[Shady Grady]

I have coached and have seen games from Pikeville to Paducah. i also paid part of my way through school by officiating in western Ky. We have a great group of officials in our region from top to bottom. I have attended the state tournaments since 1971 and the 15th regional officials are among the best there.
I will grant that in all regions there are officials that need to improve, but couldn't we all at our jobs.
The best thing that we can do for officials is to make the position more attractive. If the officials were paid what it is actualy worth to do the games then more people would get involved. More training and better forms of evaluation could be enforced. Games could be assigned based on merit. Young officials could be paired with veterans to learn how to handle tough situations instead of being thrown to the lions. And if they don't make the grade then you can say thanks but no thanks. As it is we have problems because there is too much pressure on the inexperienced.
Another problem is that the schools admin. already choke for having paying 65 dollars a game for officials. Let's break that down. Leave for the game at 4:30. Travel 80 miles round trip, buy the shoes, shirts, pants, whistles, dress professionally just to walk in the gym. study for test, pay the KHSAA a fee, pay for the test, pay the assigning secretary a fee, be called nasty names, hear chants that you should be hung at the nearest tree, stop and eat on your way home, get home at 10:30, lay awake wondering if you were wrong, get up at 4:30 and head for the mines to work all day, grab your clothes and go do it all again.

This is the most accurate and informative post on this thread. You, my friend, are dead on.