1. Be organized

Depending on the amount of games you’re responsible for, how long your season is and how many officials you’re assigning, it’s very easy to get sidetracked. If you’re not organized, the details that start as a trickle can quickly threaten to become a tsunami. If you can keep everything organized into an efficient work process, you can contain and control the flow.

2. Pay attention to detail

Being detail oriented will make your job easier and give you the backup proof if there’s any kind of issue that arises. Check and recheck your work. Keep good records of changes you’ve had to make, whether it’s from the leagues/schools you work for, or if it’s the officials that are making changes to their availability. Save and file emails, so you can go back and verify anything.

3. Show the ability to prioritize

You must prioritize or the sheer volume of details will overwhelm you. Separate tasks by what has to be done in the next 24 to 48 hours and then what’s next week. Prioritize and at the same time don’t lose track of the stuff that’s coming up just because it’s not no. 1! Those first three items all deal with the working portion of the job. Believe it or not, that’s the “easy” part.

4. Develop a thick skin

You’re basically raising “children” when you agree to become an assigner. Multiple personalities, family and work situations, financial status. All of those factors contribute to which officials do which games. Be prepared for any and all reasons to not make it to games, not be on time, have last-minute “excuses” for late changes, etc. You have to figure out quickly which “kids” are going to be your “go to” people and which “kids” end up on the “naughty” list.

5. Get to know your staff

There is a human side to what we do. What hobbies do they have? Where do they work? Where do they go to church? Where do their kids go to school? Those are all details that will help you make decisions about assigning which official where and when.

6. Be fair to a fault

Be honest with your officials and expect them to be honest with you. Crew integrity doesn’t just apply on the court or field. Keep track of which officials work championship games in tournaments and move them around from tournament to tournament. Be sure all qualified officials get an opportunity to work that championship game eventually. Seniority does count for something in officiating, just like any other job. But in order for the younger officials to stick around long enough to be a “senior” official, you have to also give them opportunities. Give them the occasional big game, recommend them for postseason assignments when they’re ready and be excited about their success.

7. Be approachable to all

If they know you genuinely care about their wellbeing and want what’s best for them, often officials will respond more positively than if you just treat them as a name to fill in a slot. You will always have “favorites,” officials you can really depend on when you’re in a pinch, but you can’t make it obvious to everyone. You may also have some officials that aren’t your favorites. Again, you can’t make that obvious either. Your job as assigner is to do the best job for all officials, whether they’re ranked in the top 10, or dead last. You work for the people, not the other way around.

Being a successful assigner takes a lot of hard work and dedication. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Why not you? If you want it done right and you’ve stepped forward, it’s time to put the walk in place of the talk. Being a good assigner has many of the same attributes of being a good official. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Look out for what’s best for all the membership, not what’s best for you personally. Be honest and have integrity. Do what’s right when applying the “rules,” and apply them according to the intent of the rules, not the letter of the rules. As with officiating, all of these factors will make the “game of assigning” run smoothly and help you be successful.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice.

The post Meet the Assigning Challenge appeared first on Referee.com.

A professional approach between board members and members of the association is absolutely necessary. No board position is potentially more volatile than that of assigner. If you can’t maintain an honest approach with a highlight on your integrity, you won’t be able to do your best work, and you might not be in that position for very long.

The position of assigner in any officiating association has the spotlight on it at all times, so don’t do anything that you’re not going to want to see again in the light of day. Mistakes have a life all their own, and you’re going to make them. The focus should be to minimize the damage of a mistake and don’t do it again. It’s a topic I’m very passionate about, as I’m in the eighth year as assigner of our association. I’ve served as member at large, rules interpreter and vice president. No other position has the ongoing headaches that come with the assigner position. Let’s outline some things to work on, and some things to avoid.

DO:

1. Be transparent.

To do a stellar job as an assigner, everyone in your association has to feel that he or she is being treated fairly and consistently. When you are questioned by members as to why their schedule isn’t what they think it should be, sometimes tact and diplomacy work. Sometimes brutal honesty works better, as long as you remember to deal in facts, not opinions. Don’t let a personality clash turn into an all-out war. Let them know where they stand, and what they need to improve on to get higher level games.

2. Work hard to deal patiently with changes from officials and leagues.

They will happen and more often than you care for. Be understanding, especially if it’s an official that is usually dependable. If you’re patient when they make a mistake, hopefully they’ll be patient when you make a mistake, because those will happen too. If you have an official who has a bad habit of being late or not showing up, give them a week or two to think about it with no assignments, and see if they get the point.

