Will, it can't be all that taboo because it gets brought up every year. Although its been pretty calm this year.

There are good officials, and there are not so good. And there are officials, like me, that have reached a point where they need to honestly evaluate themselves (because nobody else it doing it) and say its time to start phasing out, or getting out. A few years ago I started giving up varsity dates. I'm almost completely out of varsity now, but picked up some middle school and JV dates, which I really enjoy. I've told the assigners that if there are any young/new officials that want any of my dates please assign them before me.

I think the biggest thing preventing a strong, across-the-board cadre of officials is how assignments are handled. To say its a "good old boy system" doesn't really explain the problem, its a lot more complicated. But the bulk of the assignments, and a particularly the good assignments as locked up by a relatively small group of officials. They are a tight-nit, protective, group and have a death grip on those tournaments. They have also locked up all the weekday events among themselves, so for them its a pretty lucrative deal. In my area, the assigners are also officials, so that's no only a conflict, it puts additional pressure on them because they have developed friendships over the years with officials who the feel a personal obligation to assign. Now, the officials who work all these dates year after year are, pretty much across the board, good officials. You get better at officiating by officiating, so if you are working all the two-day tournaments and all the big single day events you are bound to improve. Plus, if you aren't working a variety of skill levels its easier. The better the wrestlers, the easier the officiating.

There are other problems. Any "home" coach can blackball an official. So if you are working ABC High School Tournament and get cross-ways with the ABC head coach, all he has to do is tell the assigner (who is probably working the tournament as well) that he doesn't want you back, and you aren't coming back. No review, no appeal, no discussion on whether its justified. Now that is wrong in any system, but it happens. So how do you suppose officials might react in a close call situation when the ABC kids are on the mat? Officials are human, and many of these guys are making as much officiating during the season as they do at their regular jobs. It's big money those few that have the lion's share of the dates.

I've read where in some states they draw assignments out of hat...each official has the same number of dates, and has an equal chance at getting good assignments. My guess is you would need to categorize officials and assignments, to you weren't sending a rookie to the Bobcat Classic, but that isn't that big a deal...grade assignments, ABCD, and grade officials ABCD, and then match up the hats. Another option would be to at least rotate around a bit, or leave open some slots for up and comers. I gave up Gardner a couple years ago and asked the assigner to make it a rotating slot for younger guys to get a chance...instead of giving it to the next buddy in line. I don't what happened, but my suggestions over the years have not been well received. I complained early on at our meeting that it was unfair that some officials worked both days of a two day tournament while others sat home all weekend. There were loud protests about how the coaches wanted consistency and having different guys on Fri. and Sat. would not work. Well, the ones dissing it were the guys working both days, of course. Consistency comes from everyone knowing the rules and applying them in the same manner, not on the individuals on the mat.

I've concluded there is no fix to the problem so long as you have officials in charge of making assignments, have lifetime assignments, and have no one who insists on fairness in how assignments are made.

Finally, while on a rant, and I never got enough votes to get a state assignment so feel free to call sour grapes, but our system of selecting officials for state is seriously suspect. It requires officials to befriend, and lobby, coaches for their vote. I could never stomach that system and never handed out cards which is what the state requires that officials do who want to get to state. To me, that would be like district court judges being voted on by the attorneys who appear before them for appointment to the court of appeals. The conflict of interest is so glaring at to be blinding. Here again, officials who befriend coaches get those coaches' votes....its the system. I've watched it, and the fawning and chit-chatting with coaches that is required takes a special kind of person, in my opinion, to be able to pull it off.

Most of you don't know me, so you won't know if I'm serious or not, but I am. Our system of recruiting, training, and retaining officials would be a lot more professional and even-handed if we had Will Cokeley or someone like him take it over for a couple of years to put some defensible, and sensible, system in place instead of what's going on now.

Bob Ford
JV Official