Mixed Crews

Blackhawk357 · #1 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 07:03pm

I have always enjoyed meeting, and working with new people. I am headed to the State 'B' (equivalent to 2A most places) Girls championship tournament tomorrow, and have not even seen 4 of the other 5 officials I work with. I have all the confidence in the world that everyone there will be competent, but the importance of the pre-game has never been greater.

How do other state offices assign playoffs?
Mixed Crews.
Partners advance.
or by some other means.

Blackhawk

zebraman · #2 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 08:30pm

I will only know one other official (of the 16) at state tourney I'm going to.

Each local association in the state gets to send a/some official(s) to the tournament based on their number's enrollment (of state registered officials).

They match us up for our first couple of games with a draw from a hat and then the evaluators decide who gets the weekend games.

Z

Mark Padgett · #3 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 08:49pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Blackhawk357
I am headed to the State 'B' (equivalent to 2A most places) Girls championship tournament tomorrow, and have not even seen 4 of the other 5 officials I work with.
Blackhawk

Wow! You guys work six-man crews! I bet you see everything.

What are the positions called - lead, trail, center, linesman, side judge and back judge?

Blackhawk357 · #4 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 08:57pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
Wow! You guys work six-man crews! I bet you see everything.

What are the positions called - lead, trail, center, linesman, side judge and back judge?

Ya, and half of us wear white knickers.
Really makes me wonder what zebraman's 16 man crew looks like.

zebraman · #5 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 08:58pm

The rotation in 6-person officiating is confusing. It looks like musical chairs.

With the 16-person crew, you don't ever have to move. It's kind of like playing a real stagnant zone defense. The trouble is when the coach starts whining and 15 refs say, "that wasn't in my primary coach!"

Z

BktBallRef · #6 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 25, 2003, 11:04pm

Our crews work with the same officials throughout the playoffs. My crew will work 2 sectional playoff games, a regional quarterfinal and semifinal game and, hopefully, a state championship game.

dblref · #7 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 26, 2003, 07:02am

Our assignor sends a list to the league office and they decide who goes where. If I remember correctly, we do not have mixed crews for the first regional game, but there are mixed crews for the state level games.

Jeremy Hohn · #8 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 26, 2003, 11:00am

Here in Texas, the crews are pre-assigned by the state assignor in Austin. Our letters tell us specifically who we will be working with far in advance, and I have requested unknown co-officials to send me game tapes to trade with them so we can all get a feel for each other to match up judgement on certain plays.

SCBroncos · #9 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 26, 2003, 03:21pm

In CA, officials work 3 person during the State Tournament, but only 2 person crews for the sectionals (at least in Northern CA).

The sectionals are assigned to the individual associations who then pick their own crews for each game. The games we officiate are "Nuetral" meaning neither or both teams are from our area, but not one in and one out of our area.

For the state tourney, each association nominates their top officials. An independent board selects from this pool and assigns each official to work one game - 1/4 final, semi-final, or final (separate for Northern and Southern CA). You are paired up with 2 officials from different sections and you don't usually find out their name until the day before your game. In fact, you don't even know where you are going until the day before your game.

The State championship officials are selected from those officials working in the NoCal and SoCal championships and are based on how well they worked that particular game.

Dave Brost · #10 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 26, 2003, 05:34pm

In Wisconsin, the state association assigns the state games to a pair, usually ones who have worked together throughout the year, or at least thru the regional and sectional levels of the tourney. Each 2-man crew does only one state game in a year (quarter, semi, or finals). At the beginning of the season, we list officials that we would like to be paired with in the tourney. They try to accomodate that, but the higher level games go to those who partner all year.

Josh Ovens · #11 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 26, 2003, 07:57pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave Brost
In Wisconsin, the state association assigns the state games to a pair, usually ones who have worked together throughout the year, or at least thru the regional and sectional levels of the tourney. Each 2-man crew does only one state game in a year (quarter, semi, or finals). At the beginning of the season, we list officials that we would like to be paired with in the tourney. They try to accomodate that, but the higher level games go to those who partner all year.

i think that is absurb. you may have one really strong guy, and he always officiates with his best buddy, who is a weak official. youre telling me that they could work a district,regional or state game? i think its only better to have the officials rated by coaches who turn in their votes and the highest number of votes does the tourneys accordingly. of course, there is politics to all aspects of officiating now. ive even seen some of the top officials in our area sitting home and watching some weak officials officiate tournament games on the 11 o clock news.

Dave Brost · #12 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 27, 2003, 02:05pm

If there is one strong official and one weak official, chances are they will not do many higher level tourney games. The weaker official will hold them back, and the evaluators will take that into consideration. They are still looking for the best officials at the state tourney.
BTW-For the first time beginning this year, Wisconsin has gone away from the coaches evaluating the officials for the purpose of ranking them. Too many inconsistencies in the evaluation. (i.e.-politics, buddy system, sore losers, etc.)

DownTownTonyBrown · #13 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 27, 2003, 06:55pm

[/QUOTE]
i think its only better to have the officials rated by coaches who turn in their votes and the highest number of votes does the tourneys accordingly. of course, there is politics to all aspects of officiating now. ive even seen some of the top officials in our area sitting home and watching some weak officials officiate tournament games on the 11 o clock news. [/QUOTE]

I think the idea of coaches picking their desired officials stinks. Period.

This year we are sending a rookie - his first full season of varsity ball, to our Girls State Tournament. I believe it might be his third season of officiating period. He's actually fairly good but hasn't really paid his dues or been in any emotionally charged tense situations. He is definitely not our best. Oooh and his brother is a Boys Varsity coach.

Another official we are sending has ample experience; is not such a great official; has never been to a camp and thinks those of us that do go to camps are "messing up the local association with all those college mechanics." He tends to keep his head low, falls asleep in about the 2nd quarter, and doesn't seem to be able to look anyone in the eye. Oooh and his brother was a Girls Varsity coach for the previous several years.

Yes sir those coaches know how to pick 'em. Couldn't possibly be construed as a conflict of interest.

I think a much better choice is to employ evaluators that actually understand the job of being an official. Having them properly perform an evaluation of all candidates and then designating those that are capable of doing the best job.

JMHO

RickyD · #14 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 28, 2003, 12:39am

Our local association sends a list of officials (already in crews of 3) that represents what the local association considers the best. One list for girls and another for boys. Many of the same officials are on each list but the order of the crews is often different. The FHSAA picks the officials for all games beyond local district championships. Often as the regional finals and state final four approaches, the FHSAA will break up the crews and pick and choose from the entire list. But, you always work with officials from your local association. No mixed crews. We are one of the larger associations in the state and we typically send 5-7 crews out for first round of regionals, 3-4 crews out for second round, 2 crews out for regional finals. Then 1 crew to state series (final four)and on rare occassion 2 crews to final four. It might be a semi-final or a final game. These numbers are repeated for girls and then boys playoffs which are seperated by 1 week. All district playoff games, regional games and state series games are 3 man crews, as are nearly all of our regular season games except for small schools.

JRutledge · #15 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 28, 2003, 12:47am

but our state hires individuals. You are not hired by a local association. You are not hired so that certain individuals in a specific association get games, you are hired strictly as an individuals and a ratings formula that the state uses to separate officials. One person does it for all playoffs for each side (One for Boy's, the other person for girl's). The state office handles everything and local associations have no big say over who gets what and who does not get anything.

Peace