3. Reward your “go-to” people with more and better games.

If you think that contradicts point 1, it doesn’t. Again, you have to be honest and transparent with those that haven’t achieved that level yet. I don’t mind pointing out to officials that availability and dependability go hand in hand when it comes to getting games. Those officials that are willing to fill in on a last-minute basis because someone else bailed on you deserve to be rewarded. If I have a veteran varsity official who fills in for me on a C or JV game during a hectic week of changes, I make sure I keep track and get them on a good varsity assignment.

4. Be visible.

Get out and view your officials working. Give them positive feedback on what you’d like to see them improve, and also include what you think they’re doing well. If it’s a newer official, give them small bites. If it’s a veteran, give them “polish” points to make their game sharper and improve perception of them as an official.

DON’T:

1. Hold grudges.

Allow members to apologize, and reward them if they are honestly trying to improve your perception of them. Everyone makes mistakes. If the member sees the error of his or her way, allow the member some leeway to make it right.

2. Don’t talk about members to other members.

Sometimes in board meetings, assessments and observations about officials come up. Leave those discussions in the board meeting. This is one of those landmines that you want to avoid. Be professional. Be very careful when you’re out in public. You never know who might be watching. People in your town know who you are, so they’ll want to ask questions about what this official said or did and what do you think about it. If it’s an official request from a league administrator, activities principal or a coach, ask for specifics about any rules that they perceived were incorrect, and for game film if it’s available. Don’t get into a discussion about judgment calls. That’s a “no win” situation. Talk to the official about the issue and get their side of the story.

Our assigning system allows for postgame reports. We require those in any odd rules situation, and also if a coach or player receives a technical foul or is ejected. Those reports go to our president, vice-president and assigner. Officials should give administrators a little “heads-up” hopefully before the phone calls start.

Assigning is much like raising kids. Many days it’s a lot of work with little reward. On other days, it’s very rewarding. You have to take the bad with the good, and work hard to “raise your children” so they are doing their best work for your association and for themselves. Again, as with raising your kids, a lot of patience is required to get them from the “baby” stage, through “adolescence” and hopefully to the “mature adult” stage. Most assigners are getting paid to do the job, but if it’s not a labor of love also, you’ll give up before you see positive results. You’ll definitely have a “parent’s pride” when they succeed, and receive higher level recognition.

Be honest and transparent, and be patient and passionate about your officials and the sports you assign. Finally, work hard. As with many good things, if it was easy, anyone could do it.

The post 6 Assigner Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Referee.com.

1. Know your assigning system.

When I started assigning three years ago, I didn’t know a lot about our scheduling system. If you can get some instruction from your previous assigner, that’s great. In our local association, the treasurer is responsible for making sure the assigning gets done, whether they do it themselves, or select someone to do it, with the board’s approval, and under the supervision of the treasurer. The first thing I did was get on our web system, navigate around it, and find out what looked fairly simple, and what I was going to have to spend more time on. I also made it a point to build a repoire with the webmaster of our website, which incorporates the assigning system into it. We had quite a few conversations that first season, both to learn what the system was currently set up for, and to find out what it wasn’t doing yet that it was capable of. You really want to let your system work for you. Scheduling, billing and payroll should all be handled by a good web assigning system. If you have a smaller association, and are still scheduling on the paper and telephone call system, that’s fine. You still want to understand how to work that system and keep good records.

2. Know your personnel.

It’s imperative that you know who your “problem children” are right away. You also need to know who your “go to” people are. Knowledge of both are equally important. Your problem children will take up a majority of your time, if you let them. Don’t! Your “go to” people will save your bacon many times during the season, with last-minute fill-ins, or by doing that game that no one else wants, and they’ll do it without griping about it. Reward them when possible, and always thank them.

3. Set definite criteria for assignments and advancement.

At the beginning of the season, the association board needs to set criteria for the assigning and advancement. That takes the assigner out of play in a lot of situations. Either the member fulfilled the criteria or didn’t. Our board uses meeting attendance, test scores, clinics attendance, mentorship and evaluations as a basis for varsity assignments and postseason play. Our board also meets and votes on who will be awarded a postseason recommendation for either a region or state slot. It’s not the choice of one or two people, but the entire board.

