25/40 Play clock

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

That would be something that would help us, but often it is some guy that has been around the program or was thrown in to help the clock. I think this would help as we have people then that know or have a great understanding of rules and mechanics. Unfortunately, no one values this position from the school point of view until something bad happens. Even at the college level, we get people that have never played football, let alone know the clock rules. So we are dealing with some interesting issues.

Peace

I am a HS AD now and I can tell you that we pay our clock operator the exact same as we pay the ticket taker. When I lived in the south, we had a certified official work the clock, but they also got paid as part of the officiating crew. Not going to happen here.

It's a habit for me to look at the clock EVERY TIME it's stopped or started, best I can. And we have to fix the time a fair amount, too. It's just what it is. Changing our mechanics like someone in this thread suggests isn't going to fix this. Hell, I'm always out in the open when I wind the clock and it doesn't always start, either.

The thing that bothers me the most is the operator who thinks he knows better than me and doesn't realize that he gets to make zero judgments -- he doesn't get to say "he hasn't spotted the ball so I won't start the clock" -- when I wind, it should start. That's the operator's job, to do what we tell him to do.