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.

Which is also the reason they still allow assignors to work in other sports where fewer officials are usually available.

I believe OhioHSAA does not allow assignors to work tournaments for many of the same "good ole boy" reasons mentioned above.

All assignors that I have worked for are active officials. I have no problems with anything. 1 college assignor was no longer active and had no problems with that either.

Is that because they assign playoff games?

The State office assigns everything here so assignor become a non-factor. As a matter of fact in basketball assignors are often not accomplished officials as some of their staffs. That is why I love our system.

Peace

I don't think so. The tournament assignments come from the AA, but you have to get into the pool first. In many sports, one of the ways into the pool is for the local officials associations to vote on the best officials in their group. There could be the appearance of impropriety there (you vote for me and I'll make sure you get the good games), even if it's not true.

You don't think so what?

Well that seems to be a flaw in your system if that situation is the case. Assignors in our system give us the games during the regular season of course, but the regular official has little influence on what that does for assignor. We do have a Top 15 list that Certified (the top classification that takes some years to get to) Officials can send to the state, but that list is private and goes directly to the state. They take percentages in ratings and Top 15 list percentages and that helps them make the decision (These are only 10 total points to a 40 Point Power Rating). This is why our assignors can work games because someone like myself has very little if any influence on who gets a playoff game and they have little influence other than giving me games to do the same. And it is up to me as an official to work with assignors I feel comfortable with and if they were trying to use their power to get on Top 15 lists or use other tactics, it would not likely go over very well or not work all together. I guess I never get the states that have associations with so much power and not give that power to the state or some independent body to make those kinds of decisions. Any voting just opens up for politics and favoritism.

Peace

I work in a state where the assignors did have too much power when it came to state assignments. That was one of the major reasons our commissioner got voted out a few years ago and caused a major rift in officiating locally.

Now the state asks for names of officials from each association to attend a state tournament eval camp every summer. So now, in order to work a state tournament game you have to be recommended from that camp or have officiated a state tourney game previously. The first year of this camp our commissioner refused to send in any names. The next year he did the same and got voted out of office.

It really wasn't that hard to follow.

Who said it was "my" system? And even if it was, I don't recall asking for your input on whether it was a good system or not. The OP asked a question about assigners working games. I offered the only limitation placed on assignors in my state that I was aware of.

You know, for somebody who is constantly telling people that you'll do it your way and you don't care what others think about it, you have a lot of opinions about what goes on in other places.

So the only issue I see is assignors working games in the conference they assign. As a last resort to cover games, I have no issue.

I worked in a small-college conference where the assignor worked a LOT of games. He used his schedule as an opportunity to see all of the teams AND officials covering several states. I know the coaches hated it because they: 1. Couldn't rate him or 2. Complain about the officiating for fear of getting bad officials assigned to their road games.

The reality is that it is part of the game and out of our hands.

It is "your" system if you are working under that system. :rolleyes:

And if it offends you for someone to comment on this issue, then why did you tell us your opinion of that system?? And if you worked in a system where the assignors had a conflict of interest, then I could see why you would be upset by assignors role in working games. But that appears to be not what most people here have an issue with and for those like yourself that have an issue, it does help everyone when you explain your system. Otherwise people are going to assume that you are just mad that they work games with not much merit by a personal complaint.

And most of all this is a discussion board. And we talk about these kinds of local differences all the time here. And no matter what my opinion is, it is not going to change what you guys do for sure. Do not think I am going to lose a night of sleep over what your system is all about. As I have said before I got my games already and will work whatever I am assigned. I am good.

Peace

Sounds like you guys ultimately have the power, which is why he is no longer in that position. ;)

Peace