4. Be fair and honest.

Those are absolutes and go hand in hand. If you’re not fair in the eyes of the majority of your group, you’re in trouble. If you’re still an active official, assign yourself at the level you were when you took over the assigning job, and don’t use that as an opportunity to “raise” your assignments. That’ll not bode well for your future as an assigner.

Personality conflicts cannot come into play when assigning. Whether you like or dislike an official is immaterial. Are they capable of handling the level of game that you are assigning? Are you giving them the opportunity to advance, if warranted? If they call you and ask for an assessment of their abilities, give them an honest answer based on your observations and the feedback directed to you by board members or senior officials. Be honest and at the same time be as unbiased as you can. Give them what they need to work on, and give them positive points. Keep good records of reports about officials, especially complaints from school or league administrators. Share those with the official, without naming names, to let them know that is serious, and you want them to work on improvement.

5. Be approachable.

The members need to know you are working for them. They need to know they can call you and discuss an assignment, a game situation that went awry or a personal issue. They shouldn’t have to be worried about their schedule being in jeopardy. The members also need to know the absolutes. The items I require of our officials are simple:

A. Be accurate in your availability. If you’re not sure, you’re not available.

B. Check the schedule when published, and let me know right away if you can’t do the assigned games. Everyone should work rec, youth, C and JV, even varsity officials. For training purposes, we assign all high school ball as three-crew, if we have enough officials available. We use our varsity officials as trainers during the C/JV games, giving immediate feedback to the younger/newer officials.

6. Be available.

Be available to devote an immense amount of time during the season to assigning. Make sure your spouse and family buy in. Be available to field calls from coaches, administrators and officials at almost anytime. Be available to watch games and offer positive feedback to aspiring officials. Watching games allows you to better assess the capabilities and attitudes of your officials. Attitude incorporates everything from work ethic, loyalty to the association, showing up on time and at the right gym, being a great partner, self evaluation and constantly striving to be better.

Assigning isn’t for everyone. It’s like being parent, friend, confidant, father confessor and most of all babysitter all rolled into one. As with most jobs, 10 percent of the people will cause 90 percent of the problems. You have to be persistent to “gut it out.” You get paid, but like good officials, you can’t be doing it just for the money. You have to be passionate about it, and want to do your best. If you’ve agreed to do it, tackle it with all the gusto you can manage. There are a lot of headaches, but there are a lot of rewards. Watching younger officials advance because of your training, or giving them opportunities to officiate higher level games is a thrill. Remember where you came from, how you got to where you are, and give back.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice.

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Conlin shared his thoughts on assigning as part of a panel last July at the Sports Officiating Summit.

“Unfortunately, I think as assigners sometimes we get too caught up in all the numbers,” Conlin said. “It often becomes just a business about trying to fill a slot.”

Conlin likes to focus his efforts on the assignments and has his schools help him out with some of the other administrative tasks. In addition to making initial assignments, he is used to having to replace people as well.

“I made about 6,000 assignments last year between football and basketball,” Conlin said. “That’s just counting the assignment the first time. That’s not counting having to replace people.”

Turnbacks

The issue of turnbacks obviously doesn’t pose as much of a problem at the higher levels for Conlin, as the officials he uses often jump at the chance to work the more advanced contests.

“I don’t do a real good job about keeping track of the declines and the turnbacks because I really don’t think I want to know the number,” Conlin said. “It’s too many, as most of you know. I have another website or Arbiter group that’s just my college officiating. It’s a small group, as far as the assignments go — smaller than high school. But I still have about the same number of officials. So I’m dealing with the better part of 700 officials on a regular basis.”

As both assigners and officials figure out what does and doesn’t work when it comes to assigning, the process becomes less hectic and more manageable. 

“In regard to turnbacks, I think as we get better at the assigning piece and the officials get better at their calendar, we get less and less of that,” Conlin said. He also stresses to his staffs that he prefers to only assign a game once. “I try to tell my officials that this is a business for me as an assigner. If it’s a varsity girls’ basketball game, I get paid to make three assignments. When I make assignment number four, I’m working for free, and nobody realistically wants to work for free. 

“If you let the officials know that, it becomes a little bit easier. I’ve been trying to use that take with them for a number of years, and they now have a tendency to do a better job. I also tell them they move to the bottom of the ladder when they do the decline thing on a regular basis.”

Payment

The method in which officials are compensated is another area of concern that assigners need to figure out. Conlin uses RefPay (now ArbiterPay), a third-party entity that specializes in the payment of sports officials. 

