knowing when its time to call it quits

[JasonTX]

This is a very tough question. Personally, I don't want to retire when my abilities have declined. If I can no longer keep up with the players and do my job as I have in my prime (still there I think ) then it may be time to go out to pasture. Even if you leave the field there are other ways you can stay involved in officiating. Training, clock opertator, etc.

[HLin NC]

If I can no longer keep up with the players

If that's a prerequisite, I'm toast.

[SE Minnestoa Re]

I have been a white hat for 28 years and have had to "have the talk" with two of my crew mates.

The first was when I found out he had a stroke over the summer and neglected to let me know. When his daughter called and told me, it was over for him. He was extremely gracious and understood. We remained friends until he passed away.

The second was our linesman who I suspected had early onset dementia. He was not nearly as understanding but his wife was very helpful. He is now in a home for advanced dementia patients.

I think it helps that I am a department head at work and deal with HR issues regularly. But it is always hard to tell one of your friends that his time on the field is up.

I hope someone treats me the same way when it is time for me to go and I don't get it.

[Welpe]

It's never easy and there's no type of guidance or process here. There are some that don't want to let go and I see their friends pained by the fact that they know they aren't able to keep up any more but don't have the heart to tell them because they are friends. It's a no win at times.

I can only hope and pray I will know when it is my time and let go graciously.

[Rich]

I've fired two crew members. It's not easy.

One never again latched on to a crew and passed away a year or two ago. When I went to his funeral, there was a picture of 3 of us along with this official dressed in baseball umpire uniforms before some game we worked 4-man.

In retrospect, the decision was the right one (to fire the official), but I wonder if I could've done it a bit differently.

[Texas Aggie]

We change crews every two years in my HS chapter. In the past, a lot of crews stayed together (or 4 out of 5 did) for a long time. That's starting to change. I have seen the progression of some guys from one crew, down to another that doesn't have quite the schedule as the first on, and so on. Some guys leave altogether. For us, its important for the crew chief to stick to the 2 year commitment and move on after that if someone needs to retire. I don't see that as a firing since there is no commitment beyond the 2 years.

Up until about 2 years ago, we were seeing crew chiefs that needed to retire stay on and then struggle with a schedule that wasn't close to one they had previously had. When you go from 12-15 games down to 7, then down to 3, you start to get out of the habit of working football on Friday nights and soon find other things to do.

I don't see myself running the clock when I leave the field. I don't like doing that now. However, I *might* go to something like the radio booth -- I've actually been approached about that by a group that's doing high school games.