After I started officiating football, my viewing of college football games significantly changed. Instead of focusing on the players, I started keying on the officials and performing pre-snap routines in my head.…
I have been in situations where an official immediately confronted a peer about a judgment call or action as soon as the crew entered the dressing room at halftime or the end…
Personal confession time from a few games in my 17 years of officiating: I’m sure if I spent more time, I would remember more examples of when I decided to take the…
This article is primarily for wing officials interacting with the sideline coaches. How do we respond when a coach complains about a partner’s decision? You are the guardian of the sideline. Do…
Sometimes we freeze, brain-fart, head up and lock, swallow our whistle, or panic. We make the wrong call. It happens. How we react when we snap out of it and refocus is…
If you’re a little older like me, you may remember Major League Baseball confrontations between an old-school manager (think Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, or Tommy Lasorda) and an umpire. Both men’s faces…
In most cases, a disagreement with a coach will end with the coach walking away and moving on to the next play. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. What do we…
In the last Ready for Play article, we discussed how coaches want good listeners. We need to discipline ourselves to completely listen to the coach’s concern without immediately jumping in with an…
