how does your state hand out post season

[shocker]

I am just curious how other states work postseason football. In Kansas it works like this.

You have to score at least a 90% on an open book test.
You have to complete a rules meeting online and attend 2 area supervisors meetings.
You then have to submit a postseason application.
After that it is out of your hands and in the state's hands. Post season is based on how many recommendations you received from coaches, ad's and area supervisors.

This method has become very controversial here and changes need to be made or Kansas will be losing some good officials at a time when officials are getting hard to find. Some officials are getting recommendations from coaches they haven't worked for, for years. The coach only has to give 10 recommendations and I am pretty sure they don't go beyond that. That equals out to 2 crews and if they give recommendations to crews that haven't worked for them that year then that means 9 crews worked hard for them and got nothing.

Please post how your state handles post season.

[HLin NC]

NC
Must be a Class 1 or 2 official (out of 4) and attend the state clinic. Your class is based on an assigned point value for the NFHS test score, local meeting attendance, state clinic attendance, association meetings, years of experience, scrimmages worked, and games worked.

We have 5 rounds with 4 divisions that are subdivided into Class 1-4A and 1-4 AA for 8 total state championships. Getting a first round game isn't very difficult. Its little more than an additional conference game for most schools as NC has gone to a "pod system" to reduce travel for schools. Several years ago we began keeping officials local for the first two rounds.

Top seeded teams are the home team. In rounds 1 & 2, the top seeded team's local booking agent assigns the officials. From rounds 3 through the finals, the booking agents submit a list and the state office selects neutral crews and assigns the officials. State finals are held at UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest and the divisions are rotated amongst the host universities.

Coaches have no bearing on our assignments in NC beyond the complaint calls to the state office or booking agent and limited designated mark-offs. They have no role in our evaluations.

[dbking]

According to the state of KS, 88 of 120 crews that were eligible and requested post season assignments received post season assignments.

The first two rounds of playoffs are reserved for mostly crew assignments. There are always inequities in the playoff assignment process. I have been in several states and several sports. There is no perfect system.

Your votes will come out tomorrow and you can look at your total and the rest of your crew should be able to open up and tell you the amount of votes that you and your crew received.

You have to work within the system.

[umpirebob71]

Don't even get me started on what goes on in Ohio. Let me put it this way; in a first round play-off game, I saw a 300lb back judge 20 yards behind a scoring play, and an umpire signal touchdown on a play that ended at his feet. All while men far more qualified sat home.

[JRutledge]

The football administrator assigns all playoff games by crews that we declare.

They use a 40 point Power Rating system which involves everything from your test score to camps you have attended to ratings from coaches and certified officials.

Then based on the rating system and many other factors like geography and previous experience you get playoff assignments.

Peace

[wwcfoa43]

In Ontario, Canada:

1. The province is divided into a number of local associations. The local associations handle up to the city championships.

2. The regional playdowns will usually involve split crews between the two local associations that are playing. The locals will then each assign the three officials for the crew.

3. For the provincial championships, the provincial body will ask all local associations to nominate two individuals to work the games and then the province will slot them into one of the five bowl games.

In Ontario, we NEVER have coaches, schools or leagues have any direct input into the selection process although anecdotal comments or complaints may affect a local associations' choices and a league may make requests for say "neutral" crews (officials from locals not from where the teams are from.)

[wyo-referee]

In Wyoming it's based on coaches votes. You go as a crew all the way through the play-offs. This year we only had 22 crews put in for play-offs and we started with 20 games and worked down to 5 state championship games. Each school/coach gets 6 votes and the 5 crews with the most votes goes to the championship games.

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by wyo-referee

In Wyoming it's based on coaches votes. You go as a crew all the way through the play-offs. This year we only had 22 crews put in for play-offs and we started with 20 games and worked down to 5 state championship games. Each school/coach gets 6 votes and the 5 crews with the most votes goes to the championship games.

Do you have a lot of crews who don't put in for the playoffs? You must have to qualify for the playoffs if you only have 20 first round games. Do you only have 3 rounds of playoffs?

Indiana also only goes by a coach's vote. They rate crews once a year on a scale of 1-5 with no guidelines or explanations of votes. Officials do have to pass the Part II test with a score of 90 or better but the way they do it that's a formality. Same with the rules meeting and application. Our plaoffs are all-in so there are 156 first round games. This year we had 166 crews apply so almost every crew gets a game. The top 80 crews get a second round game, top 40 third, etc. There 6 rounds total with 5 classes.

