ENTIRE game.)

(2) Suggest a pay structure for 2-3 years where the officials have to take a 3-for-2 deal for the first 2 or so years and this gives the schools time to figure out how to pay the extra $1300 or so that it would take to cover 22 varsity games (11 boys, 11 girls).

(3) The conferences should simply say: "For the next 2 seasons, we're hiring 3 officials and we are paying $40 per. Either you work it or you don't. Please let us know where you've received state-approved 3-person training." If the officials aren't willing to do this, hire people who are. Deal with the pain of transition and acknowledge that it won't be seamless.

(4) Restructure the playoffs so that half the first round is played on Tuesday and half on Wednesday. Do the same with the second round. Problem eliminated. You do not need to have every girls' team in the state playing on Tuesday February 26.

It's easy to say "there aren't enough good officials." The hard thing is to think outside the box and fix the problem with the goal being 3-person in every varsity game in the state within 3 years.

(It'll never happen.)

And the state should support those who WANT to work 3-person. Last season I worked a boys varsity game with a guy who spent the entire time there complaining about 3-person. He rotated ONCE the entire game (which was one more time than the other guy, while I kept annoying them by rotating whenever the play dictated, sometimes multiple times in a trip). Kept saying how he can't wait until they go back to 2-man. Then I turn on the state tourney and he's working. Gotta love it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by BearBoy

You mean WISCONSIN doesn't have enough "good" officials to ref 3-person? What a sack of crap - How do they train officials? Has there been any proactivity by the state association? No college experienced officials to help advocate for 3-person at HS varsity level during the season. Has WIAA "dropped the ball" on this issue? Too bad for the kids!

Does the state association train their refs like some substitute phy. ed. teachers do, when they just "roll the ball out" and let the participants figure it out? Sounds pretty backwards to me! Too bad for the kids!

When does Wisconsin move into the 21st Century?

This is why I was licensed in Illinois and worked about a dozen games down there per season for 6 seasons. 3-person, 3-person pay, no big deal.

[Rich]

I found this old thread and I noticed a few things:

(1) I really miss Mick.

(2) Nothing has changed here. Not a thing.

And it's 3 years later. And the first 2 rounds are still 2-person. And some of the conferences that went 3-person have gone back to 2-person. And there's no real commitment to move the state towards 3-person officiating across the board.

I've heard an interesting proposal I'd get right behind. Right now, many conferences pay $120 for varsity officials and $80 for freshman and JV officials (2 per game). That's $280 per night, assuming one freshman team. Drop the pay for the varsity officials to $55 (that's $165 for a 3-person crew) and drop the freshman/JV pay from $40 to $30. It would cost the schools $5 more a night, TOTAL.

Before anyone thinks I'm against the FR/JV officials, let me point out that in *many* communities, the FR/JV officials do not join associations, do not attend camps, and do not have any desire to ever do more than work those preliminary games. In many cases, the officiating is beyond terrible and the only motivation for those guys is to get a paycheck.

For those who don't fit this bill, there will be many openings at the varsity level since every game will be played with 3 officials.

I'm sure I'll be back in 3 years pointing out that nothing has changed.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I'm sure I'll be back in 3 years pointing out that nothing has changed.

And that we still miss mick. Of course that'll be this time next year, and not 3 years from now.