Best Refs?

[KnightBridgeAZ]

As some may know, I track the workloads of a variety of ref's throughout the season. The 128 I tracked this season included the 65 that worked the most shifts, among others.

While I don't claim they are really the "best" - here are the top 5 in 2 criteria that suggests someone thinks they are pretty good.

1 - Work the most games - I suppose someone wouldn't hire them if they didn't think they were any good:
102 games - Tina Napier (includes F4)
97 games - Bryan Brunette and Lisa Mattingly (who worked the F4)
96 games - Felicia Grinter (also the F4)
95 games - Cameron Inouye and Beverly Roberts

Special mention: Bryan Enterline worked nothing post-season (no conference tourneys either). However, only Tina Napier (89) worked more than his 87 Regular Season Games.

2 - Work mostly power conferences:
Mark Zentz - 87% of 70 regular season games were in the BE, B1G, SEC and ACC
Dee Kantner - 86% of 76 regular season games in the BE, ACC, SEC and B12 (her only other conference was A10)
Tina Napier - 82% of 87 regular season games in the B1G, SEC and B12
Four tied with 80% - Michael Price, Maj Forsberg, Laura Morris and Scott Yarborough. Interestingly, Scott Yarborough is the only one not in the top 65 for amount of work. He worked 47 shifts, 40 regular season, with 16 in the SEC, 16 in the Big 12 and 8 games in Conference USA.

FWIW - the majority of the busier ref's work between 7 and 11 conferences - this may be only a game or 2 in some of them and generally a power conference is their largest single conference - however, only 43 of the 128 ref's I tracked worked more than 50% of the time for a power conference.

One more post on ref's coming in about a week.

 

[UcMiami]

Interesting stuff. Not sure the games worked is necessarily an indication as I am sure other issues come into play like availability and travel.
Since you are so knowledgeable - how exactly does the NCAA come up with their post season refs - I think it is based on a list put forward from each conference, but am not sure if that is correct.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I think it is based on a list put forward from each conference,

You are correct, though things may have changed since Struckhoff left.

My understanding is that every ref is reviewed/evaluated after games. This, of course, depends on the Conference and their budget. Reports are submitted to the NCAA and the "top" evaluated become part of a pool. Then the NCAA folks pick. (Officials are not supervised/evaluated by NCAA until the tournament.) After every round, folks are evaluated and move up or don't depending on their game tape.

Used to be that all the refs of the Tourney pool were either gathered or phone conferenced in to review points of emphasis from the beginning of the year. Those PoEs are decided by the folks on the NCAA Rules Committee -- drawn from the ranks so, for instance, a coach could participate. Then, at the beginning of the year, the officials are informed -- sometimes, again, depending on the budgets -- since they're independent contractors -- it's a simple dvd w. test. Sometimes it's a live session/seminar. Coaches are also sent the same DVD and must sign off that they've reviewed it.

As for assigning - geography and budget is huge. As officials try and work up the ranks (takes about 10 yrs) they need to be nearish schools that have the best teams -- and the best assignors. Sometimes schools cannot get the best refs because they don't have the budget. An example: few years ago, Bangor's Polar Bears were top tier. They couldn't pay the top DIII refs enough - what with gas money and such -- because their budget didn't allow it. Also, for refs, think of the hours it takes to get up to Bangor from, say, Boston -- not worth the $200 or so you might get -- compared to what you might lose from having to miss a day of your real work.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Good job.