New college ref advice
 

Hey guys, I have been fortunate enough to get hired by a small JUCO conference and am very excited about it. I am rather new, (Completed four seasons of freshmen to JV ball) all two man and have never worked a varsity game in season. I have attended two camps every year for the last three years. I realize that I am pretty inexperienced, but thanks to you guys my rules knowledge is great, thanks to YouTube and videos posted here I think my call selection and play calling is decent as well.

My questions to the forum are:
What are some of the pitfalls of starting college so early and what are strategies to overcome them.

I had a friend suggest that it may be possible that my future HS schedule will be penalized because of me working college. Any thoughts to the veracity of this?

Suggestions on how to make a good transition or to lessen the learning curve.

Thanks, everyone, I owe a lot of my success to the people on this forum.

If your goal is to become a college official then you cannot worry about the effect it will have on your HS schedule. But in most cases, HS assignors appreciate having college officials on their rosters.

Congrats on the hiring. I can't speak to the transition as I only do HS ball. I can tell you from past observations that the only way to get "penalized" on your HS schedule is to refuse to use HS mechanics and rules.

I've seen college officials continue to use college mechanics for HS games and insist on continuing after being spoken to about it. As BNR mentioned, most assigners appreciate having college guys available for HS games as they are obviously well qualified and generally better than most, but remember that they hire you to do a HS game...that means knowing the HS rules and mechanics specifically.

JUCO vs. varsity
 

First off, congratulations! As someone who works NCAA DIII and high school varsity, I can tell you the expectation is that you officiate the game you're working that day.

That is-- HS mechanics in a HS game, college mechanics in a college game. Rules enforcement (sounds like you have that down).

What you may find is that your college games run smoother than your HS games. You'll also most-certainly find that your college games have far fewer people in the stands...really depends on what part of the country you are in.

The good news is that you don't have too many bad habits to break as a 'young' official...and there's no question your assignors will continue to partner you with veterans--you're not the 'R' yet at any level. Good luck!

Congrats on the hire.

If you are working Men's college, then the mechanics are basically the same. There are some additional signals on the Men's side, but the basic mechanics are the same.

My main advice, make sure you realize you are why you are working the game you are assigned to work. If you are working with a big time or long time veteran, do not do more than you should. That means let them take the lead and help you. You have to be strong, but you do not need to be the "go-to-guy" for everything until you feel comfortable with your partners or they feel comfortable with you. Chances are you are not going to work a game with someone brand new like you to the league. But that does not mean not to sit in the background either. Many times the way you get respect is stepping up and calling what you see or saving the crew from a rules mistake.

Call your area strong. Have a good pre-game and ask questions of your partners. Tell them you are not a veteran to the league so they can help you. Know the college rules that you will have to apply.

Most of all, have fun. After all that is why you are there in the first place right?

Peace

I should clarify, my HS rules knowledges really good, college, not so much.
Suggestions on where to get college rules/mechanics books and where to start my focus for this first year?

Join the NCAA group on Arbiter. You'll get rules and mechanics books shipped, and access to videos, interps, tests, quizzes, etc (the specifics will depend on NCAAM or NCAAW).

Congrats on getting picked up on the JUCO Level. As for helping with your rules knowledge would be to get a mentor or study group to help you understand the differences within the rules and mechanics. Also, the possibility of joining the Central Hub on Arbiter. This will allow you access to PDF versions of the rule book and case book along with video clips to help you out (I know on the Women's side they have it; I can't speak from the Men's side).

Another thing to do is to ask some of the distinguished members of the forum as some of them have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the college game and can help on some insight, but my main advice would be still join the central hub and/or join a study group with a mentor who has an extra rule book who can help!

