Article: MSHSAA investigates referee for potential conflict of interest

Rich

17 point game with a 32-6 run and this is an official's fault.

Amazing.

The parent should be embarrassed.

Raymond

Where were these parents when they played in December and no one said a thing about him officiating the game?

Rich

I wonder why it's OK for these parents to defame a person who's, obviously, a well-respected official.

He should sue them. That would be entertaining.

JerryLundagard

This situation certainly has been the talk of the local officiating scene lately. I have known Mark, the official in question, for over 20 years. He is a quality official and a quality person. In talking to him he was caught completely by surprise that this was even an issue. It never dawned on him that his association with an AAU club could create this sort of firestorm.
It will be interesting to see how MSHSAA proceeds with clarifying what is a conflict of interest.

Bad Zebra

JerryLundagard wrote
It never dawned on him that his association with an AAU club could create this sort of firestorm...

On the surface, this looks like a lot ado about nothing. Quality veteran official being attacked by biased, bitter, overzealous parents. HOWEVER...The article states he is part "OWNER" of a program that had players in a game that he officiated. Ownership is a bit more than an "association" IMO. If that is in fact accurate, I can see how the "conflict" accusation arose.

My bet is that this is an AAU program. If so...more evidence that AAU generally causes more problems for officials than any other basketball organization.

Nevadaref

The solution is simple.
Don't put yourself in such situations.
If you have a connection with players, a coach, or a school don't work the contest!

JetMetFan

I'm sure the official is a fine official and a fine person, but...

It's the appearance of impropriety that causes the problem. There's a reason why at the NCAA level the ECAC asks us to fill out a form to show *any* relationship you may have with any of its member colleges (alum, kids, parents, relatives who are employees, relatives who are alums, etc). There's a reason why we have scratch lists at the HS level. Don't give anyone an excuse to question your integrity.

I gave up a GV playoff game this year because it involved my alma mater (my mistake for not making the school my one and only scratch) and I'm more than a few years removed from HS. It wasn't worth the potential headache.

[deleted]

Matt wrote
Love how Paul keeps harping on the word "potential" as if it means that he's really not making an allegation.

If it wasn't Facebook, I'd post about how Paul Xm is a potential child molester. Hey, it doesn't mean it's actually true, right?

I wouldn't do that. According to his Facebook he is a lawyer, which probably explains his ambiguous language.

BadNewsRef wrote
Where were these parents when they played in December and no one said a thing about him officiating the game?

Well the game then didn't mean as much of course! 😉

Bad Zebra wrote
The article states he is part "OWNER" of a program that had players in a game that he officiated. Ownership is a bit more than an "association" IMO. If that is in fact accurate, I can see how the "conflict" accusation arose.

Absolutely. This is a much more serious conflict of interest than that which a Forum member posted about earlier this season.

Matt

AremRed wrote
I wouldn't do that. According to his Facebook he is a lawyer, which probably explains his ambiguous language.

Like I said, I'm not--not that I care about a lawsuit, because it would not be successful (nor could he even successfully file one,) but because I prefer anonymity.

Brad

Rich wrote
17 point game with a 32-6 run and this is an official's fault.

Amazing.

The parent should be embarrassed.

Seriously.

I read through the comments and my biggest takeaway is that Paul Xm is a huge egomaniac who thinks he knows more than anyone else.

twocentsworth

I watched the game from beginning to end……any suggestion of officiating bias is completely unfounded. There is absolutely nothing that would lead an impartial observer (i.e. me) to suspect any wrong doing.

Time to move on.

mutantducky

Agree Nevada. I'm not going to bother watching the game. I don't care if it was officiated fairly or not. What matters is the perception and if there was a conflict of interest and on the face of it a case can be made that he shouldn't have been officiating the game. Obviously the fans of the other team had problems with how the game was called.

He sounds like a good ref so I hope this issue can be addressed and people can move on from it. But it should not be repeated and the state/local association should clear that up.