Frank Bennett’s expression was pure exasperation.
Chaminade’s basketball coach, Bennett watched what he thought was a fairly obvious offensive foul for hooking against East St. Louis get called a defensive foul against his Red Devils.
He didn’t agree with it.
Neither did one of the other officials working the game.
One official whistled a defensive foul. The other an offensive foul. While the two of them came together to talk, Bennett expressed his displeasure that there was even a conversation with the third official, who shortly thereafter threatened Bennett with a technical foul if he didn’t cool out.
A frustrated Bennett stalked back to his bench and kept his composure even when the defensive foul prevailed.
He kept his composure when his leading scorer fouled out with five minutes to play. He kept it when his standout point guard was knocked to the floor on a buzzer-beating runner in the paint that would have tied the game.
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Bennett, now in his 10th season as Chaminade’s coach, was a model example of what the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) wants from its “Bench Bad Behavior” campaign aimed at addressing the shortage of youth sports and high school sports officials.
“It’s a critical mass issue,” NFHS executive officer Karissa Niehoff said Tuesday via Zoom.
Niehoff was one of several panelists during Tuesday’s NFHS media availability that talked about the state of youth sports and high school sports officiating and where it’s going.
The overriding sentiment — it’s headed to an untenable place.
Coming out of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic the NFHS estimates it lost approximately 50,000 officials across all sports. Dana Pappas is the director of officiating services at the NFHS. She said the numbers have started to rebound somewhat and this year there was four percent growth in football and five percent growth in volleyball, the two biggest fall sports across the country.
“We don’t know if those are new officials or if those are officials that maybe sat out during the pandemic and came back,” Pappas said.
An official conducts the coin toss before the Class 4 state quarterfinal between Parkway Central and St. Dominic, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at St. Dominic High School in O'Fallon, Mo. Michael Gulledge, Special to STLhighschoolsports.com
What they do know is that even with that growth there are still barely enough officials to cover games. It’s the reason you see so many of the same faces working basketball games this winter. At this year’s Highland Shootout there were several referees who worked more than one game and at least one did back-to-back games.
According to the NFHS the reason there is a shortage of officials is spectator behavior at events. That’s what the folks who worked the job and walked away cited most frequently as their reason for quitting. Verbal abuse was atop the list.
“People feel like their $5 entry fee allows them to come in and behave however they would like — that’s cussing, leaning over pointing fingers in the face of officials,” said panelist Erin Trujillo, who officiates basketball and volleyball in New Mexico. “(Fans) will say everything from talking about your mother, to your heritage, to your skin color.”
Another deterrent is social media according to Barry Mano, the founder and president of the National Association of Sports Officials. He said when it comes to recruiting fresh blood or retaining officials one of the reasons given for leaving or not even wanting to consider it is the naming and scrutiny that comes in a world where TikTok, Twitter and Facebook are in everyone’s pocket.
“What you have is social media identifying officials by name and beating the crap out of them,” Mano said. “So that’s a big reason why people say, ‘Why am I going to keep doing this?’ People don’t want to do this, they don’t want to put up with it.”
Trujillo and Mano both stated the threat of physical violence is more of a concern now than it has ever been for officials as there have been a number of documented incidents in recent years where referees were attacked either during a game or afterward.
“The thought of a physical assault was way out there on the moon,” Mano said of when he began in the 1970s.
To combat these deterrents the NFHS is asking adult and student spectators, school administrators, coaches and players to be more considerate of how they treat the officials when a call doesn’t go their way.
This entire campaign boils down to “don’t be a jerk.”
To which I say, that’s incredibly naïve.
The Officials discuss a ruling during a Class 5 quarterfinal volleyball match between Borgia and Cor Jesu on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, at Borgia High School in Washington, Mo. Gordon Radford | Special to STLhighschoolsports.com
Should an official be treated poorly whether they got the call right or not?
Absolutely not.
Should the student section chant “Clark-son Eye-care!” when the call goes against their team?
Probably not, but most officials I cross paths with understand that type of thing comes with the territory.
If the NFHS and its member state associations across the country are serious about combatting the dwindling number of new officials and keeping the ones they have there is a solution right in front of them.
“If the question is if officials got paid more money would officials hang around more the answer is yes, the market works,” Mano said. “I sort of said jokingly before we could help with the shortage by paying $500 a game for high school games. And guess what? You’re not going to have a shortage for long, but that’s not realistic.”
It may not be realistic in the way we do things now, but what if we changed how we recruit, retain, train and deploy officials? As things are currently constructed, officials for youth, high school and college sports are part-time. They are essentially working a side hustle.
Arguably the most physically demanding, mentally taxing and difficult side hustle.
Referee Arnold White tosses the ball up for the tipoff between OFallon center Eaton Smith (left) and Bolingbrook forward Donaven Younger. OFallon played Bolingbrook at the OFallon Shootout at OFallon High School in OFallon, IL on Saturday February 5, 2022. Tim Vizer/Special to STLhighschoolsports.com
But what if it wasn’t a side hustle, what if it were a full-time job? What if instead of being a police officer during the day and officiating at night, you could just be a referee?
What if we treated officiating the same way we treat other professions?
The only people actively involved in youth, high school and college sports that aren’t full time are the officials. Ask any coach who’s been around awhile about how much their job has changed and you quickly find out that there is no “off” season. You’re either in season or preparing for next season.
The players are the same way. Athletes are either playing or training for their sport of choice year round, and that often requires a significant investment of time and finances by the athlete’s family.
Officials do have continuing education with trainings and clinics as part of their routine at the moment. But what if they had the same opportunity to work at their craft like the players and coaches they officiate?
It’s my belief that it would better for everyone involved, especially the official who has the toughest job of all.
But then question becomes, “How do you pay for it?”
I don’t know.
I do know social media isn’t going anywhere. Neither are the loud clowns in the stands.
If we want more men and women to be willing to pull on the black-and- white striped shirts and officiate the games our kids play, the only real solution is to cut the check.
“They deserve it,” Niehoff said. “But it’s not realistic.”
What’s not realistic is asking society to change its behavior and crossing your fingers, hoping that it works.
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