John Clougherty says it....

[Adam]

Exactly. If he really wanted to, he could. What he really means is, "I'm not willing to take the steps to enforce it with my league." He even said as much, "I have an option not to assign them ACC games."

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Exactly. If he really wanted to, he could. What he really means is, "I'm not willing to take the steps to enforce it with my league." He even said as much, "I have an option not to assign them ACC games."

And he's not willing to take those steps because he knows he's going to lose some of the officials over it, and those are the officials that the coaches and the conference are most comfortable with.

While I agree he could take steps to make this happen - and I also agree there are more officials who can work that level than get to - I don't envy his situation.

[jeffpea]

fellas...this is the "which comes first? the chicken or the egg" debate....

it will all be solved by the NCAA and changes that will be made to regionalize the officiating assignment process. probably something like - each region has an assignor and you can only work games at schools located in your region (where you live); that way one assignor can control how many games you work (eliminate "tired" officials), where you work (cut down on travel expenses paid by schools), and what schools you work at (regardless of conference affiliation).

probably several years away, but a strong possibility of happening....

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by jeffpea

fellas...this is the "which comes first? the chicken or the egg" debate....

it will all be solved by the NCAA and changes that will be made to regionalize the officiating assignment process. probably something like - each region has an assignor and you can only work games at schools located in your region (where you live); that way one assignor can control how many games you work (eliminate "tired" officials), where you work (cut down on travel expenses paid by schools), and what schools you work at (regardless of conference affiliation).

probably several years away, but a strong possibility of happening....

Don't like that proposal.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Don't like that proposal.

Me neither. I don't think jeff has thought through all the ramifications.

edit: unless he's joking.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Me neither. I don't think jeff has thought through all the ramifications.

This is not Jeff's idea. This is actually an idea that John Adams has thrown out there and it already done with the football side. And honestly this is largely done at the D1 Women's side as there is really one person that assigns several regions and conferences. The ramifications are only bad if the conferences only want to see the same officials all the time. Other than that this is probably a good idea and will give more guys a shot to work many conferences and better games. You cannot tell me that the guys that work most of the top games are the only ones qualified to be on the floor.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is not Jeff's idea. This is actually an idea that John Adams has thrown out there and it already done with the football side. And honestly this is largely done at the D1 Women's side as there is really one person that assigns several regions and conferences. The ramifications are only bad if the conferences only want to see the same officials all the time. Other than that this is probably a good idea and will give more guys a shot to work many conferences and better games. You cannot tell me that the guys that work most of the top games are the only ones qualified to be on the floor.

Peace

I think all it will do is that instead of "those" guys working all over the map, they will get all the games in their region and travel less.

I like the idea that though one supervisor might not like me, the next one will.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is not Jeff's idea. This is actually an idea that John Adams has thrown out there and it already done with the football side. And honestly this is largely done at the D1 Women's side as there is really one person that assigns several regions and conferences. The ramifications are only bad if the conferences only want to see the same officials all the time. Other than that this is probably a good idea and will give more guys a shot to work many conferences and better games. You cannot tell me that the guys that work most of the top games are the only ones qualified to be on the floor.

Peace

I would amend my response to say if it's only done at the D1 level, it wouldn't be so bad.

I guess I don't see that it's such a big problem (tired officials) that it requires such a top-down approach. If Adams can get the important people to buy into this plan, he wins.

My instincts are more laissez faire, so my reaction to this is going to be negative. It would never really affect me, though, either way, as I doubt I'll be working D-1 at any point.

[tballump]

"I wouldn’t even think about telling my top guys, who work multiple leagues, that they can’t do that. I have an option not to assign them ACC games. But once I assign them my ACC games, they have the right to go anywhere they want to referee after they get my games. Their commitment to me is to take my games first. They can then take those and go wherever they want. They’re independent contractors; I can’t tell them not to".

Maybe??, something similar happened to Mr. Clougherty during his career which he did not appreciate. Therefor he would not be inclined to do something to his staff that he did not appreciate being done to him years ago.

[M&M Guy]

Since the NCAA is nothing more than an association of member schools, everything the NCAA does is based on what the member schools want it to do. I was under the impression the NCAA either does not, or cannot, control what happens during regular season athletic contests, other than specific issues like eligibility and recruiting rules. All the other issues are handled at the school and conference level. The NCAA does however control their "championships", or the NCAA post-season. If the schools want the NCAA to take over the officiating scheduling, they would vote to have it done.

The other issue that isn't mentioned much is the fact that schools, conferences, and the NCAA have to be careful how much control they try to exert over officials. If they put too many conditions on them, officials might then be considered "employees" by federal labor and tax standards, and then would be subjected to a whole other set of rules and regulations, such as federal and state tax withholding, FICA, unemployment insurance, overtime (no, Mark, not that overtime...) rules, and so on. And, since the NCAA will have more expenses based on officials being employees, the overall amount paid to officials will be less than if they treated them as independent contractors.

[JRutledge]

I agree, but they still could set some standards that make it an option for those to agree to those conditions. I do not think you would in principle violate independent contractor laws if you required some things while taking an assignment. They already do this now, but it is not about where you work and when you work. But they do say what you wear, what mechanics you use and make decisions based on that. I am certainly not a lawyer, but what is asked of them now could be seen the same way if someone wanted to challenge that in court. Something tells me that would be a very difficult case to fight.

Peace

[Adam]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I agree, but they still could set some standards that make it an option for those to agree to those conditions. I do not think you would in principle violate independent contractor laws if you required some things while taking an assignment. They already do this now, but it is not about where you work and when you work. But they do say what you wear, what mechanics you use and make decisions based on that. I am certainly not a lawyer, but what is asked of them now could be seen the same way if someone wanted to challenge that in court. Something tells me that would be a very difficult case to fight.

Peace

I think if an organization like the NCAA were to make these decisions from the top, telling conferences whom they could hire (jeffpea's suggestion would include that) and telling officials for whom they could work, they'd be pushing the envelope a bit. I'm not labor lawyer either, so I couldn't say for sure.