Any areas experiencing a referee shortage?

Dont think so…but cool topic. Totally makes sense as well.

We are too. As of right now, we'll only have four out of eight games on a Friday because we can't find refs.

We will lose the game if we lose officials. It’s terrifying.

Everyone needs to chip-in in communities to address shortages.

My 5am proposal is this:

State Associations need to incentivize the recruitment and retainment of quality officials. This should happen on a monetary front and an educational front. I think the state should offer a season bonus for officials who work a certain number of games. I don’t know the number but something significant. I also think the state clinics should have a real talk session to let officials vent and give their perspective. It should be mandatory for coaches and it should not be some BS slideshow to check a box. Officials need more of a paycheck and more of a voice.

I think schools need to pay more for the games at all levels. And I think it should be 2x-3x. It will be a burden on schools but without officials it won’t matter because we can’t play anyway. I also think there should be a debriefing meeting between each head coach (individually) and the head official each week. A five to ten minute session to get back on the same page. Again this is a burden on both sides but we need real change to protect the game.

Finally we need to protect officials from nonsense from arrival to departure. Fans, coaches and players should not be allowed to demean a grown man just because he made a mistake and wears a funny shirt. People who cannot respect the officials cannot attend the game. Removal should emphasized and executed by a school administrator.

I used to say when I was a head coach the only thing I hate more than officials was communists and snakes. And I was the biggest assshole of all to these guys and I was wrong.

We can’t play without officials, period. This issue is dire and we as a profession need to find a solution.

Illinois has been sliding into a severe shortage for the past 10ish years. It's gotten real bad the past 5. Wrestling is especially short.

If I ever get to day shift, I've contemplated at least trying to be a wrestling ref.

Yes, nation wide.

Solution….coaches out of season ref for other sports 🤯

This is an idea I've been trying to get rolling in our state.  We coaches have the greatest resource at our finger tips to make sure that we have plenty of quality officials.... our athletes.  In SC if every high school staff was able to get 2 of our graduating seniors to become referees and only 1/2 of those former athletes stuck to officiating, then our shortage would be a surplus in just a few years.

We have had games moved and most crews are now just four man crews.

I get the NFHS emails all the time and I've considered doing it but then I think of some of the absolute prigs that I've seen abusing officials and I dismiss the idea.

One of the other problems is if you are in an area that is growing is more schools are being built right at the same time that officials are quitting/retiring. Even if all the problems listed above weren't happening (and they are, I know) it would still be a problem just on the Math.
I would also say that its tougher for people to get off work and get to football games in time due to the increased traffic in Metropolitan areas and even some rural areas(2 lane roads).
Add these natural occurrences to the rest and its no surprise its such a problem.