miner_35

Hate to hear this. Had some battles with Coach Spencer. Was a great coach and leader. Thoughts and prayers for his friends and family.

Long story short, yes. The only time a kid has ever gotten “away” with it for us is if he shows us he has tried and he keeps trying to keep them down. Manufacturers are the ones that keep making them shorter. Also, with that being said. I hate being the fashion police. Pants, jerseys, one strip of eye black. It just pisses players and coaches off before we start due to not everyone enforcing it.

I know that with my crew, the ready for play starts as soon as the box is set. The only time we are over the ball for an extended time is when it is needed (After timeouts, change of possession, etc.). We try not to interrupt the flow of the game, if at all possible. This is actually part of our pregame talks with the coaches. If they say they like to go fast, we try our best to not slow down either side.

This is my biggest complaint besides coaches vote being a thing. We get told to be those guys, yet they are issues every year in the State Finals. No crew is perfect, but if they are letting it happen in the state finals, you can bet they have let it happen all year.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that they can show their butts with no repercussions. They think that because they are coaches, they not only know more about football than me, but they know the rules better as well. We all make mistakes and most of us learn from it. I look at it this way anymore. I will be at a football game every Friday night regardless, so why not get some extra money instead of paying to get in? The money is not much, but without us there doing our job, these teenagers can't do the same thing that 95% of us did in high school, enjoying the game we love.

My HL, who is no longer on my crew, was getting chewed on by a coach and finally replied, "Coach, I really think you should worry about your coaching and let me worry about the officiating because we are definitely not the reason you guys are down 35-0." I told him he shouldn't have said that, then proceeded to laugh to myself because I definitely have thought it a time or two. 😄

So it should have been closer to the endzone? As long as the ball itself didn't cross the goalline, in NFHS, that is still not a touchback.

How about in the 4A game. Multiple "personal fouls" for "unsportsmanlike conduct" and "unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness." No dead ball signal when needed. And people wonder why younger officials quit.

If we were able to review every targeting call like the NCAA, we might make it that way. To throw a player out where we call "targeting" in high school with an ejection being automatic, would have a lot of players missing time the next week. If it's egregious, I completely agree, eject the player. But targeting can be called without it being egregious and that would piss a lot of people off.

Unless this has changed, it's either: 1. Win State, and at least a regional. or 2. Back to back state appearances 1 pt for Sectional 2 pts for Regional 3 pts for Semi-State 4 pts for State

The same can be said for the clock operators... When I was on the wing my 1st year, I was doing a game that got ugly quick and started to pour down rain. With about 2 minutes left in the game that was 70-3, I look out in the middle of the field and after the play was over the crew was chuckling. They came over the handheld and said "Turn around." The chain gang decided to leave. I was speechless. When we talk to the chain gang before the games, now that I am the R, I make it a point to tell them that you can not leave until we do. Great read! Glad he enjoys doing it!

I heard a PA announcer from a game on Friday announce "Personal Foul, Unsportsmanlike Conduct on the Defense." My wife goes " I didn't think that was possible in high school." I just smiled and knew I had a keeper. 😊

Saw a play Friday night where the QB was getting tackled, was in the FBZ, and was throwing the ball away. However, it landed at the feet of a receiver behind the LOS and intentional grounding was still called. What really irked me, with being the R on my crew, was that the LJ threw the flag. This is the R's flag to throw.

By illegal procedure, I would assume tou mean illegal formation, shift, or motion. These become fouls at the snap, which makes them live ball fouls. With the facemask being against B and the original flag against A, you will have offsetting penalties.

This is multiple possession changes and will be a first down for whichever team ends up with the ball after B's fumble in either scenario as long as B had clear possession prior to their "fumble".

Not always marked off at the spot. If the end of the run is prior to the spot of the penalty, it's marked off from the end of the run. we hear all the time on penalties behind the LOS "It's enforced from the LOS!" I smile as we walk off from the flag or the end of the run and signal the ready for play :).

I should have paid more attention to this, nice catch. Possibly they are setting up for the future after all. Let's see if they continue this next year.

This echoes what I was trying to explain in my post. The IHSAA "wants" to advance new crews but if you look at the assignments, most crews have already had a sectional championship game or more under their belts. I understand that there are a lot of good crews out there in the state of Indiana, but I know that the IHSAA is going to continue to lose officials if they do not get a better criteria for advancement. Heck, why not go ahead and make it an individual vote based upon what each official works and then throw crews together like they do in basketball come tournament time( I do not believe this is the best method). I do not know what else can be done, but there is no point in getting observed and being told you should advance as far as you are capable, in tournament, if the observers rating does not have a greater impact on the score.

I should have specified as both observers were excellent and pointed out things we need to work on. I meant as far as advancing in the tournament past the first round. If they are being sent to watch someone, you would assume a good report, let alone two in the same season, would help your crew out with tournament advancement. This means that the ones that know you are doing this rather well, have less input than the coaches do.

I completely agree. My crew was evaluated twice last year. Once during season at a big 5A/6A conference game and during the first round of sectionals. Nothing came of it at all. Why not give more say to observers that actually know what the officials are suppose to be doing? I do not know how many times as the R on Friday's I get asked "How is that pass interference?" They don't like when I state "Coach, I do not know, it's not my call." It is very well established that many coaches do not know/understand the rules.I also know that coaches can be very biased. There is one coach in particular that is very well respected that has given my crew (prior to me becoming crew chief and even last year) a low rating due to something that happened 8 years ago. None of the crew from last year was even officiating this game. This has now hopefully changed since they have limited this vote to the last 3 years. In the end, I still believe that getting observed means something and in the future I hope it allows officials to advance for the right reason and not be held back because of one call or a dislike of someone on that crew.

I have seen Forest Park a couple of times this year. They play hard but seemed to tire out in the two games I saw. They are not a bad team at all and I feel Coach Goebel is dead on about his assessment.

I can understand being upset, as would I, but please do not mention the name of someone on here. This is unacceptable for the crew to do as it does not follow the rules, and it does rob the kids of gaining experience. With that being said, was this something that was agreed on by the coaches due to injuries on one side and the tournament looming? I have no clue, but if not this was handled incorrectly. Just please dont mention individual names.

I know of a few instances where the lack of school votes has hurt a crew. If your crew is under a new crew chief under this current system, you have to rely on write-in votes since you do not have a 3 year history of games. This could be a big problem if you do not reach out yourself to previous AD's/coaches and inform them that a write in is required for the vote. I am sure this can/will be fixed in the future, but this is the biggest flaw I see in the new change.

I will usually ask if they are taking a knee and will inform both the opposing players and coach. I also inform the opposing team that the ball can be recovered if a fumble takes place. I then move up and make sure nothing happens.

Believe it or not, I had a player and a coach ask me the following questions. 1. What kind of tee can we use for a free-kick following a fair catch? 2. If the ball is near that sideline on a kick off, can I step out of bounds, on purpose, and touch it? Would this make it a kickoff out of bounds? (Saw it on Sunday) I feel like I answered them rather well, but wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts were on these.