North Dakota Preps

I know that I will probably be blasted for this, but I'll throw this out for food for thought.

Every year we see comments about how the ref's for the East call a different game than the ref's for the West, leaving teams at state caught slightly off guard when going to the state tourney. People are then ready to blame the ref's.

How about having the East ref's call the West region tourney and the West ref's call the East region tourney? That would give the teams a few games to adapt to what they may see when they do go to state.

Comments???

How is it called differently?

I think refs in general should be hired by the NDHSAA instead of by the school. Each school should pay NDHSAA and they pay the refs. I think you would get less controversy.

Reffing is very subjective and it's easy to lean one way or another. I don't think there is a big difference between West and East as it is between individuals. For example, one will allow a hand check, another won't. And they definetly don't call it the same between boys and girls.

In Fargo the referees are hired through the Red River Valley Officials Association, the schools and coaches have nothing to do with who refs, I dont know how its done in other Class A towns.

In fargo, refs are scheduled through the red river valley officials association. I think that this causes less controversy because the schools are not deciding who they have for the games.

We don't have an association. I think that is a great idea because you see alot of subjective calls especially on the boys games. You also have BHS Steve Miller (boys coach) reffing and Steve Meier (last years BHS girls coach) reffing Class A games. I think you have a conflict of interest if you work for a school and you are reffing.

They should have a state association.

Miller and Meier should not ref in Bismarck period!! How they allow that is beyond me!

You can see the extent of the politics when it comes to the West in Class A reffing. It is not just bismarck. You see it in Willison, Dickinson, Belcourt, Jamestown. They even go so far as to hire family members of the players who are playing.

Im sure its hard in some towns to get outside officials but they have to, I know when South goes to Jamestown they usually get Bismarck or Valley City refs. Other towns you have teachers or ex teachers from the High School reffing.

I know, if you have an association screening it, there would be less controversy. An association would put an end to the debate of where a ref was "calling for the home team" and would be considered a legitimate call.

I wasn't thinking along the line of home town refs, but that does make another good point. Get the homey ref's out of town and have the schools make state on their own merit.

I was thinking that the east tends to call more touchy fouls, travel, etc... than the west.
West tends to allows a little more aggressive, physical play, and hand checking, etc...

This way, it could give the kids time to make the adjustment before they go the the big dance (state).

bruins44 wrote:Miller and Meier should not ref in Bismarck period!! How they allow that is beyond me!

Did they do varsity level Class A games in Bismarck of the gender that they coached last year??

eyeinthesky wrote:

bruins44 wrote:Miller and Meier should not ref in Bismarck period!! How they allow that is beyond me!

Did they do varsity level Class A games in Bismarck of the gender that they coached last year??

I dont know but I do know Miller reffed the Mandan Century girls game and Meier reffed the boys game between the two schools the same night.... I just dont think its good when a current head coach and a coach one year removed are reffing games in the same city they coach/coached in. There are plenty of good refs in Bismarck, why get them to do a game especially an inter city game!

I know there are alot of good refs that are not getting the job. This would be like the current West Fargo boy's basketball coach reffing the girls game between Fargo South and Central.