There will always be complaints about the officials' judgment at any state tournament, but I'm not here to complain about the judgment exhibited. Instead, my concern is over the antics of an official at the 321A state tournament. Windmill pins and banging fists with other officials has no place in high school or kids federation. The matches are about the wrestlers, not how well the match was officiated. So when an official walked off the mat soliciting celebration with the other officials by holding up a closed fist for the other officials to bang, I felt like the official was calling attention to himself (there were many occassions where the official called attention to himself).

Finally, the windmill pin calls by the official were totally uncalled for. It is upsetting enough to lose by a fall, but to have the official rub it your face with a "rolling away windmill slap of the mat," is absolutely wrong. The wrestlers and fans are expected to practice good sportsmanship, the officials should as well. Calling attention to yourself by an official takes away from the sport and I hope we don't have to watch a rerun next year.

I think the official in question has been "abused" on the forum for his behavior and still will not change. He is a good guy but when he slaps the mat that hard when one of my guys gets pinned, I want to go out and beat the snot out of him. Good thing I am medicated to curve my rage.

He is fun to watch, like a baseball official or softball official that gets in to their job.

One would expect there to be better, more objective officials at a state tournament. In a lot of the tough matches, it appeared as though the official had already figured out who would win. To lose when it's your own fault is one thing; to lose b/c a ref made a biased call and then celebrated after it is a completely different deal.

Also, is there another individual sport where good refs "get into" officiating and make fools of themselves and the competitors? Boxing, tennis, golf, track, swimming? I think not. I could see that sort of thing any team sport -- no problem.

idk y this is a big deal? because a ref is there from morning tell night just like we are, and they wanna have a little fun too. I dont see the point of hitting the mat hard or a rolling away windmill slap to the mat being that bad when someone gets pinned. Even when ur not wrestling and u see a ref do that its pretty fun to watch besides having a totally serious mean ref who doesn't joke around or nothing. Its a sport for them too they should be able to make it fun some of the times

an official is NOT bigger than the match and not sure if it is the same official but I've saw one that while laying on mat observing fall situation will turn away, turn back, turn away like he is deliberately clowning and give a long whistle and slap the mat in a slow soft fashion while looking at the crowd.

This same official is very animated and yes appears to be having fun and even jokes with the wrestlers which many enjoy but my major concern is someone possibly being injured from a potentially dangerous position, high bridge or something due to not being on top of the action.

They're not getting paid to have a little fun. They're getting paid to officiate objectively, protect the wrestlers from injury, and to promote sportsmanlike conduct. Why should they be allowed to antogonize the wrestlers/coaches/parents/fans to display unsportsmanlike conduct and then punish a wrestler for doing just that. That's rediculous. It's not a sport for them, and they are not there to be a show. I watched a wrestler make a show to the crowd after getting a call in his favor to taunt his opponent -- probably less of a show than what some of the refs make. That ref rightly hit him with a violation and awarded the other wrestler a point. He lost the match by 1 and was rightly eliminated from state b/c of it. Then, you say refs should taunt people just the same? Come on!?

The best officials are the ones you don't notice, but just because no one is physically capable of noticing Terry Hilton does not automatically put him in that category.

Well i guess i have my own opinion...

I think it's funny that people are commenting on how the ref slaps the mat. As a wrestler, I have been on both sides of "the slap". It is fun to watch, and it does suck when it happens to you, but seriously. He's fun to watch and a good guy. The real discussion should be about the fact that one of the officials of the 3-2-1A state tournament had a son wrestling in the tournament in the 130 weight class. I would not have a problem with this if the ref was held out of officiating his son's weight class, but he did, and made a very controversial call in the semi-finals of that match, one that resulted in a coach's ejection.

Officals get to officiate the state tournament because coaches ad administrators "vote" for them. The most vote getters go. Assuming that the votes are based on ability, you are getting the best there is. If a coach has a problem with an official all that coach needs to do is talk to the official or file a complaint with the state. Most officials will stop objectionable behavior if its brought to their attention.

That said, its poor officiating mechanics to use any signal that is not in the rule book. And being overly demonstrative is bound to cause some criticism from those that have just lost.

