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Partnering Officials With Coaches, Parents and Student/Athletes

Mike MorganAthletic Director/Head Football

CoachColfax School District

When you think about Coaches and Officials…

The Perfect ScenarioParents Want to Coach

Officials Want to Watch Coaches Want to Officiate

Find out who’s in the room• How many of you officiate:• Football• Basketball• Baseball• Volleyball• Wrestling• Soccer-other• How many year’s of experience• Rookies• 2-10 years of officiating• 11-20 years of officiating• 21-30 years of officiating• Over 30 years of officiating

WHO AM I? In HS, umpired adult fastpitch softball JH/HS basketball official 1981-87 Mentored by Frank Deymonaz, Ralph

Dannenberg, Norm Ingram, Karl Johanson Worked LSCS Women’s College Basketball State “B” Championship Game-1987 Coaching for over 30 years/AD for past 9

years Numerous league awards for Sportsmanship WIAA “Sportsman of the Year” 2001

Are High School Sports Different These Days??

• Looking at the newspapers, we read stories such as:• Cheer parent in Texas shooting a cheerleader after

her own daughter did not make the squad.• A parent who comes out of the stands and attacks

an official after a game.• Two parents fight each other in the stands after

comments about which of their kids should be starting running back.

• A T-ball coach pays one of his players $25 to beat up a teammate with mental challenges so he wouldn’t be in the game for the league required three innings.

• A coach of a youth football team comes off the sidelines and hits an opposing player that clipped his son.

A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse…

• A 45 year old basketball coach at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Enola, PA. has been accused of trying to bribe referees to fix church youth league games!

CONFLICT

THE BEGINNING

Perception vs Reality• FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF

YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

• How many F’s are there in this statement?

• 3?• 4?• 5?• Correct answer…..6

Perception vs Reality• FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS

OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

• How is it that we can all look at the same thing and get different answers?

A Coaches Perception of Officials

• Arrogant• Inconsistent• Secretly pulling for the other team

• Lazy• Blind

An Officials Perception of Themselves

• Fast as the wind• Always in position• Never seen a call they didn’t like

• Could coach better than that coach

• Still attractive to teenage girls

A Fan’s Perception of Officials

• Idiot• Idiot• Idiot• Moron• Idiot

“OFFICIAL” FACTSBob Still, public relations manager for the NASO, which has more than 16,000 members

For every 100 that join up… 33 will quit after one year Another 33 will quit after two years

Losing two officials for every good one we find

WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN OFFICIATING? “They don't have the respect that was there when I

started 20 years ago.”“The rookie officials don't have enough time to mature

while officiating”. “Officials are expected to start perfect and get better.” “Kids are more in your face.”"Years ago, if a kid ever gave an official a hard time, the

first person that got into him was the coach”.“The second person was probably the parents.”“Now parents are coming to you after the game, running

you down to tell you "That was a horrendous call,' where they never did that before.”

EDUCATIONTarget our: Administration/Coaches/Parents/

Student-AthletesThere is really no difference in people,

we are all professionals Understand that our roles are differentDon’t confuse the rolesAs an AD/Coach/Parent-Model good

behavior and instruct and demand it from your student-athletes, coaches and parents

Changing our Perspectives• Perspective-Remember the F’s?• Coaches, parents, athletes and officials

each need to recognize what the other side looks like.

• Respect for the position.• We don’t tell…

– Farmers-Crops/Police-Investigations.– Dentist-Fillings/Lawyers-Practice Law.

• But in our society, it is okay to tell…– Coaches-How to coach/Teachers-how to teach.– Officials how to officiate.

The Key Ingredients in the Partnership

Student/Athlete

Officials Coaches

Educating our Youth

Parents/Fans

How Officials Can Help

• Competent• Confident• Humble• Hustle• Consistent• Mentor

QuestionsAnd

Answers

Colfax School District

MikeM@CSD300.com

Office 509-397-5803Cell 509-553-9183

“Often times the task ahead of you is not beyond your ability, but simply beyond your work ethic”

Mike MorganBand Director/Athletic

Director/Head Football Coach