Coaches Hiring Officials
 

The following is an excerpt from our state's fan board, posted by a parent I've come to know over the years. This is one of his observations about a recent AAU tourney, copied here with his blessing...

Of course, the "discourse" is a HTBT, but I believe it's safe to say, if the coaches do the hiring (as opposed to an assigner), it makes it far more difficult to deal with unsportsmanlike conduct. I take it the same goes in your respective areas.

Even when assigners are used, this is a concern. For me, however, I don't care. Keeping these sorts of games isn't worth a headache. I'll enjoy the peace that generally ensues after the T.

Difficult in an AAU Tournament? Nope, at least not for me. Who assigns an AAU Tournament means nothing to me. I just work the game and do my job. I do not live for these tournaments, I work for the regular season and honestly take less crap during these tournament than I ever would during the regular season even if a coach assigned it.

Peace

There are no assignors for any level of basketball in my area including high school. The only thing that checks my handling of coaches is my consideration of whether I'm being rash or not.

Huh?

I was just discussing this topic with some officials the past 2 weekends. I just happened to be calling in two separate weekend tournaments that involved an individual who was both the coach of a Select Team in our area (always with players that are among the top talent) and a Principal with a group that holds many Spring & Summer tournaments in our area (some are the premier events that you want to be involved in). I made the comment to the group that it was the only time I've ever found myself thinking (after the fact) about the consequences of a call...and I didn't like the feeling. I don't think the situation influenced my call selection. But maybe it did...and I like that even less.

Age has its benefits
 

As you get older and/or more experienced the effect goes away. I'm in JRut's camp: I have a schedule I'm happy with during the regular season so if I work AAU games I'm not worried about any residual effect.

I'm also much less inclined to take garbage during offseason games. Not that I'll throw Ts around like candy in the spring/summer but some of the nonsense isn't worth it, especially when you're dealing with a larger percentage of coaches who don't know the rules.

I agree, count me in JRut's camp too, but someone told me that I hand out Ts like they're Skittles in the off-season.

Welcome to Ohio H.S. athletics.

MTD, Sr.

This is a good point. My area is exactly the opposite; every thing is assigned through assignors. And while the buffer may help with some officials, in the end, those officials either get past it or stop officiating due to the stress.

I can't say that I think about who hired me at all when I'm officiating. I'm going to officiate the game as I usually do. If someone earns a T, I'm going to assess it. Had a coach earn one recently and he actually apologized later in the game for reacting inappropriately.

If someone doesn't want me to do a future tournament because they don't care for a decision I made (or didn't make) in a prior game that's just fine with me.

When I used to work football in Dallas, I had the coach's opinions of me front of mind - I used to worry endlessly when I pissed off the wrong guy. That's because in football, in Dallas, coaches run everything. Plus - there were hundreds of officials, all begging for work. Good luck getting work if you aren't gladhanding the right people.

Now, in the sports I work (in Houston now), I don't even give it a second thought. I don't mean to say I'm intentionally callous or irritating to coaches... just that the prospect of them not scheduling me (in the case of the OP) or telling schedulers not to is not even on my radar. Should it occur that some coach insists on scheduling umpires his own tourneys, he'll get the dregs - real officials won't work that way here, and should you happen to piss off one guy, there's plenty of work around if you're a good official