“One thing that I’ve tried to get my schools to do that I think has made it a lot easier on everyone, and especially for the officials, is to get as many of them to use RefPay as possible,” Conlin said. “It’s a lot easier because they know the money’s going to the right person, and they don’t have to worry about the wrong people cashing the check.”

Game fees can greatly differ depending on what sport and level is being worked. Conlin continued, “At the high school level, maybe it’s not that big of a deal. But if the wrong person gets a check that’s got a comma in it, there are certainly tax implications.”

Technology

As a veteran assigner, Conlin has seen a number of positive and negative trends over the years. Technology has made assigning a much more manageable undertaking. “One of the positive things is the use of websites,” he said.

Conlin feels that as new officials and administrators enter the world of officiating and assigning, they tend to be more technologically savvy than previous generations.

“The younger people coming in have grown up using the Internet, so it’s not intimidating to them,” he said. “I’ve found as the staffs get younger, and it’s also true at the high school level, that we don’t have the problems we once had.

“In the beginning when we were trying to use the Internet, you had a lot of athletic directors that really struggled with any of the assigning programs. It’s not so much chronological age as the fact that you’ve now got people that are not technologically intimidated. It’s a much smoother process.”

People Business

Another negative trend that Conlin sees happening in the industry is that officiating is becoming less and less of a people business and more of a filling- the-slot business. “In the ArbiterSports system, it’s a bunch of slots,” he said. “I think we get away from the people business part of it. It’s just about filling a slot. 

“The reality is, if I’m trying to assign you to a game and you can’t, I don’t (unfortunately) have time to shoot the breeze. If I’m looking for a football crew, I really don’t care. I just need to move on.”

Some officials on the receiving end of that can quickly label an assigner as being arrogant or uncaring. That’s not the case, according to Conlin. 

He thinks that it is important for both assigners and officials to recognize where the other is coming from. Working a number of sports with various coordinators has made Conlin recognize that the people side of assigning should never be lost. 

“One of the reasons I’ve stayed connected to the local high school association as the assigner is to be at meetings and have people see who it is that’s on the other end of the assignment when they decline,” Conlin said. “Overall it’s a really good business and I still really enjoy it. You meet a ton of great people, and I wouldn’t know most of the people in this room if it wasn’t for officiating.”

This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice.

The post Assigning Advice for All Levels appeared first on Referee.com.

The crew had worked together all season before being assigned to the title game by Walt Anderson, who recently retired as the Big 12’s officiating coordinator.

Anderson, who had been the Big 12’s coordinator since 2006 before stepping down to focus on his NFL responsibilities, noted the advantages of assigning postseason games by crew.

“As long as officials had an exceptional year,” he said, “and are going to be warranting assignment of some type, in my opinion, if the assignments can include as many members of the regular crew as it can, I feel that enhances the ability of the crew to work together more effectively.”

Following the conference championship game, the Big 12 was responsible for assigning five bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl between Penn State and Washington. In making those assignments, Anderson tried to keep crew members together when possible and indeed, six members of the crew that worked the conference championship game were assigned to the Fiesta Bowl.

But there were other criteria involved. Anderson told Referee that when it comes to a New Year’s Six bowl, a national semifinal or the national championship game, he prefers to assign the top-ranked officials available, regardless of their crew assignment during the regular season. For other bowls, he tries to keep crew members together when possible.

“If officials on an individual crew are among the group that is going to be assigned a bowl game, I will try to assign them together,” Anderson said. “Simply because I do believe that if you can work officials who have worked together during the year, I believe you have a better chance of efficiency and effectiveness as opposed to putting people together that have not worked together in quite some time.”

The NFL has varied its methodology for assigning postseason crews. In some seasons, it has assigned by crews. In others, it has made assignments based on ratings. On occasion, it has utilized both methods, utilizing the crew system in the early rounds and the individual system in subsequent rounds.

At the high school level, policies may vary from sport to sport. New Jersey and Wisconsin make their postseason football assignments by crews.

Wade Lebecki is a deputy director with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. He assigns five-person crews to his football playoff games, crews that have worked together all season.

“They’re familiar with their mechanics and they’re familiar with their signals,” he says. “That’s probably the biggest thing. It’s also, I believe, a reward for the entire crew, a reward for their years of experience, so we’re not pulling them apart.”

