When coaches run things

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

It sure would be horrible for somoene to have to put up with that crap; might make a person re-consider his desire to officiate.

Yeah, but you don't really, really think anything like that really ever happens, do you??? I mean, what kind of an assignor would that be?? And who would want to keep working for that assignor????

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Yeah, but you don't really, really think anything like that really ever happens, do you??? I mean, what kind of an assignor would that be?? And who would want to keep working for that assignor????

It's almost as if you two are having a conversation, except for the part that involves actually saying something intelligible.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by mbyron

It's almost as if you two are having a conversation, except for the part that involves actually saying something intelligible.

It's almost as if you could figure some things out, except for the part where you can't.

I work for an assignor who is very similar to the one described in the OP. This assignor accepts calls from coaches within minutes of the conclusion of a game, and then calls the officials shortly after - many times before we are even out of the parking lot. This assignor allows coaches to complain about things and then reschedule games to pacify the complaining coach. It is ridiculous, and has caused many of us to reconsider officiating at one time or another.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It's almost as if you could figure some things out, except for the part where you can't.

I work for an assignor who is very similar to the one described in the OP. This assignor accepts calls from coaches within minutes of the conclusion of a game, and then calls the officials shortly after - many times before we are even out of the parking lot. This assignor allows coaches to complain about things and then reschedule games to pacify the complaining coach. It is ridiculous, and has caused many of us to reconsider officiating at one time or another.

OK, well that certainly sounds sucky.

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It's almost as if you could figure some things out, except for the part where you can't.

I work for an assignor who is very similar to the one described in the OP. This assignor accepts calls from coaches within minutes of the conclusion of a game, and then calls the officials shortly after - many times before we are even out of the parking lot. This assignor allows coaches to complain about things and then reschedule games to pacify the complaining coach. It is ridiculous, and has caused many of us to reconsider officiating at one time or another.

Thank you for your honesty. The sad truth is this happens and it isn't about coaches liking and/or respecting officials. It is the way our society is going: the person who makes the most noise doesn't have to be right.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Thank you for your honesty. The sad truth is this happens and it isn't about coaches liking and/or respecting officials. It is the way our society is going: the person who makes the most noise doesn't have to be right.

It all comes down to who the assignor works for. In my case, the assignor works for the conferences, therefore has to keep the commissioner happy. The best way to do that is to make sure the AD's are not calling the commish. How to do that? Keep the coaches from complaining to their AD's...it's a ridiculous situation. It has nothing to do with liking or respecting - just manipulating.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It all comes down to who the assignor works for. In my case, the assignor works for the conferences, therefore has to keep the commissioner happy. The best way to do that is to make sure the AD's are not calling the commish. How to do that? Keep the coaches from complaining to their AD's...it's a ridiculous situation. It has nothing to do with liking or respecting - just manipulating.

Maybe, but if she had any fortitude, she'd take the call and blow it off. Sort of like the customer service rep I talked to last week.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Maybe, but if she had any fortitude, she'd take the call and blow it off. Sort of like the customer service rep I talked to last week.

Or else talk like the software reps: got a complaint about Snaqwells? "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It all comes down to who the assignor works for.

This is the point I was going to make. Rocky just beat me to it. Some areas have an assignor who is hired by the officials' association. For my college games (D2/D3/juco), the assignor is hired by an organization that negotiates between conferences and the officials' association. They're kind of an objective 3rd party. In those types of cases, the assignors aren't beholden to the coaches or schools that they assign for. If anything, they are more likely to take the official's side.

But some assignors are hired directly by the conference. This is how it works for my high school schedule. In that case, the assignor has to please the coaches to keep the job. If enough coaches complain to the commissioner about the assignor, s/he is out. So that assignor is under more pressure to take those phone calls from the irate coach right away, and maybe even to discipline officials over borderline incidents in order to keep the irate coach happy to hang on to the assigning job.

[refguy]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It's almost as if you could figure some things out, except for the part where you can't.

I work for an assignor who is very similar to the one described in the OP. This assignor accepts calls from coaches within minutes of the conclusion of a game, and then calls the officials shortly after - many times before we are even out of the parking lot. This assignor allows coaches to complain about things and then reschedule games to pacify the complaining coach. It is ridiculous, and has caused many of us to reconsider officiating at one time or another.

Assignors I work for have a policy of not accepting any coach calls until the day after a game. The coach gets a cooling off period and then can make a better determination if a call is warranted. If they still call, the 1st question the supervisor will ask is, "Did you watch the tape?" If the answer is no, click. We feel good about working for those who back us.
A while back I worked for a high school association which had a policy that allowed a school principal to buy officials off a game - the coach had not the authority to do so. IOW, the official scheduled for the game would be paid a full game fee by the school in question not to do the game. Of course the assignor would then switch that official to another site and he would get paid for that game plus the one he didn't do. Our assignor would then look at the rest of the schedule and if that official was not scheduled for that school anymore that season, he would schedule him there at least one or two more times. That way he would test the coach to see if it was a temporary thing. If they wanted to continue to pay the official for not working, great!!
There was a running joke amongst us to see who could get a coach to buy him off so we could get paid for 2 to work one.
Again, we felt good about working for those who back us.

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Yeah, but you don't really, really think anything like that really ever happens, do you??? I mean, what kind of an assignor would that be?? And who would want to keep working for that assignor????

That would be an assignor who is a D1 ref and may very well be working a game today.

It is no coincidence that I'm posting this hypothetical situation now.