Assignor working games?
 

We have a situation where the assignor for our association has gone from not working games a number of years ago to working a full slate of games (MS thru Varsity), he was an official before he became the assignor. Initially he was just doing sub varsity because we needed guys on the court and he has slowly upped his own varsity schedule.

Are working assignors the norm? Anyone have any thoughts to share - there is a contingent of officials in the association that wants to go back to the days where the assignor assigns and the official officiate. Would it change your opinion if you knew that the assignor is also the one individual who sees your annual peer rating sheet which includes how you rated him? Your ranking within the association is solely driven by the composite peer rating.

Sounds like it could be time to find a new assignor.

That said, I know plenty of assignors who also officiate.

In my neck of the woods, it's the norm for assignors to work as well. Having said that, I work for 4 different assignors and only one of them do I ever work with. My main assignor is older and he hasn't worked high school games in a while but he still does MS and lower levels.

My personal opinion on this issue is that I don't have a problem with him working. I do have a problem with him seeing what every other official has rated him. For example, thoughts like "if I want to rate him lower will that affect my schedule" surely go through people's mind when they are giving him his rating. These types of thoughts would tend to drive his rating up - and your rating dictates the level of ball you can officiate.

My proposal to the other board members is to remove the ratings compilation from his list of duties. By doing so individuals would feel free to rate without bias and in turn his rating would end up being more pure. Then let him work a normal load of games for what ever level he ends up at.

In Rome Here
 

Assigner formerly assigned himself games of all levels with the intent, obvious to everyone but a boisterous, cantankerous, rabble-rousing few, of working with as many of the officials he assigns as possible for all the right reasons.
Those few came to object to what they perceived was "cherry picking the good games", a false criticism, but . . .
Since he is assigned by other assigners in other areas and also carries a college schedule, the assigner figured it wasn't worth the grief, so he refrained from assigning himself several years ago.
Too bad, because those who worked with him appreciated the immediate feedback, whether on a JV or V game, he could give and the area lost a good official.

I cannot think of a single assignor I have now that is not an active official. I have worked for a couple that were not active. One of those individuals just was older and recently died and the other was not an official was a former coach and administrator and assigned a rather large conference.

Now most never work their conferences at all, but they work for other people.

Peace

As a practical matter I don't have a problem with assignors also officiating. Often times they are the ones who have to sub in to cover that last minute cancellation, may as well allow them to stay sharp by also getting games on a regular basis.

I have been an assignor, and I had to work because of the limited number of officials we had to cover the games I had to schedule.

I worked all levels from our church rec leagues to HS and some (very) small college games. I also used it as an opportunity to work with a lot of different officials so that I could have a more accurate read on the talent level throughout the association. I was also considered one of the top officials in the association at that time, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, just stating a fact. I tried to be very selective about working the "top" games and only doing that when necessary...I also worked plenty of "train wreck" games during my time in that position. If I could have only assigned, then went to watch and evaluate, I would have much preferred that.

My main assignor when I was in IL worked the conference he assigned, but only occasionally I think and never on the really big games.

On the point as a whole, I have worked for several assignors who officiate.

The main guy I worked for though, was at gyms every other night of the week though to see his guys work, and that's one of the things I really appreciated about him. To say he's incredibly dedicated to his work is an understatement.

A) Every assignor I know, in all four sports I work, officiates some. Some more than others, from "only when I'm screwed and someone ditches last minute" to "as many games as humanly possible". As long as the guy's schedule is not such that it makes him a worse assignor, you shouldn't have a problem with it.

B) That said ... in the leagues where we do peer reviews, every single assignor I know takes himself completely out of the review pool - no one in his assigning pool is ever asked to review them, nor should they, for exactly the reasons you state. You might mention this conflict of interest to him, if you have a good working relationship with the guy. Something like, "I don't think anyone has any issues with you working, but evaluating you, and knowing you are our assignor, is rather uncomfortable."

If it is the assignor I believe that was, I did not work for that assignor and never did. ;)

And that particular person did not put himself on the better games or high profile games to my knowledge. That person worked enough in other conferences as he is a very accomplished high school official.

It seems silly to me to have an expectation that they do not work. This is high school, not major college ball where other things are at stake.

Peace

All three assignors that send me games are active officials. Doesn't bother me in the least. I've even worked with 2 of the 3. They are very good officials.

The NCHSAA forbids assignors from working varsity football or basketball games.

Likewise in Oregon with the occasional exception that must be approved by the state....some areas just don't have enough bodies to cover all the games they have and the assignor must work or the game would be left uncovered.