Sharp,
Congrats! You and I are almost mirror images. I too got picked up this summer in a small JUCO conference. I only have one more year of experience than you. (I did my first season as a varsity official last year.) I am also very confident of high school rules (with big thanks to everyone on this forum) but not so much on the NCAA. I signed up for the NCAA Women's Basketball Central Hub on Arbiter even though I'm not working NCAA. My welcome package includes the rules book, case plays, and the CCA Manual. I haven't received them yet but I'm told it'll be soon. Plus there are great vids on the site. My strategy for the rules deficit: I'm gonna study my butt off, call the obvious, and do the best I can to wrap my head around the LDB en vivo. There's also a chart that shows the major differences between the two in the back of the Fed and NCAA rule books. But probably foremost in my mind: As someone who's very wise on this site reminded me, "There's a reason you got picked up."

This may or may not be true in your neighborhood, but I found one of the biggest transitions in going from HS to College was interacting with the coaches.

In my experience, college coaches will try much harder to "work" you for a call.
They will also tend to test you more to see what you will take when they realize that you are a new official to the conference or league.

Just be sure to take care of business and good luck.

To join in the chorus, congratulations! To go to the questions, in order:

*The only pitfall I can think of is believing you're better than you are or better than your partners, either in HS or JUCO (not to say you would/do). The basketball gods find great ways to humble you when your head gets too big. There's always something to learn from every game, every video and every partner.

*You shouldn't have any issues with your HS schedule. I say shouldn't because the vast majority of HS assignors understand officials - especially younger officials - want to move up. There are some who flat out don't want you to turn back one of their games for an NJCAA/NCAA game and/or want you to consider them as #1 in your hierarchy. I know of one or two in my area who feel this way. I opted not to try to join their HS staffs. Ask your HS assignor(s) about their policy.

*The learning curve is what it is. Don't try to move too fast. You're going to make mistakes. A partner I've worked with more than a few times was involved in a "six on the court" scenario in a D3 game last season that was caught on video. He was devastated by it for a while...until he saw a friend of his get stuck in the same spot on national television. The guy who had it happen on national TV? Zach Garba in the NBA Finals. Moral of the story: Everybody screws up. The trick is to learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again. Apart from that watch video, ask questions and get into your rule book and CCA manual.

I will echo this comment and add that college coaches typically understand the mechanics and rules better than HS coaches and they will call you on it! You have to know your stuff. There is more at stake at the college level...in HS, the coach is also probably employed in some other capacity by the school and so wins and losses won't dictate future employment. In college, coaches are paid to win and so their livelihood is on the line.

BTW congrats!

Huh?
 

I don't want to rain on the parade here, but does anyone call to mind the caution about advancing too quickly? I do wish our friend the best on his sudden advancement, I really do. But to go from 2-man sublevel high school straight to 3-man college??? I've never heard of that, at least not around here. I've seen plenty of guys, however, trying to make the jump from that starting point to the HS 3-man ranks and not recover from the inadequacies that all to soon became readily apparent. I do wish Sharpy the best, but I can't in my own mind picture the upside to this.
And I'm an optimist. I really am.
Hope it works out.

Take The Nestea Plunge ...
 

We've had several of our guys, and gals, go from a high school two person subvarsity schedule to a Division II and/or III womens schedule. We've got a real good high school training program here, and a lot of really good, well trained, subvarsity officials are impatient about moving up to a full high school varsity schedule (at best, it takes seven years here) so they take the plunge into low level college games where many are successful.

I saw an official get hired in D2 & D3 after his first year of HS officiating. Some supervisors like raw talent.

For the reasons stated above I had one guy in my new conference tell me that if a coach calls you a MFer you can START to think about whacking him. I'm pretty good with my people skills but I don't tolerate much BS. Sooo that being stated I'm a little concerned about how much to take from coaches, not wanting to be that guy. Clearly officials in this league don't hand out many, but I'll be doggoned if I'm gonna be a doormat either. For the group: Is there a new balance to be calibrated? Any sharing of the experience with moving back and forth between HS and JUCO in terms of handling coaches sure would be appreciated.

Congrats to you too rooster. I think I will sign up for the central hub. Sounds like I will be working on the women's side this year so I will start my focus there. Good luck this year

Chatted with the college assigner yesterday and he says he will have his entire schedule assigned within the next 3 weeks so it shouldn't interfere with HS assignments at all. And fortunately for me, he is good friends with my association president and they have already chatted about me, so I would hope/think that that would only help my HS schedule.

