Originally posted by Nigel Isom:
Dear Mike,

Rick Bowden the assistant executive director at KSHSAA is the one who picks the officials to work both Regionals and State. That being said he does this through the recommendations of the Athletic Director of each high school. A common misconception is that the coaches give the recs. Well in a way they do because typically they tell the AD who they should recommend. The problem is that a surprising amount of coaches and AD's never bother to send in recommendations, and thus the same people end up working the state tournament year in and year out because the same people who gave them recommendations the year before just continue to, because 1. The official asked them to. 2. They actually did something to impress said coach/AD and thus warranted the rec. There are a very good number of knowledable officials who work the state tournament every year like Mark Anderson, and Bob Warkantine. On the other hand there is room for improvement by nominating some of the deserving officials rather than the guys that just get picked every year cause they've been around.