Statewide TASO shortage

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

 

Didn't know it was this bad. 

[Scatright]

It all comes down to cash. Long ago (pre children) I decided I was going to make some extra money by refereeing basketball games in the triangle. I attended some meetings, paid dues, bought gear, and got started. I refereed one summer league warm up tournament and quickly decided the headache wasn't worth the measly money they were paying. The parents, players, and coaches were unbelievably hard to deal with, but not as hard to deal with as the other referees. This was set up to be a training ground for new refs, so they paired us with other more experienced officials to help us learn. I was paired up with a guy who was a state trooper for a living, but had carved out a pretty good reputation as an official in SETX. This guy was unbearable. He had no interest in teaching, rather his agenda was for me to realize he was a better official than I would ever be. I have pretty thick skin, but I left that night and made the decision that I would never do that again.

So to summarize, I was going to be paid peanuts to deal with screaming parents, kids, coaches and officials. No thanks. They need to up the pay, and ensure that those who might be interested are not treated as freshmen trying to join a fraternity. It's up to the UIL to figure out the money issue, and TASO to figure out the assimilation issue.

[MrUmp1]

BG  like the article said it is all sports. It has been slowly coming to this point over the last 5-7 years. Jobs are not as lenient as they once were and folks work more hours also. In the past you always had a pool of guys that were retired and could travel and go to games that start early. People don't retire as young as they once did. I also think that many young officials think that in just a couple of years they are going to be officiating the top games and when they find out how much time and work is required they lose interest.For Football I think that with the exception of sub varsity games, it is limited how many Varsity games you get especially when coaches pick which I am all in favor of. In Houston you could have a top notch crew that calls Thursday, Friday and Saturday while others may call once or even none for a week. Not for sure if this will ever turn around. More money is nice but that will only bring out the folks who only want to do it for money and not the game. Respect has also been lost for all parties.Coaches, Fans, Players and even Officials. Something has to change.  

[jv_coach]

They should make it that coaches have to ref in college to gain a better respect for the game. 

[liltex]

Who wants to work hard for little & have folks over you that don't care about your career/retirement/or 2nd job=money grubbers.And I thought coaching youth for 9 yrs/dealing w/parents was tuff,not even close to what referrees take.I'm sure hearing Hooks,Neuman,Matthews,Stewart in your ear often is worth twice what they recieve

[Hagar]

That hit the Ref took in the back last year (San Antonio?) wasn't an incentive either.  He could've been badly injured.  Not sure what the final outcome was, but it probably wasn't severe enough.