Professionalism

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Little Rascals/Our Gang reference. Nice.

Thanks. Not too many of the young'uns on the Forum would get the reference.

[Adam]

And of course, by "young'uns", you mean anyone born after 1950.

[Altor]

Originally Posted by Adam

And of course, by "young'uns", you mean anyone born after 1950.

For the record, I was born in the late 70's and I got the reference.

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by icallfouls

What does "usually do not have anything to do with TF's" mean to you coach. It does not seem to fit with your overall statement.

The OP mentioned that he didn't give a single tech, but didn't do so well on the ratings. That's why I mentioned it as usually not being a professionalism issue. I can't think of many times when I considered a T or no T a lack of professionalism. How did that not fit with what i said?

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by Adam

I can tell you, there are differences in how I officiate a blow out vs a close game (this is the expectation in my area, not my preference). That said, the one thing I focus on in blow outs is hustle, making sure I'm still in position.

This point makes me wonder if you also officiate, or have at some time. Or do most coaches look for the foul mechanic?

I have, but not anymore, except volunteering at school functions (teacher/student game, e.g.).

I don't know about other coaches. I always look for the mechanic when it's on my team. I especially want to know if I didn't get a good view of the play.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

I have, but not anymore, except volunteering at school functions (teacher/student game, e.g.).

I don't know about other coaches. I always look for the mechanic when it's on my team. I especially want to know if I didn't get a good view of the play.

Gotcha. I always give one, but I'm sometimes more deliberate with it if I know it's something the coaches couldn't see. Even then, I occasionally have the coach ask if I forget and simply show pc or TC.

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by packersowner

I recently was reviewing the rankings as provided by coaches and especially in the areas of professionalism. I was on both ends of the spectrum - either exceeds expectations or needs improvement. Let me also just say at the outset that I really hate coaches giving rankings on officiating crews - I am not a person who has been working in this area for 20 years, so not everyone knows my name like others. I am not sure how coaches can go back and evaluate officials when they don't remember their names. But thats another topic.

I am really struggling with this area and maybe because I am trying to define what "professionalism" means in the context of officiating. I did not have a single coach technical this year, in fact I felt that in most of the games I officiated, I personally did not have those situations where professionalism could be called into question. What's a little frustrating is that I actually felt overall this year, I handled coaches and players much better than in years past, yet my evaluation makes it appear that I got worse. The crews I worked with had very few problems, of course we had a coach here or there where we needed to take care of the situation, but for the most part it was a good year. I try to not put too much stock in this, but this is an area where its hard to read a book on, or study the rules more. Am I missing something or should I just let it go?

I would not worry much about this as "Professionalism" is a subjective term and means different things to different people. It could be as simple as the coaches not knowing your face, their perception of how confident you were, or any number of other subjective things. Plus you said the ratings are over the place and and probably not statistically valid with such fluctuation and a small sample size.

I would think professionalism would encompass overall things like how officials administer the game and communicates information. But again, its subjective and who knows what some of the coaches were basing this on.

Your assignor's and fellow officials have a much better sense of what professionalism means in regards to officiating. And I would worry what they have to say about this.

I think, in general, coach's evaluations have merit but must be taken in context. And whatever terms are on their evaluation should be clearly defined by whichever powers that be are using and giving them out.