Playoffs
 

I'm in a quandry. maybe you can help me out. I just finished my 3rd year. I think I'm beginning to be a good referee. I do other sports but find football the hardest to officiate so I work hard at it and feel I've progressed. I was passed over for playoff assignments this year and see others who received assignments, in my opinion of course, not as good an official as I think I have become. There is certainly a 'good 'ole boy' network who get all the top games.

My question to you is, how long does it normally take to become good enough for the playoffs. I understand it's probably different in different regions, etc. I'm a little discouraged and wonder if maybe I'm being too impatient. I would love to hear your experiences.

Your other questions aside does your state or association, or whoever assigns the playoffs, have a requirement that you have to have worked a minimum number of years before you can be eligible for playoffs?

No, not for local playoffs. They do for State, of course.

Are you saying there were officials with the same limited amount of experience as you who got playoff games?


You are right about the regional deal...there are places in Texas where you would not even see a regular season varsity game until after 3 or more years, much less a playoff game

You probably are being a bit impatient, but again, it's region dependent.

I look at playoffs as gravy. In Wisconsin, 7 crews will work a state final. No other crew works more than 2 playoff games. Over 80% of crews that work get one game.

I've stopped getting annoyed over 1 game. We get one, best we can hope for is two. Work hard during the season and not worry what others (coaches ratings, especially) think.

First piece of advice...read my signature line.....

I am not a football official, but have officiated other sports for a number of years. I started out in basketball and your post mirrors what I was thinking after about three years as a basketball official...

"Why aren't I moving up?"

"I'm a better official than most of the guys doing varsity ball..."

"I work hard and listen to all my evaluators and try to do what they say..."

"The good-ole-boy network is keeping me down...."

The best advice that I heard (but did not listen to) at that time was; Work to be the best official you can be. Take your satisfaction from that...if you are good enough, the better assignments and playoff games will follow.

If you gripe about your assignments or other officials, it gets back to assignors and commissioners. That can block your climb up the officiating ladder faster than just about anything else.

Keep working to become a better official, don't ever think you have "arrived", and keep your mouth shut....it will all work out.

Thanks, Andy and everyone else. What I got out of this is keep working to be the best you can and let the chips fall where they may.

Exactly. It's not always a fair system.

But I've been doing this for four years and I feel I've improved but I know I have a ton more to learn and more reps to get. If I get to do varsity next season, great. But I'm not expecting even that. Aiming? Sure. I aim to do my next game as well as I can.

But I learned long ago that you can't worry about what other people get that you don't get. Life isn't fair. Just do your best and it'll all work out.

Come to Indiana where they have an "all-in" playoff system where every team makes the playoffs. There were 161 crews that applied for the playoffs and about 150 first round games. If you are not working in they playoffs you definitely have issues.

Here the big hurdle is making it to round 2 or round 3 (of 6 rounds). Only 80 crews make the second round and 40 crews make the third round. To get that far takes a very high assessment which is almost entirely a coach's vote. That makes the good ol' boy network alive and well but it's not networking with other officials but how many coaches you know. This comes from:

1. Working for 30 years
2. Working in education so you know a lot of coaches through other avenues
3. Working other sports (especially basketball) so you get to know more ADs who have a big influence in the coach's vote

I've also learned this year living in a smaller community may help because again, you get to know coaches in your area through other means (kids in school, church, civic organizations). That is much harder in Indianapolis.

Please don't take this as whining. It is what it is and I'm happy to have worked 2 rounds most years I've been officiating (we almost made it to round 3 this year). I agree with other comments here that you do the best you can and rewards will follow.

You answered you own question "I think I'm beginning to be a good referee".

The key word is beginning. To be brutally frank, a 3rd year official has no business working a playoff game.

It takes at least 5 years to be a competent official. Here, no 3rd year official got a playoff game. Maybe their 4th year.

Yes, you are being way too impatient.

In our CIF Section, there is no Good Ol' Boy network. The playoff games are assigned by ratings. This year we have many guys working thier first CIF Championship game because they deserve it not because who they are.

I work in Texas in one of the larger chapters in the state. We don't have specific experience requirements per se (though we probably should). I was assigned a playoff game this year -- in my 3rd year -- but while not unprecedented, its probably a rarity. I was sort of cautiously optimistic that I'd get one (based on a couple of things I won't go into here, but not political reasons), but had I not gotten one, I'd only have been mildly disappointed. The fact is that I had a good year with or without one.

However, there's a couple of things that might be unique to me:

1. Even though it was only my third year of football, I've officiated since 1988. While there is always room for improvement, I am fairly experienced in dealing with coaches.

2. Prior to working even a scrimmage, I sat and listened at 2 on field clinics, plus the state meeting, plus our chapter's training program. I have taken advantage of every training opportunity I could.

3. I have diligently attended meetings in 3 years and also worked a fairly decent number of games. I've clocked about 150 games at all levels.

4. I take care of business at my games, especially as a white hat. I know many guys say this but many fewer than that actually do it.

There are other guys with more camps, more training sessions, or more games worked in the same period of time in our chapter, but there isn't anyone with all the numbers I have. The fact is that I've put in the work and its been noticed. I will concede there has been some "right place right time" associated with that. I've also been flexible to accept VERY last minute assignments when called -- I'm talking about "game starts in less than an hour and you are an hour and a half away, but can you make it by start time..." type stuff.

Incidentally, the game I got wasn't EXACTLY the 5A (largest public school classification) playoffs.

Who gets playoff games depends upon location and to be honest in some politics is involved.

The best advice I ever heard came from an NFL supervisor who said "make every game your best game because you never know who is watching."

It is sad that people think like this. You are putting way to much emphasis on years worked. What really matters is how good someone is. It is very possible that a third year official has had lots of good training and has developed his skills very well. Each official/crew should be evaluated and judged with the best working the playoff games. To say that no third year official has no business working a playoff game is flat out wrong.

My first commish once said he feared officials with 3 to 5 years experience because, "they think they know everything, but actually know just enough to get themselves into trouble, and not enough to get themselves out of it."

This quote is beautiful and can be applied across all sports........