I am a Coach and officicial and have been asked to co-present on the topic of coach/officials relations at tomorrows state filed clinic hosted by the FHSAA.  In reading two of the articles that will be presented written by officials, I thought it would be good to have some coaches feedback or actual situations to discuss from the coaches perspective.  Please email me and I will try to incorporate them in our presentation.  I will happy to keep them anonymous.  Sorry for the late notice but I am sure many of you will be eager to provide feedback.

Coaches should be required to take the officials test. Maybe then, they'd actually familiarize themselves with the rule book.

I think some of the officials may need to retake the officials test, I had an FHSAA official tell me last season that it was 3 counts to get 2 back points and would not budge on it until I went and got the head ref to correct it. Stalling is another issue that desperately needs to be addressed, call it the same throughout the whole match, not just start flinging them in the last 30 seconds, there were many, many state championships decided last year by an official, not the wrestlers themselves.

It is funny that we as coaches are very critical of the officiating that takes place. Yes we have all been on the receiving end of tough calls but I would say overall, with the number of calls made, the mostly get them right.  What I am happy to see is that officials all over the state are attempting to correct some of those mistakes by attending officials clinics, watching rules videos, and are required to score well on the state mandated test.

We as coaches on the other hand are not regulated by anyone.  I think that many if not most of the wrestling coaches do a geat job learning the rules and attempting to follow them. Unfortunately, some of our coaches new and old, do not make the effort to better understand the rules and how they are going to be applied.  I wonder how well the coaches would perform on the same test that the officals take? 

I coach and officiate. I think everyone should try both! It certainly wont change the facts that coaches are passionate and will fight for their kids nor the fact that the official is in an authoratitive position and is there to controll the match but maybe, it would provide a little more respect for one another and the tough tasks each of them have in their role in our great sport.

     I coach and also referee at off season tournaments.  I know it can be a thankless job.  But...

     I have seen referees send a coaches back to their seats on the bench, with threats of expulsion,  before the coach even gets to the table to discuss a call.  If the rules require a coach to raise his hand and go to the table in an orderly manner, then the rules should also require that the referee go to the table and "listen" to what the coach has to say.  It is still the referee's choice not to change his call.  But the coach's input may have an effect on how the referee considers things at another time.

I have learned to treat the officals with much more respect over the years. Most officals give back what they recieve. But, there are a few and usually it's the ones that don't know the rules well themselves that are rude when questioning their calls.

I have had an official warn me before I got to the table and started arguing about something different then what i wanted to ask him about. 

I also had a ref tell one of my kids we suck and your coach doesn't know what he's doing, that's why your best wrestler transfered his senior year. I hear that ref say once, " this job is great, I took an open book test to get certified and all I have to do is show up, eat all day, and get paid."

I don't have any answers or ideas to make things better, but we should all try to get along!

When I started my coaching career on LI, NY, an old time/hall of fame coach told me to approach the table and kindly ask, "what did you see"? From there, you either agree to disagree or find some common ground to discuss the situation. Most of the time, you will never get a call changed.