GTfan's Referee Dynasty - Whistle Blowing Saga Trilogy Part III

[GTfan27]

By popular demand, I'm stepping up to deliver Part III in the trilogy.

Background​

• Location: Louisville, KY
• Experience: Heading into my 4th season officiating high school football
• Primary Position: Wing official on the line of scrimmage

The Crew​

We’re probably the youngest Friday night crew in the association—everyone’s in their early 30s except our umpire, the lone Boomer, who basically serves as our cool, crazy uncle. Last season, we were lucky enough to officiate one of the biggest games in Kentucky (Male vs. Trinity), and our back judge capped off the year by working a state championship. Solid group of guys. We have fun and work hard to do things right.

Climbing the Ladder​

• College Ball: This year I’m stepping into college football as an alternate in the Mid-South Conference (NAIA). I’m working back judge, deep wing, and short wing to get a broader base and (hopefully) more assignments.
• Training Upgrade: Our high school association is lucky to have Matt Austin—yep, the ESPN rules analyst and former SEC official—leading some of our training classes this year. The guy came out of our association and knows his stuff, so I’m pumped to learn from him firsthand.

Season Countdown​

• First high school meeting: next week
• College clinic: July 12
• Week 0 kickoff: 7 weeks out

It's almost the best time of the year. I’ll be using this thread to share stories from the field—close calls, funny stories, coach quotes, and whatever else unfolds. Follow along if you’re into that kind of thing.

 

[Orangebird]

Can you pick what ref positions you want or is it just assigned to you? Feel like I wouldn't want to be the guy who stands in the middle of the field near the linebackers lol

 

[goblue96]

BJ is pretty awesome because you get to deal with OPI/DPI

 

[GTfan27]

Can you pick what ref positions you want or is it just assigned to you? Feel like I wouldn't want to be the guy who stands in the middle of the field near the linebackers lol

In most associations, they train you to start out at wing official (At least ours does). Some guys stay, get asked to move positions for demand, or just move around on their own. White hat (referee) is the one position that requires years of experience to work typically

 

[GTfan27]

Well I got to meet Matt Austin and several other SEC football officials last night. I'm gonna be doing a 5 week (once a week) class with them going over mechanics and game management stuff. He was pretty blunt with us and said that high school officiating has gotten "worse" since he was coming up and he wants to give back and try to mentor us give us more feedback and training.

All of the other SEC guys also started through the Mid-South (NAIA) and worked their way to Ohio Valley then Sun Belt and SEC, so yeah I'm hoping I'm on the right path. The only thing going against me is age. I'm 35, and I didn't start high school officiated until I was 32. This is Year 4 for me. So, my goal/dream is to get up to D1 football within 10 years so I can at least enjoy it for another 10-15 years or so.

 

[goblue96]

Well I got to meet Matt Austin and several other SEC football officials last night. I'm gonna be doing a 5 week (once a week) class with them going over mechanics and game management stuff. He was pretty blunt with us and said that high school officiating has gotten "worse" since he was coming up and he wants to give back and try to mentor us give us more feedback and training.

All of the other SEC guys also started through the Mid-South (NAIA) and worked their way to Ohio Valley then Sun Belt and SEC, so yeah I'm hoping I'm on the right path. The only thing going against me is age. I'm 35, and I didn't start high school officiated until I was 32. This is Year 4 for me. So, my goal/dream is to get up to D1 football within 10 years so I can at least enjoy it for another 10-15 years or so.

If you gives you some hope, my friend that does D1 is in his third year of D1 and he's 47 years. So, he moved up when he was 44. I don't know when he started though. Graduated from Penn State in 2000 and then was working and getting his master's paid for by work for those first two years out of college. The earliest he would have started officiating is 2002 but I don't think it was that early. He spent a handful of seasons in HS and then D3. Moved quickly through D2 and FCS (Ivy/Patriot/CAA) before moving into the AAC.

tl;dr - you aren't too old to move into D1 (I am, doe - my field hockey ceiling is probably for regular season D2 with some D1 spring games as a fill-in which I've already done)