Coach requesting specific officials
 

As an assignor of a very small town where everyone knows everyone and there are only 7 high schools within an hour drive, our officials go to the same schools very often. Play offs started last evening. I have received an email from one of the AD's letting me know that his coach is requesting specific officials for her game. Three schools have a play off game that night so all of my officials will need to work that night. However, she also gave specific names of officials that she does not want on her game. (The one she has a problem with because he graduated from the opposing school. HOWEVER, he graduated 47 years ago, has officiated for 27 years, and has never been biased.) The second one she requested not to have, she doesn't want her because she disagreed with a call she made on a game that she ultimately won. Her reason she gives for not wanting this official is because the official's daughter goes to her school and she is afraid she will call AGAINST her.

Is it okay for a coach to request certain officials be assigned or denied her games? When I assign, I take many factors into consideration, including strengths, weaknesses, scheduling availabilities, etc. If I allow this coach to hand select who she wants, that compounds the issue immensely.

It's ok for them to request whatever they like.

When I assigned a different sport, the easiest way to get a particular official was to ask me to not let them officiate your games in the future. That official ALWAYS got their next game.

The only exception - an official who has a child currently (or maybe very recently) enrolled at a particular school ... but for the most part officials do a good job of scratching THEMSELVES from these possible conflict of interest games before the season even starts.

Put the best official at the best games. Period.

Requests from schools are relatively common. I know that I get regular requests of that nature (want that ref / don't want that ref).

It seems entirely reasonable to block a ref that has a child attending the school. That's more for protection of the ref and daughter than it is for the teams. What if something crazy/controversial happens that substantially determines the outcome of the match? It's better to not have that extra potential headache.

For the ref that graduated from the school nearly 50 years ago, I don't think that matters at all...unless there is some more recent relationship with the school.

For the ref that is disliked because of a single call, I would give that only very minor weight in my decision.

Unless your association/league/state has specific parameters, I would use the feedback from the coach/AD as something to consider...not the final determining factor.

In the sport I assign we are generally pretty open to keeping officials away from schools if the school requests that official not work. Generally the reason has nothing to do with the officials abilities, but more their timeliness or attitude. Of the 5 officials I have requested not to work at a school, one is because he is a bad official (which is why he no longer works for me), one is because he was late twice to that school and caused delays in the start (due to not verifying the meet was still scheduled on a day school was cancelled). One is requested not to work a school for an unknown reason, but it likely has to do with a prior relationship with the administration of the school, not related to the sport. The fourth is because she always immediately asked about pay for the meets before even starting the meet, which is against the local schools desires (she is now doing very little work). The fifth was just requested not to work by the coach this week. He missed one meet because he didn't check his schedule, and was 45 minutes late for another due to a late arriving flight. The one he missed I had to cover for him on.

I am generally willing to work with schools until it becomes excessive, which it has not yet done.