The 100 football-playing schools in Utah are spread out across the state’s 84,899 square miles. Approximately 70 percent of them are situated in a region known as the Wasatch Front, which stretches some 150 miles north to south. The area includes Salt Lake City, Provo and Ogden, and is home to some 80 percent of the state’s population.

Jeff Cluff, an assistant director with the Utah High School Activities Association, assigns every varsity game played in the state, including postseason games, on an individual basis.

Cluff, who also assigns boys’ basketball games across the state and works college baseball himself, is starting his fifth season assigning football. He has employed a variety of assigning methodologies, varying from assigning individually, to putting three officials together for three weeks at a time and then adding two more to their crew each week. He has also assigned entire crews as well as having representatives from each of the football associations around the state assist in the process. For 2018 he’ll return to using an individual system for the 10-week regular season plus the postseason.

“Four years in the office and we’ve assigned four different ways,” he says. “Now we’re back to the original way.”

Utah’s football officials board, which includes a representative from each of seven associations from around the state, has the final say on assigning, but it traditionally defers to Cluff.

“I push them one way or another,” he said. “I give them my strong opinion which carries quite a bit of weight.”

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) divides the state into 12 districts. Assignments for the first phase of the postseason in all sports are made at the district level.

Once the state playoffs begins, each district recommends a list of officials for state tournament assignments. Postseason crews consist of seven officials. If a crew is assigned to work a game in the state football playoffs it will likely remain together for subsequent assignments (assuming all members of the crew are available).

Mark Byers, the PIAA’s chief operating officer, said the same protocol is followed in baseball and softball. “Based on availability of each member of the crew, baseball and softball crews move forward on their merits,” he said, “and are assigned by position within the crew.”

At the high school level, assignment methodologies are often dictated by logistics. Simply put, in sports other than football, which schedules during the week, it is often difficult to keep an entire crew together, particularly during a state tournament, which may involve a lot of travel.

Recently, the PIAA expanded its state playoff structure, creating additional classes in a number of sports. That means more contests to assign but not necessarily more playoff-caliber officials available.

Last fall, the PIAA changed its procedure for basketball and soccer and began assigning officials individually rather than as crews. Byers says the change was made because of the increased number of postseason assignments in those sports and because many of the state’s best officials also work at other levels and may not be available for every round of the state tournament.

“(Making individual assignments) provided a greater flexibility to advance officials through the tournament without being reliant on the entire crew being available,” Byers said. “Basketball and soccer officials also rotate throughout the course of the game, unlike football, baseball and softball, which are assigned by position.”

The post Keep Crews Together or Change Them for Playoffs? appeared first on Referee.com.

But after the game, there were rumblings from the Ladue camp that one of the officials who worked the game had a conflict of interest because he had an ownership stake in a club program in which at least two Hazelwood Central players participated.

The 20-year official had a proven on-court track record at the high school and small-college levels. But did that club connection to players create a conflict of interest — and an obligation for that official to step aside? In some people’s minds, the answer was yes — and the noise in the wake of the game prompted the MSHSAA to investigate.

Accusations of a conflict of interest are hardly a new phenomenon in the officiating industry. But in an era when people are increasingly connected through the internet and social media, governing bodies, assigners and officials themselves have been forced to scrutinize the issue more carefully.

Kenny Seifert, who oversees the MSHSAA’s officials, was not employed by the MSHSAA during the time of the Hazelwood Central-Ladue sectional game. Seifert said the association didn’t find any conflict of interest concern with the official; the schools were fine with him. In fact, he had worked a regular-season game between the two schools without any issues being raised.

But the MSHSAA now has a conflict-of-interest protocol for its officials.

“When they register for the postseason in each sport, we inform them that if there is any conflict of interest with any game assignment they receive throughout the process, they are to contact our office immediately and let us be aware of it so that we can determine if the conflict is significant enough that we want to make a change or not,” he said.

Even where an official can still be fair and impartial, the mere perception of a conflict can cause problems. But in a world where connections abound — the proverbial six degrees of separation — the potential for conflicts of interest, real or perceived, is high.

Perceived conflict of interest is basically unavoidable

“The occurrence of conflict of interest or the perceived conflict of interest in sports organizations is basically unavoidable,” said David Dodge, who worked NCAA Division I men’s basketball for more than three decades, primarily in the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences. Today, Dodge is a member of the NASO Board of Directors and chair of NASO’s Integrity Committee. “To me, what matters most is that we recognize this and then disclose this.”

