Bad Calls/Biased officiating

I usually do some yelling, but a lot of times that doesn't help. You have to get a feel for the official. See if you can influence him, some are just impossible, so I leave them alone. Some will be more responsive.

I always make sure we are very respectful. I want to be as nice as I can because I know their job is tough. Plus, they will probably officiate a game for me more than once. Better to be known as a nice, fair guy than a jerk.

^{I gets very sickening. We play a team who has a coach that screams holding absolutely every time we run a play. I don't think that helps his cause.}
We had that this year with pass interference. Sad thing is they got the call (and at no time did our DB ever look at the receiver- he played the ball the entire play).
Since I've been an AD and have to work closer with officials (hiring, escorting, etc.), my approach has been similar to tribepride's. If I really disagree, I will tell what I saw, and ask what the official saw- or ask for a clarification and that is usually the end of it. More than once I have sent the official the tape and asked for an explanation- all have been willing to respond. Some even thanked me for sending the tape (one even admitted "wrong call"). I've also had to send e-mails to them telling them that after looking at the tape, they were right.
When I was a younger coach I yelled, went nuts (threw my hat on the field once). I really do not think that helped... (we ALWAYS seemed to have that crew again).

I try to laugh and kid with them and have a good time, they do have a tough and thankless job. However, if they are having a particularly bad game I will let them hear about that too. Some crews seem perpetually bad, sometimes they just have a bad game. I had one crew last year that said before the game..."we won't be throwing a lot of flags today, we like to keep the game moving" It was one of the worst officiated games I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. I'd like to tell you that I held my composure, but that would be a lie! ;D But then again neither did the coach on the other sideline.

We are supposed to send tapes to the officials after every game for them to review and theoretically get better. Some coaches in our league refuse because there hasn't been any improvement in the quality of the officiating (we've been doing it for 3 years).

Ive never been one to ever hassle officials even when they make a bad call. We look at it as a "teaching moment" for our kids.

I got even more diplomatic after refereeing games for just one season, It's a lot harder than it looks or one would think.

Being diplomatic seems to have a cumulative effect, seems like we almost always "get the calls" now. The refs here pretty much know everyone and like getting our games.

We teach the kids to run the ball back to the ref, place it in his hands etc etc. Never say anything to the refs, facial expressions etc. Give em water during timeouts etc etc Dont pile on points etc
They remember and all are HS refs.

I'm a little riled up when I first bring up an issue, but respectful, not insulting. It seems that when an official responds in a way to try to settle it ("we got ya, coach, I'll let the crew know to keep an eye on it" it sets the tone for the game. They kind of look out for your players (Coach, make sure your guys are/aren't doing this . . . ) and just settle in and do their job while letting the kids play. As a coach I appreciate this, so I try not to bark at them too much for a blown call here or there.

When this happens, I've noticed, the calls pretty much seem to go both ways.

I hear you, it is tough. And it's easy to lose your cool when bad calls happen, and they will happen. But when you dealt with it in ways that weren't calm, did it help get calls/non-calls your way more? My worry is that the players would see me getting on an officials case when I'm not real calm, and that kind of thing can snowball on the field and sidelines - it's like giving them permission to act the same way.

If I don't want them to use bad officiating as an excuse for things not going our way, then they need to see me focused on what we can control to overcome that obstacle anyway.

Just my opinion though . . . what do you guys think?

who decides what is good and bad officating? I find that coaches complain about officals in the same way parents complain about coaches.
coach complain how parents just do not understand adn are baised because of their son.

however could the same thing not be said about coaches and officals. officals have no stake in the game one way or another. coaches have a emotional investment in their team and what to see their team do well. much like mom and dad want to see junior play and get that scholarship, so they do nto have to play for jr's school and partying.

when you look at it this way, you take a step back and see we are all human, we all make mistakes(coaches however do not like to admitt this) and in the grand scheme of thins, being able to play football/coach football is really a luxury.

Last year we played a lot of Good Cop/Bad Cop and that seemed to help. The head coach would berate the officials and I would smooth things over afterwards by asking them about their expertise and the call. They seemed to enjoy sharing how much they knew about the game and appreciated this. This allowed us to vent, question and at the same time, they couldn't punish the whole team for the anger of just one person. I know this approach is dubious and controversial but it worked for us.

I have had my ups and downs (OK, more "downs" than "ups") with officials during my time on the sidelines, and I have to admit that I have rather mixed thoughts about dealing with them. On the one hand, I think that those who say we shouldn't challenge or question poor officiating because we are setting a poor example for our players are being overly simplistic. We don't encourage proper respect for authority when we are seen as simply accepting improper or incompetent exercise of that authority, and we may be de-valuing in our players eyes all of the hard work that they and we put in during the course of the week. On the other hand, as I reflect back over the games I've coached in, there are only 3 games in 18 years where an egregiously bad call by an official has had an obvious impact on the game, and while we lost in each instance, we had opportunities to overcome the bad call each time and didn't take advantage. In hopes of gaining some insight on this topic, I attended a session at the recent Nike COY Clinic in Portland, OR titled, "How to Make Friends with Zebras (& Get Better Calls)." The speakers were Jack Folliard, a Pac-10 official who served as the white hat in the 2007 BCS National Championship game, and Clark Saunders, a long-time HS official in Oregon. I must confess that early in the session, they (especially Folliard) said some things that got my attention and made sense. But by the end, I found myself agitated and felt that some of my worst suspicions were confirmed. My notes from the session can be downloaded at
www.savefile.com/files/593193

coachd5085:

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by "bad mechanics" and "bad interpretations?" And what do those categories NOT include? i.e. What kinds of things are NOT legitimate to question? Thanks in advance.

wingt74,
I am sure you would not appreciate it if someone who only saw you play a couple tiems told you or made statements that you were a bad coach.
I use to referee football,and still umpire baseball. I have been told numerous times especially in baseball that"I SUCK" the funny part is that these coaches don't realize that I will ahve them again and will remember what they said. Does this effect my umpiring NO but I am not going to give them any breaks. Offciating is a very very hard job. The coaches criticize them,.and they don't like it, just like parents and fans criticize coaches and I am sure each and everyone of us don't like it,and it effects our ego's. I was once told by a parent Iwas a bad coach,abnd saidthank you,and informed them that their opnion and 75 cents will get them a cheap cup of coffee at speedway.
My rule is coaches coach, players playa nd officials officiate, and coaches and players do not say anything to the officials whatsoeevr.
I have found I get more calls doing it this way.

I'm more patient now than I used to be. I don't argue calls or get upset about them, they are just part of the game. I get irritated by officials that aren't as professional in their approach as they should be, but I've learned to keep my mouth shut and just realize that they are on a learning curve like everybody else.
I do enjoy a game called by a good professional crew, you can see the difference. Its good to have a ref on the sideline that will answer questions and relay information to and from the white hat. I appreciate when the guy ask's the receivers (ours and theirs) if they are on or off and tell them to move up or scoot back. This IMO is good management of the game that avoids time wasting flags. Refs that will come over and tell you to mentor # so and so, he's in the grey area with his hands, etc. this is helpful and good game management. I've also actually had a ref call me after a game because I had a question, he took the time (HIS TIME) and looked up a rule and we discussed it on the phone for a good half hour, going over different scenarios. I'll take dedicated refs like that every day. You don't get any better than that.