There are some restrictions about advancing. You have to be a certified official to work the second round and beyond. Certification requires at least 2 years experience, getting a 90% on the Part II exam and attending the bi-annual certificiation clinic. If you have a member of your crew that is not certified it doesn't affect your ability to advance. You just have to replace him for those games. There are plenty of certified officials that it is not difficult to find one. Crews are also defined by the R so a "New" crew could be a long-standing crew that just changed the R. New crews can't work beyond the second round regardless of score. A crew that worked a state final one year can only advance to the 3rd round the following year and then only 1 round each year beyond that (can only work a state final every 4 years). Half of the crews in the 4th round and beyond have to be crews that have never worked a state final (again defined by the R). I'm not aware of any crews intentionally replacing the R so they can move back up as a "New" crew but most of the "New" crews have a lot of the same members as a crew that previously worked the state finals but a different R.

Needless to say we don't get our best crews in the finals. There are officials working the NAIA champship game this year that didn't get a second round HS game. That makes sense!

[wisref2]

We know more about life on other planets than the process used to select state tournement crews.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by wisref2

We know more about life on other planets than the process used to select state tournement crews.

In Ohio, the process actually involves life on other planets.

It's true, it's true...

[cmathews]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

Do you have a lot of crews who don't put in for the playoffs? You must have to qualify for the playoffs if you only have 20 first round games. Do you only have 3 rounds of playoffs?

There aren't a lot who don't put in, there just aren't a lot of crews in Wyoming. Yes you have to qualify, take the top 8 in each division and yes 3 rounds of playoffs...

last year we as well had an official work a DII national semi final game that didn't have any 2nd round games...but mostly because he had scheduling conflicts with dII regular season games during our playoffs

[parepat]

I could tell you...but I'd have to kill you.

[parepat]

Wow. Reading the earlier posts tells me that there must be a shortage of officials in alot of states. In Ohio only approximately 15% of football officials receive a playoff assignment. 50% of those get one game.

[Texas Aggie]

In Texas, its almost exclusively coaches picks in terms of what chapter assigns the games, and usually, what crews work. In the early rounds, the coaches may or may not ask for a specific crew -- its hard to tell what percentage. In our chapter, assignments are classified as "CP" as coaches picks or "AS" as assignment committee. CP could mean the coach calls and says, "we'll take Moe, Larry, or Curly's crew -- you pick." AS is when the coaches call and say they want our chapter, but leave the assignment up to the secretary/Pres/VP -- the committee. Not all chapters work this way. I'm told some assign ALL their games by either a committee or the normal assignment secretary. But no one is going to deny specific crew request if that crew is available -- its just semantics.

If the coaches can not agree on either crews or chapters, they'll call the state who will make the assignment by picking a chapter. There's no set requirements, state wide, for those assignments, but the crew chief will be a Division I or II, which typically means at least 8-10 years of experience minimum.

Different chapters will have different requirements on who can be on crews, but in our chapter, a 2nd year guy can and has worked significant early and late round playoff games. That's pretty much on the crew chief.

Late round games for private schools are sometimes held at a central site. Often, these games are assigned to chapters by the organization's office. They've used local chapters in the past but appear to be using more distant chapters recently -- including one crew of our's this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't my crew.

[RedCashions]

Originally Posted by shocker

This method has become very controversial here and changes need to be made or Kansas will be losing some good officials at a time when officials are getting hard to find. Some officials are getting recommendations from coaches they haven't worked for, for years. The coach only has to give 10 recommendations and I am pretty sure they don't go beyond that. That equals out to 2 crews and if they give recommendations to crews that haven't worked for them that year then that means 9 crews worked hard for them and got nothing.

Please post how your state handles post season.

This statement is not exactly correct. The coaches do not vote for crews. Our Umpire got 5 votes and the Head Linesman 16. Many times we were told by the coaches after the games what a great job we did and how we were the best crew they had all year. Go figure. Just check the state programs for the past 5 years and see the number of repeat officials that get the assignment. Recently, there was one who worked an eight-man final that didn't do one eight-man game all year. I would like to see a rest period for an assignment from one year to the next. If you get a final one year, you are "rested" for a year to allow those other officals a chance to do the finals. IMHO