Hey hobbes, I happen to think that Kevin Hewitt is an exceptional ref and by the way it wasn't his son wrestling in that weight class. It was his nephew, the kids dad Mark Hewitt was in the corner, and i don't see the problem cause he never reffed against his nephew. I know he would of never put himself in that position in the first place. The thing is, no matter the call the ref made, someone was goin to be pissed off because you can't make everyone happy!

Malay, thank you for the correction, I am not doubting Mr. Hewitt's ability, I thought he officiating very well, and the call could have gone either way. That being said, I still think that it is a conflict of interest. I am not saying that Mr. Hewitt in particular would do anythiny, but just as a preventative measure in the future, it is something to watch out for.

hobbes 332 What was the bout number,if it was 290 you and I see it different. It was Silver lake and Wichita-Independent and it was the asst Silver Lake coach that was ejected, He came from off the mat.Mr Hewitt is one of the states best officials,I take him every time! He put up with more than i would have.I think the ref that threw out the coach came from another mat! Fredrickson I think ? The windmill ref was a joke!Just my opinion.

Thanks for your time

To All,

I am going to agree with Mr. Patton on this one, Kevin Hewitt is one of the best refs in the state,even if his nephew is wrestling. In fact he may be harder on Beloit because he is from Beloit and does not want to be labeled "a hometown ref". I know that every time I see him on the mat we are in good hands, he has ALWAYS called the match fairly-in my opinion.

I'll agree with MaLay in that you cannot make everyone happy, and I am sure that Hewitt has his enemies, there are some refs that make everyone cringe when they walk out there. But lets not forget that wrestlers should "try" to not put the match in the refs hands. I once had a very good state champ who was dqed from a match, not because of flagrant or unsportsman like moves, but for other violations-false starts and what not-5 penalties in a match. That ref was on my poop list for a year, but after talking to him about it I came to understand that he made the right call in his mind. While I still did not agree I think it is petty to blame anything on a ref, sure my blood gets up and I yell at the ref. But I always thank them for the job they do, and I try to have a realtionship with them as opposed to a hatred or contempt.

These guys are human and make mistakes,some of them cost kids their sought after titles,give them a break. Do they do some things on purpose-yes they are vindictive, cruel, and otherall have too much control-but so are wrestling coaches. They are a dying breed.We do not have enough good officials and this is one reason. We, as a wrestling community, need to promote ex-wrestlers to become officials, not bag on a guy who was there in the State Tournament series by a Coaches vote!

I am not trying to take the high road here, I am just as bad as everyone else, you should have seen me at Regionals! But as a coach I want my athletes to learn respect for authority-parents, teachers, elders, and you-their parents. And please leave the refs alone at a kids fed event, we need them to cut their teeth. By the time that "bad" kids fed ref makes it to the high school ranks he will be better. We lose too many refs in the kids fed level it takes time to become a "good" ref, just like it does to become a "good" wrestler!

That is my two cents on this issue. Every team and every wrestler will get screwed by a ref at sometime. I try to move on, sometimes I am successful, sometimes I jump up and down on tv like in last years state finals at 152lbs. I forgive you Ron, I truely do!

Sincerely,
Coach Jason Brown

ps. I refed a kids tourney in Hutch when I was 19, worst overall experience in my life-besides the skim board accident at Nationals last year-I learned empathy for refs right there! And never did it again!

Kudos to Jason Brown, He is what you call a die hard-submitting the prior long post here on the forum during the KU - K State game with no apparent interest in watching roundball on the TV like much of the sunflower state.

Didn't even know it was on and I am a ksu grad...but really do not care one way or another. There is virtually no pumpkin-poundin in my house, wife really doesn't like it either.

We are a wrestling family!There are enough B-ball families to go around!

Coach Brown

Jason,
I'm really glad to see you heading up the Sabetha program as I grew up in the Big 7 League and know their proud history and many of their greats. You seem to genuinely care about your athletes
and their future beyond wrestling which is what my hs coach
was like. You go the extra mile, advocating for them & doing rankings and always offer quality perspective & an honest approach to the forums and are a hard charging ambitous young coach. I know Mike Streit and Steve Ukele would like to hang on to you and Sabetha is a great community. ..so Hope to see you continue on serving NE KS in wrestling for years to come.

Thank you!

Jason Brown