They are picking the wrong new guy to try that with. I tossed a coach during my try out for this college conference a few weeks ago. I am not afraid to take ace of business. I feel like the college environment is much more accepting of techs than HS. College=tool to take care of business. HS=very very last resort

Thank you for your comment. I have heard stories about this very thing happening and I definitely don't want to be on the failing side of this coin. I think I will be successful because of the amount of time I put into study, tape review, lectures (court club), etc. it won't be perfect but I am pretty sure it won't be a disaster.

In a lot of places, once you get slotted into one side or the other (men vs. women), that is the side you stay on. Many college assignors and most college coaches don't like to see people working both sides. If you don't want to stay in girls basketball, you need to consider starting there carefully.

Yeah, i understand that. Can't say I had much of a choice presently, but I hope to make the switch later.

There shouldn't be any new balance to calibrate. The one common thread among college coaches, be they JUCO or otherwise, is they work for and represent the school. College administrators generally don't like their representatives acting up in public so if a HC calls you a "M-F" and you ring him/her up you're just doing your job. I don't know of any college coordinator who wouldn't back you in that situation.

In HS, there's always a chance the HC doesn't work for the school so he/she may not care or may not be as easily affected by the school's administration.

The Buck Stops ...
 

While it's true that the coach may not be a teacher, he's still under the authority of the athletic director, the principal, the superintendent, and the board of education.

Yes, but if he doesn't work for the school, losing his coaching job isn't that big of a deal, it isn't how he makes his living.

You did have a choice. You could have told the assignor that you appreciate the offer, but you are going to continue working on your game until he can offer you a position on the men's staff. If working men's basketball is your goal, there isn't really much upside to starting on the women's side, other than learning to manage a shot clock. The difference between men and women on the college level is bigger than the difference between boys and girls at the hs level.

Since you are committed to do it, I will echo what others have already said. You need to be prepared and mentally focused to officiate the type of game you are working each night. On the drive to the game, go through a mental checklist of the rules and mechanics that you will have to utilize that night. The table at the back of the books is a good starting point for this type of preparation.

Good luck.

I have a good friend whose first college hire was in D2 Women's. He now works D1/2/3 Men's.

The D2 assignor who first hired him oversaw both Men's and Women's in that conference, so I think it made the ability to crossover easier.

Congratulations on your hire.

Here is the little bit I would say; as others have said go onto arbiter and get yourself hooked up on to the NCAA site. The rules are even more important on a collegiate level then the high school level. I know we get suspended for misapplication of rules and that equates to money out of my pocket. And repeated misapplication of rules means termination.

Secondly, trust that your partners can work their primary areas and stay disciplined within your own primary. Especially in the women's game, the referee's are outstanding at knowing their PCA. With that said, have opinion on plays, such as RA plays that are multiple referee plays.

Bread Line ???
 

Keep in mind that my comments only referred to high school basketball, not college (I was replying to JetMetFan's high school post) .

Although I'm sure that it's possible, I've never heard of a high school teacher/coach in Connecticut losing is teaching job as well as his coaching job because of some on court improprieties with officials.

I'm not a college ref, but the thing I have learned this year is to know your role. Know what plays you can see and what you can't. Know when to say something to a coach and when to let your R take care of it. Know when to speak and when to keep your mouth shut. Know when to make a necessary call out of your area, know when to trust your partners. I'm still figuring out the basics, but I hope that helps.

There are a lot of areas where one of two things happens:

(1) HS hoops is dominated by old boy networks and officials make the jump from subvarsity HS right to college ball.

(2) JuCo isn't much to sneeze at.

Only you know your area.

I got some clarification from a big dawg in the conference and he pish-shawed the M-F stuff, saying what I was told earlier is ridiculous. He basically said that if a coach comes after ME personally, that's an easy one... Good to know that I don't have to put up with a different standard of BS at the Juco level.