The 3-person battle continues

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by billyu2

...Now, over the last dozen years or so, I don't think I've ever heard a coach or group of coaches comment that they would rather go back to 2. (they may be thinking it...

The dean of high school coaches in our area, who is also an AD as well as a state-tourney level football official himself, commented to me regarding 3-man recently:
"3-man is not going to go away."
I further probed for what seemed to be a negative opinion on 3-man vs. 2. What he didn't like about 3-man he summarized in two words: "More Whistles."
His point was not the occasional double whistle by good crews reacting to plays on the border of their PCA's, rather than he too often gets saddled with 3 guys who, as ballwatchers all, call violations and fouls at the same time. Triple whistles. That tells him that he, as an AD, was better off just having two ballwatchers cuz it's cheaper than having three.
Given the respected status of this veteran coach, I accepted this as somewhat a valid commentary on the state of 3-man officiating in our area and as an emphasis to continue in our scrimmages and rules meetings.
Some have simply gotta be doing a better job at PCA coverage.