Not having the burden (luxury) of 6 and 7 man crews, I've found it a positive exchange to have the wing official working a specific sideline participate in the coach/official discussion befor the game. It's a way to "personalize" the entire "get back" issue and introduce the official who will be helping the coach with penalty details, or understanding who those details should be directed to if not the HC.

Starting the game on a friendle, helpful note has never caused a problem.

Our wings find "his" coach at an opportune moment in the 10 minutes before kickoff and does this one-on-one. I don't need to be there for this and this lets the coach and the wing start their working relationship without the R hovering nearby.

Lots of stuff happens in the 17 minutes or so between the coin toss and the kickoff. That's why I like that while we're meeting the coaches, the wings walk the field, fix the pylons and yard markers, and look for issues.

During the R/U conference with the Home coach, the coach said to the U: "Hey, I remember you. You screwed me ten years ago when I was at (wherever) and we played (whomever). If you do that tonight, you won't get out of here alive."

After the conference the R found the Home AD & related the conversation to him. He said "I'll take care of it", and stood within earshot of the coach all night.

7:30 kickoff?

No, 7PM. We're required to be on the field 30 minutes prior.

If they made it 60 minutes prior, I think a substantial number of officials would quit. :)

As anyone familiar with Ohio knows, we have an extremely detailed and specific list of steps, starting at 6:00 required arrival (for a 7:30 kickoff). It is what it is....it has brought a level of uniformity and predictability in mechanics, especially when mixing officials from the various urban areas in the state as well as the many rural areas in the playoffs or filling in on other crews.

U's check the footballs here. It works pretty well, teams bring a bag with all their balls to the locker room between 6:00 and 6:50 when we're dressing, U marks the ball (the timer usually comes by around the same time to talk with R/LJ), entire crew meets with coaches at 6:55 (or so), coin flip at 7:10 (20 mins prior), and off we go.

Our crew arrives no later than 5:45PM for a 7PM kickoff, so we're only 15 minutes behind Ohio. Sometimes we're there by 5:30PM.

My 5-person crew has been together for 8 years as a group now. We've taken on a sixth (a rookie) and he's in his 3rd year and works 4-5 games a season with us and also subvarsity and also works on other crews from time to time.

I admire Ohio's efforts at uniformity, actually. Some of the things I find odd, but from a macro perspective, there's a lot to like about it.

We're to be at game site 75 minutes before kickoff, and on the field no later than 45 minutes prior.

That said, travel distances & work schedules often preclude such timing. In my experience, most coaches around here are happy to see us 30 minutes prior.

With most things in life, there's usually more than one way to successfully accomplish most any task. If a process works as intended, there's not much reason to change it.

There's value in the schools and coaches seeing a uniform experience every week.

BTW, one of our association officers talked to 5 big school varsity coaches after preseason scrimmages, and every one of the coaches said how much he hates the 5-on-1 meeting prior to the game. They all much prefer talking to the R/U only.

Our state office dictates the 5 on 1 meeting and that the entire crew attend and be a part of the coin toss. They are by the strict letter of the mechanics manual usually, expect on coin toss mechanics.

No Welpe, that is just the way it pasted! Thanks for checking on me though!:)

Your state must have its own mechanics manual. The NFHS manual only has the R/U meet the coaches.

We take the field at 7:00 pm. Here all 5 meet, first with the home coach, R goes over the Big Question, any casts/splints/braces for my U to check, halftime, unusual plays, non-conference game- do you want to play OT?, LH/RH QB, introduce his wing official. Then on to the visiting coach- same thing. I've never had an HC ask to do the early coin toss, they always say "Nah let the kids do it".

We then go to our pre-game field duties, stretch, prepare for the coin toss.

Properly equipped, anything for the umpire to check, anything he wants to run by us.

If it's more than 90 seconds, my umpire tells me to STFU. :D