Assignor and active umpire

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Andy
Thanks, folks for all of your thoughts and opinions. Just about everything that you all said is something I thought about over the weekend.

Tony - it sounds as if you were part of a bad situation and I can certainly see how that could happen. I do appreciate you sharing your opinions.

I talked to the board president about the job. It seems that the board of our association is so unhappy about the job the previous assignor did, that they are planning to totally revamp the system. The board wants significant input as to who gets what games and the levels that each umpire is qualified to work.

I put my name in the hat as someone interested...we'll see what happens!

Buy the software. That way you can always blame any problems on the computer program

[bluezebra]

Originally posted by DownTownTonyBrown
Assigning yourself games is AN OBVIOUS CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

It is a silly question. THE CONFLICT IS OBVIOUS. Don't look for platitudes from me that this is acceptable. I do not feel that it is okay.

It is a common COI that occurs in many leagues as evidenced by the responses received. It may be an accepted practice but acceptance doesn't change the fact that it is still a COI. The Assigner that determines his own income and game assignments doesn't have a leg to stand on when someone complains... the saving grace is "Who is going to complain to the assignor?" This is the guy that also determines the games I receive. If I complain, then what games will I get?

If this is a league where officials are evaluated (by the coaches for example)... again who is going to complain. If I give a bad evaluation to the guy that assigns the games... what officials will I receive for my next game?

If the assigner gets all the great evaluations... who gets chosen to do all the highest level of games? Who goes to work the State tournament? The Assigner?

I am aware of a assigner/commissioner that always assigned himself the highest games; sometimes worked games for his own school where he was the Vice Principal; sent himself and his daughter to the State Tournament... repeatedly; if his own team was going to state, he would ride the bus with the team but still collect travel/per diem money. I am aware of an assigner, that with his son, worked every gameday during the American Legion season; always took the best games and those with the most travel money.

Did people complain? Only quietly. Did the complaints change anything? No.

Both of the officials mentioned above are excellent officials. But once a person takes one step to diminish their integrity, it makes the next, almost imperceptible. Integrity is a yes/no deal. You can't have some - it's all or nothing.

Of course the person working in this obvious COI situation feels they can properly work the game and maintain their integrity... perhaps they can make the proper/correct/fair/just calls BUT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THE PERCEPTION that they had opportunity to make biased calls or biased game assignments. And COI is about perception.

In my opinion, an assigner that works games should only work those games that he absolutely cannot get anyone else to cover and they should obviously NOT be the biggest, most important games - they should be games that no one else will even notice. Those games deserve good officials too. An assigner should not be eligible for big games and state tournament assignments.

It's your integrity. Obviously many before you have been faced with the same decision... and many chose to BOTH assign and work games that they have assigned themselves. We don't hear about those that chose to only work games or those that chose to only assign games - they had no COI.

Again, it is your integrity. Forgive me, but don't expect consolation from me. It is not a position I would put myself in.

Maybe because you don't trust your OWN integrity. When I assigned (two sports), I submitted the overall schedule to the BODs for approval. As I said in a previous post, their only comment was that I didn't assign enough games to myself.

When it comes to playoffs in my area, there is no problem. The BOD rates the officials. The assignments are made by standing. When the playoffs go beyond the second round, the Southern Section (CIF) does the assigning. And the CIF office makes state playoff assignments.

None of the officials I assigned ever questioned my integrity. Not because they were afraid of losing games, but because they knew how I operated.

As for those you mentioned above, it's the fault of the officials associations, and the leagues' BODs to allow this to happen.

Bob

[DownTownTonyBrown]

I think it can be done and your integrity maintained if you are willing to take the little games and only take them when you must to ensure coverage of the competition. (This is despite the fact that the assigner could work those bigger games and do an excellent job. The coaches might well want the assigner to work those games. However there are surely other officials that would like to have opportunity also.)

I do not feel you can maintain your integrity if you assign yourself more benefits, as perceived by your fellow officials, than you assign to those other officials.

I hope that you are not insinuating that I am childish and petty and that I see corruption at every turn. That would seem rather bold.

Honor is definetely an important part of integrity. I'm not sure what you are implying. The examples I gave were not honorable but they were factual. I also gave some situations that perception would lead one to believe the assigner is neither honorable nor has maintained his integrity. He has taken advantage of his position.

You are right; conflict of interest is a fact of life. It goes on all around us and in everything we do. I doubt it can be avoided.

To be the assigner and officiate (pay yourself to assign games to yourself) is an obvious conflict of interest. That was the original question and my answer is yes it is a COI.

I didn't intend to impugn anyone. It is a topic that I feel strongly about and I have probably overspoken my share.

See ya.

[Dakota]

Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA
Buy the software. That way you can always blame any problems on the computer program

LOL! Excellent strategy!

[Dakota]

Originally posted by DownTownTonyBrown
I hope that you are not insinuating that I am childish and petty and that I see corruption at every turn. That would seem rather bold.

No, I was not, and I hope you did not infer that. It seemed obvious to me you have had to deal with bad actors in the past.

All I was saying is not everyone is a bad actor, and people of honor and integrity can handle the conflict of interest openly and above board.

I don't agree that the only way to handle this is to assign yourself only the dregs.

See Bob's post. It sounds like he figured it out.

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

Elaine: You actually were able to schedule an entire season at ONCE? The way the leagues around here screw around,the assignor is sometimes lucky to get the games the day before...Around here, two guys divvied up the schedule thusly: One guy does the mens games...one does the women's/girls games...it actually worked out real well....and I dont mind getting two separate checks!
ANDY:
as somebody before said..there will always be whiners and complainers in any organization..GOOD LUCK!

and never EVER schedule games unless you have $$ in your hand...