Then, steps can be taken to address the issue, which can include taking an official off the assignment because of real or perceived conflicts of interest.

“Conflicts of interest abound in sports organizations,” Dodge said. “So, what matters most is recognizing and disclosing them and then managing the decision that needs to be made.”

So what constitutes a conflict of interest?

If there’s any former or current tie that would create doubt in others that you won’t officiate fairly or have a personal bias, there’s a potential for a conflict of interest.

The NASO code of conduct states in part:

“Officials shall be free of obligation to any interest other than the impartial and fair judging of sports competitions. … Officials shall recognize that anything which may lead to a conflict of interest, either real or apparent, must be avoided. Gifts, favors, special treatment, privileges, employment or a personal relationship with a school or team which can compromise the perceived impartiality of officiating must be avoided.”

A key factor here is that officials could still be capable of being fair and impartial, but still find themselves in a conflict-of-interest situation. It’s the perception of a potential bias — that the person’s interests are inconsistent with the best interests of the game — that causes problems.

Ultimately, the perception of a conflict of interest can damage an official’s credibility.

Some classic examples of situations to avoid:

1. Your alma mater. The optics won’t be good when coach Smith comes up and gives you a hug before the game. Some years should pass before working games at a high school or college where you graduated; in some cases — particularly for high-profile athletes — it may never be appropriate to return, except to watch from the stands.
2. Family connections. Does a spouse work in that school district? Do you have a child that attends school there? Those situations would cause people to question your impartiality.
3. Business ties. If you’re employed by a school, don’t officiate games there. And if your boss’s kid attends and plays on the team, best to step aside for any perception of bias that might create — or any damage to your career if your boss isn’t happy with your officiating.
4. Previous blow-ups at the school. Past run-ins can create a perception you can’t impartially officiate the team. Best to disclose the issues so your assigner can evaluate whether you should remain on the game.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) defines a conflict of interest as “any situation which would cause a reasonable person to question the integrity or fairness of an official. Examples include, but are not limited to, officiating a game where a family member participates or officiating a game when the official works for one of the competing schools.”

“Obviously, if your kids attend the school or family members work at the school, those types of things, we don’t want you working those games,” said Beau Rugg, the OHSAA’s director of officiating and sport management who assigns state tournament games. He said potential conflicts of interest are handled on a case-by-case basis. “You can be residing in the school district or residing in the town. That’s more of a case-by-case basis if you’re not connected with the school in any way. Where you live isn’t the biggest deal. If you live in Celina, it doesn’t mean you can’t work Celina High School; you probably won’t very much, but if you’re not connected with the school, that’s not necessarily a conflict of interest.”

There’s an expectation that officials for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association will notify the state office if there are schools where officials shouldn’t work because of a conflict of interest. In fact, officials in North Carolina are required to do so as a condition of the registration process each year.

“The balancing act is, everybody can’t have so many conflicts that we have no officials that can work the games,” said Kip Johnson, a regional supervisor in North Carolina who does the assigning for the Triad Basketball Officials Association (TBOA) and its 300 members.

Johnson, with the assistance of the TBOA’s board of directors, developed a detailed conflict-of-interest policy which was adopted in 2015 and addresses such issues as officials who are school employees, are high school or AAU coaches, those who played a varsity sport (not necessarily basketball) at a school or with a coach, or have family members who do or did. The policy also covers officials who are members of a school’s booster club or who hold elected office in a community.

Johnson notes there was no one incident that prompted the development of the code of conduct, but said it was apparent one was needed.

“I think there has always been an unwritten rule that if you had a child attend a school then you shouldn’t referee there,” Johnson said, “but the problem for me was I began to get phone calls from ADs saying, ‘Why would you send this official to a school that his kid goes to, or his kid graduated from, or his kid played basketball for?’ And I didn’t know.”

A conflict of interest will NOT be held against an official

Rugg said it’s important for the 14,000-plus registered officials in Ohio to understand that reporting a potential conflict of interest will not be held against them.

“What we have to do in many respects is let the officials know that if they come to us with a conflict of interest, especially in the case of a tournament game, that it’s OK,” he said. “We want them to tell us. It’s not going to hurt them in terms of getting another assignment.

“You have to really make sure you build a culture where people are going to let you know and know you appreciate the fact that people want to avoid the situation, and again, for the most part, I think officials do that very, very well.”

Johnson said he now averages perhaps one phone call every other season from an athletic director wondering why a certain official was assigned.

