I'm glad coaches have ZERO input into our high school evaluations.

Maybe a bit harsh but +1. There is a much better way to handle this sitch, but without context you do seem a bit confrontational. Remember, most coaches just want to be heard.. usually a few conversational words can diffuse the situation. Just saying..

Not directly, but rest assured they have indirect input, particularly for post-season.

How do you have any idea how such things operate here in the Old Dominion?
I think you are improperly projecting from the Commonwealth of PA into the Commonwealth of VA. Do you reach that far in your games?

Not even remotely in my area.....none at all.....zip, nada......

This is my 11th year. I have been doing Varsity games since year 3. I have been doing play off games since year 3 and I have done post season tournaments.

That coach was either a middle school coach or a freshman coach, he was constantly trying to tell me what I was doing wrong


" that's a reach"

"He walked"

"It's over the back"

I got tired of it.

We had a conversation and he was fine after that.

On the varsity level, I have conversations with coaches as needed but they are rare.

I had one the other night where from 60 feet away the coach knew it was a foul and I am 5 feet from the play.

I explained that there was no way he could see a foul from where he was, when I am 5 feet from the play and I didn't see a foul.

Coach said " that's the problem, you didn't see the foul"

How can you win? The player going to the basket clearly tried to avoid the contact to get his shot off and did.

As for my coaches rating, I believe that the problem is, many of our officials are very friendly with the coaches. I am not. I don't go to the bars after a game and I rarely ever see a coach in public. Many of our officials and coaches do more than 1 sport. I do not.

- Answer questions in 10 words or less and then get away from the coach. And there's nothing the matter with a coach having the last word as you're walking away as long as the last words aren't profane, derogatory, etc.
- don't initiate conversations unless you have information to pass
- warn once, not 3 times.
- follow up on all warning
- be approachable but distant at the same time

Works for me. Mileage may vary.

+1

This part sounds paradoxical. Another way to think about it: be approachable without encouraging the approach.

Same here. There is a absolutely no evaluation tool available for high school coaches for whom we officiate (I was going to say service but I know where that would have led :eek: ). Of coures come play-off time the assignor may take into account some personality differences in making assignments, but after the 1st round even that has to go out the window.

Not so here. Coaches have to rate (Not really evaluate) every official in every varsity contest, no exceptions. They can be banned from postseason play if they don't rate their officials. These ratings factor into postseason assignments (sectionals/quarterfinals/championships). For district play, all officials that want to work in the postseason basically just sign up. The host schools all hold a "draft" to pick their officials for their district. I'm not sure how much input the coach of each team gets though.

Here's a typical...and true... story on that, Newz......

The convenor of one high school league we service (:D ) asked me if their coaches could have input as to whom I assigned in their playoffs. I said "sure, get your coaches together and give me a list of people that you all agree you'd like to see." Note the key word was "agree". Well, I'm still waiting. And I knew I would be. The coaches couldn't agree on a list because of their individual likes, dislikes and biases. They all want that special official that will give them what they consider to be a fair share of the calls, which means that every close call has to go their way. One coach had a certain official rated #1; another coach didn't even have that official on his list. And they're all afraid that they'll get somebody who they didn't want but the other coaches did. That was the last I heard of that one.

How about instead of saying this, you say this? That seems like a much more reasonable answer that would (possibly) satisfy the coach.

Same here. ZERO input on our assignments.

With all due respect, bull$hit. You have no way of knowing how assignments, whether regular season or post season, are handled everywhere.

I can tell you for sure that they have no input whatsoever here. The assignor books conference tourneys and Sectionals before teams are even seeded. He also selects Regional and State crews and submits them to the state association. Further, local crews only work the first two rounds of the playoffs. Teams see crews from neutral associations for the last 4 rounds.

So while they may have input where you live, that doesn't mean it works that way everywhere.

Two sides to every story...
 

I hope your association requires you to make a report on Ts because if they're going to let coaches rate officials (no chance of any bias here), they need to let officials be on record with their side of the story.

That sounds great! But alas, no, we do not report a single T...we do, however report ejections to the state (MHSAA - Michigan).

Long story short, the league that this guy was in, I'll never get varsity. Reference this thread: http://forum.officiating.com/basketb...ck-game-3.html for the entire story. I work with two other assignors that give me varsity games and know me and have worked with me. :)