Very cool and had to share
 

Just got done doing my last 3 games where I'm being evaluated for a varsity schedule. That was interesting, of course, but the games were for some sort of combine where teams from all over the country participate (LA, Illinois, Texas, etc.). The games were actually only so-so in terms of quality but the wattage of the colleges represented was huge. UConn, Tennessee, Georgia, and a large host of others (all women's games). That was a very neat experience. I'm not sure if that is normal in terms of the number of colleges turning out but I imagine others out there have done these types of tournaments and can chime in. Maybe I'll get jaded doing these but I hope not.

I got a chance to chat with a couple of the coaches and it was interesting to see who they were out there to see, their perspective on the games, and their brutal travel schedule.

Good for you. Glad that you enjoyed yourself. Hopefully, you learned a few things in the process, and best wishes with your evals.

The coaches aren't going to get much sympathy from the referees as the coaches receive many more dollars for what they do. It is true that the coaches do lots of travel in the summer during recruiting, but during the season they probably do less than most of the officials. I think that many officials would be happy to trade paychecks with them.

I hear you on that one, but I think these folks were assistants (at least the one from UConn, Sheah Ralph, was and I know the coach from Tennessee wasn't Pat Summit). Andy Landers was there from Georgia but he's local so I guess that makes sense. From what I understand the assistants don't make too much versus what head coaches pull in. Still, getting to do what you love for a living definitely has its perks even if you're not pulling in the big bucks yet.

Rufus, were you compensated for these games?

I think we will be, yes. I didn't really press it too much as I was treating it more as an evaluation for varsity than a "regular" game/payday.

If you received a good evaluation from a respected varsity official, then that is definitely a form of "compensation" IMO.