By Tim Sloan
An assigner I work with was telling me about a great idea he heard during his annual meeting with his league’s basketball coaches. They wanted him to assign crews of officials to each day of the schedule but wait until the actual week of the games to tell them which one they would work. That way, the coaches could look over the list of officials for a given night and come up with who would work what game based on the importance of the game, the crew’s ability, previous encounters and, we would assume, the current position of the planet Saturn in the Zodiac.
My friend kept waiting for them to burst out laughing and say, “Just kidding,” but they were apparently as serious as a heart attack. He explained that, despite the generous game fees they were paying, he would be able to find few officials to participate in this strategy. Seems that officials have standards, too. He patiently spelled out that the “best” officials had options of where to work and that lining them up to maybe work a big game wasn’t as sweet a deal for them as it was the coaches. While nothing came of the idea, the episode does illustrate the catbird position that assigners occupy in our sports; they have to make the most of the conflicting agendas of the teams and the officials in coming up with an assignment list that is the best possible.
Let’s face the fact that most assigners are cognizant of two things: who their best officials are and what schools will make their jobs most miserable if they don’t get the officials they want for a big game. As much as the assigner might love to foster warm, personal relationships with all of officials who work for him or her, officials must accept the fact that they can’t —and, in some cases, will never — get every great game on the schedule. Some of officials have it and some don’t. Officials need to live with that. As officials wait for assignments, there is a list of things that it is reasonable to expect from assigners:
1. Candor
As much as some officials like their egos stroked at every opportunity, it’s important for assigners to give officials a frank statement on what to expect from assigners. How many games and what level of difficulty is a nice start. But also add what you’re hearing from coaches, administrators and trusted observers about an official’s ability or lack of it. If there are things the consensus says need improving, tell the official. Maybe — just maybe — he or she can work on those things and make a better tool for the assigner somewhere down the road. Honesty can help everyone.
2. Organization
It seems to be a given that more games are assigned two or more years in advance than there used to be. It’s an inevitable product of the law of supply and demand. Most officials understand that once crews are assigned, schedules change, crews retire or get fired, locations get swapped … they know the drill. If officials are to hold the dates they receive open in good faith, is it too much to ask to be keep them up-to-date on developments? If changes result in officials losing a date, then the sooner they know, the sooner they can open themselves up to somebody else who might need them. Keep officials in the loop.
3. Support
Most assigners get the job because they know officiating and many of the officials working for them. Assigners also have enough rapport with the teams they work for to be trusted to sort things out and give everyone a piece of the pie. On balance, they then get far more calls and emails from coaches complaining about officials than vice versa. Assigners should then have the inner strength to know when to stand up to coaches and when to concede they might have a point. If it does come to changing their working relationship with officials, assigners should get with officials and tell them so that officials may respond accordingly. Don’t treat officials as pawns.
4. Availability
Most officials accept that assigners have a life in the offseason. During the season, however, officials need them to be reachable on very short notice: Officials get hurt, get trapped at work, or are notified they forgot the school play that Precious is in tomorrow and need a quick response from the assigner about what help they’re going to get. As much as officials owe it to assigners and schools to assure them in advance that we will be at Tech on Thursday night, officials need to be assured that important information they’re passing on is being dealt with promptly, too. The best assigners are a phone call or email away and can work quickly through the inevitable emergencies to everyone’s satisfaction.
Whatever most assigners get paid for making assignments, it usually isn’t worth it from a strictly economic standpoint. They do it through some sense of duty and, often, the chance to return what they once received. Making assigners proud of the officials when they go out and work a game successfully is what both sides ask for. Officials can help hold up their end of the bargain by assigners holding up theirs.
Tim Sloan, Davenport, Iowa, is a high school football, basketball and volleyball official, and a former college football and soccer official.
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