But both he and Rugg have encountered situations where officials worked games they likely should have turned back.

“Last year I got a call from an athletic director saying we had an official who was an administrator at a school and that official worked her school’s game,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t turned in as a conflict, I didn’t know … so that assignment was made and no one brought it to my attention that there that was a conflict even after the official received that assignment.”

The online assigning software indicated the teams, so the official in question should have seen the conflict.

“The official herself didn’t let me know,” he said, “so that was an embarrassment for that to happen.”

Rugg recalled a situation in which an official worked a sub-varsity football game his grandson was playing in. He contacted the school to note the conflict of interest and they responded with, “We’ve never had a problem before.” But Rugg told them “… somebody’s going to see this as a bad thing.”

The school in question was in a rural part of the state where there were not as many officials. A lack of qualified officials can put athletic directors in a bind. But that doesn’t mean conflicts of interest should be ignored.

In those situations, he advises the official to ask the host school to contact its opponent. Those schools should have a conversation. “(Have the host school) tell them, ‘This is the deal. These are the people I can get, they’re really good. They’re qualified but they’ve got (a conflict).’ Let them make the call. Because if it’s a good person and it’s a tough area to get people, they’re going to say it’s OK.

“It doesn’t mean someone won’t complain later. It’s the way it is. But people (should be) informed about what’s happening and what reason. A conflict of interest is something you want out there publicly.”

Sometimes it’s best for officials to steer clear of coaches with whom they’ve had a recent problem. A “cooling-off” period sometimes is best to avoid not only a repeat run-in, but any perceptions that the official “has it out” for the school.

Bernadette Murphy, a softball umpire from Secane, Pa., stepped away from a game where she had ejected the host coach the season before. The Pennsylvania ASA Hall of Fame member has worked various levels of softball for more than four decades, including the high school, college and international levels.

“I had to call up and turn the game back,” she said. “I wound up removing the coach from a game (the first of a doubleheader) and even the second game when he came back in wasn’t a good situation. So, I felt that it was best not to put his team, him or me in that situation. So, I removed myself from the game. I feel it would have been a conflict of both of our interests and I’d rather not put people in that position.”

Colleges often address conflicts of interest by contract

At the college level, conflict-of-interest policies are often addressed by contract. John Cahill, supervisor of men’s basketball officials for the Big East, said there is language in his officials’ contracts that covers potential conflicts.

“As part of that contract, there is a prohibition against an official working at an institution from which he graduated, from which a family member may be employed,” he said, “and a number of other factors that would eliminate, to the best of our ability, a potential conflict of interest.”

Other scenarios that might preclude an official working at a school include where the official and a conference coach went to school together or played together, or if the official has a child playing high school basketball who is being recruited by a conference school or schools.

Thanks to social media and our instant access to information, there’s a greater potential for conflict-of-interest concerns being raised by disgruntled parties.

Cahill said officials in today’s world must be more careful than ever about avoiding potential conflicts of interest and the appearance of potential conflicts.

“Social media has a great bearing on officiating,” he said. “There is a higher need and a greater need now to conduct yourself with great propriety off the floor and offseason.”

Johnson shared a similar perspective: “Because the flow of information is so immediate and you can record everything that happens with your iPhone and send that recording or movie or text it to somebody — yes, everything is more sensitive now than it was 15 years ago.

“What has changed is the connectivity of everybody. Everybody knows everybody through social media, they follow somebody on Facebook, and that person has a friend who is an official. Everybody’s life is public now.”

The MSHSAA situation involving the Hazelwood Central-Ladue game shows just how those situations can flare up — with the official dragged through the media — even where the potential connections to participants can be minor.

Ultimately, if there is any doubt there’s a potential conflict of interest, it’s best to avoid the game. Don’t put yourself in a position of jeopardizing what has taken years to develop — your reputation and sense of character.

There’s usually plenty of time in advance to recognize a conflict. But what do you do if it comes as a surprise? For example, you arrive at the game site and discover an assistant coach is an old college roommate or the team captain is your son’s girlfriend? In those cases, let your partners know immediately. Then, tell the coaches and overseeing administrators that an unanticipated conflict has occurred.

If it’s significant enough, perhaps there’s someone from the JV crew that can work the game in your place. But in a last-minute situation, you may still need to work the game. Being upfront about the conflict rather than sweeping it under the rug will help preserve your reputation.

Work the game professionally — just make sure to avoid the conflict in the future.

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