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To those of you that know me on a personal basis... The time has come to hang up the stripes. Been a great 25 years, and a lot of fantastic ball-games, friendships, competition and discussion. I'll ask to be with the IHSAA in a different capacity as the years go by, but at this point; The time has come to allow 'younger' officials to shine. Yeah I'm only 60... But for me I had never planned in any sport to be a 70 year old guy stumbling like Wille Mays out of the batter's box in his later days. Again, thanks to everyone.

I had occasion to get out the old crystal ball this week. So, I spent a little time looking into the future of football officiating at the upper levels of the game. Some people might find what I saw concerning, even disturbing. Don’t shoot the messenger. 😂 In the not too distant future, NFL and major college on field officials will have a greatly diminished role. For these purposes, I am treating the NFL and major college football the same, since the latter is becoming little more than the minor leagues for the NFL. But that’s a story for another day. The game at the upper level has evolved in 3 ways, all of which will combine to reduce the role of the on field officials. First, the game has evolved physically. The players are bigger, faster, more athletic, harder to keep up with. They can do things you’d swear a human being couldn’t do. This aspect of the game has never placed more demands on the officials than it does now. Secondly, the game has evolved technologically. Cameras everywhere. Enhanced use of replay. Now, every coach and fan can see, from multiple angles, in slow motion or stop action, what the on field official sees in a second. This has created unrealistic expectations among coaches and fans: “If I can see it, the official should have seen it, too.” The Dunning-Kruger Effect is in play here. Lastly, the game has evolved financially. Not just in terms of player compensation and broadcast revenue, but gambling. There is simply too much money at stake to leave things to the judgment of an official who may not have had the best look at a play. What does this mean for officials at the upper levels of the game? It means their role is going to be reduced to ministerial actions, like setting the ball, walking penalties, breaking up scuffles, etc. The actual calls (and no calls) will be made by AI using multiple cameras. AI will determine if there is a foul, for example, what the enforcement should be, etc., and relay that information to the field officials to administer. In the future, the real officiating will be done at the small college level and below. Then, as the technology gets even better and more commonplace, the “reduced role” of officials will start trickling down. Not a pretty picture, is it? I’m considering making my crystal ball into a garden ornament.

Because I don't like losing good coaches to Admin?? I'm confused??

Bummer to lose a good/young Coach to the dark-side of Admin. See it happen all too often...do Coaches not realize their reach/influence is far more reaching as a Coach than an Admin?? I guess the all-mighty dollar remains undefeated.

2026 MasseyRating’s Predictive Preseason Ratings: 1. Memorial 9-0 (8-0) 2. North 8-1 (7-1) 3. *Mater Dei 6-2 (6-2) 4. Reitz 6-3 (6-2) 5. Castle 5-4 (4-4) 6. Jasper 4-5 (4-4) 7. Harrison 1-8 (1-7) 8. Central 1-8 (1-7) 9. Bosse 0–9 (0-8) *does not have a scheduled non conference game MasseyRating’s relies on the previous season for its predictive model, I don’t think returning production is included. Calpreps had returning production, but I believe that site closed down.

Congrats to Coach Simmons! Despite being rivals for 6 years, I'm proud to call you a friend as we grew in this profession together. Good luck in your next chapter!

Held off for a while to gather my thoughts here. I cannot say enough how great this crew was to work with. I really enjoyed seeing you guys at our freshmen and/or JV games. Each man on that crew would take time to teach kids what they were looking for on a given play, and explain to them why a flag was thrown. While there is never a game where you get every call you think you should, when this crew had the game, you knew it was going to be fair. You knew you could communicate with them to clarify things. Great crew, but better men. And all of that about the crew is a direct reflection of the man leading them. Enjoy your extra time, you have earned it.

Why would they when NCAA and their HUBRIS started all this..... They have got their ..... handed to them in every court case and still have yet to figure out how to get it back rolling and under control and now are just waiting for good ole UNCLE SAM to bail their mess they created out. HARD PASS. No Pity here

That next step for being an "Evaluator" sounds kinds nice...