A desired change coming for Texas high school officiating, but they need help

The Texas Association of Sports Officials will convene in Plano for its annual meeting this weekend and one of the primary items on the agenda is to propose expanding five-man officiating crews to seven.

“Houston has done it for the last few years and Dallas did more of it last year; Fort Worth had some,” TASO executive director Michael Fitch said. “Some parts of the state just can’t do it because we don’t have enough people.”

If Texas high school football wants more officials, we should all start treating them better and lighten up. It takes a special kind of crazy for a person to willingly sign up to be football official.

They are not perfect, but at least they’re doing the job.

There is considerable pressure throughout all levels of high school football in Texas to expand to seven-man crews, but recruiting and finding qualified candidates compounds the issue. Some of it comes down to money, and some of it comes down to desire.

“They are always trying to recruit help, but that is something coaches need to be aware of: Being an official is not a job that people are signing up to do,” Colleyville Heritage coach Joe Willis said. “It doesn’t pay great. Sometimes in certain situations they take verbal abuse. It’s something that fans and coaches need to be careful of because we are not going to have enough. We need them. We don’t have the games without them. There are a lot of good ones out there but finding qualified candidates can be very, very hard.

“On the higher levels, like 6A and 5A where the crowds are a little bigger, you really can’t hear (the fans). Or what people are saying all the time. But on the lower levels, like junior high and sub varsity, when there are not as many people there, you can hear every single word a parent is saying. Or a coach is saying. It takes a special person to do that job.”

Officiating games is a thankless, and often impossible, gig.

The men and women who officiate these games can’t see everything, and they do blow calls. Everyone from players to coaches to parents needs to take a deep breath when dealing with these people. Because they are people.

As tales of pathetic parents who verbally abuse coaches and referees continue to grow, and be caught on video, anyone would ask why someone would want to be a high school sports official.

There is, however, a growing demand for more.

As the pace of football games has quickened, and offenses have become more pass-oriented, the five-man crews have learned they simply can’t see everything. The number of blind spots have increased.

“(Seven man) crews will make it a lot easier. I know they don’t have the date points yet on if it increases the number of flags thrown, because sometimes it does,” veteran high school football official James Chafin said. “But with seven you can just see more. You can see a chop block. I think it’s going to happen. A lot of schools tested it last year and I think more districts want it. There was a time back in the ‘60s and ‘70s when it was a four-man crew. The game changes. (With seven-men crews) the quality of the game improves because you can catch more.”

The decision to expand to a seven-man crew depends on the coaches, the individual TASO chapters, and the districts. Playoff games often have used seven-man crews in recent years on the higher levels.

Expect 6A and 5A, where districts are larger and it has both the population base and the money, to be able to employ seven-man crews full-time.

“If everyone had the numbers they would all do it,” Fitch said.

They should do it.

They just need people to want to do it.