Being a coach and referee

[wrestleme]

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this situation.

We wrestled a team last week And one of their coaches
reffed one of our duals earlier in the year. This is at the
High school level.

It felt kinda awkward to me. But I'm wondering what
Everyone else thinks??

[littleguy301]

Where the calls one sided?
Did the ref favor the other team?

In this day and age the shortage of refs, this situation will be more and more common. I dont have a problem with it unless it is just plain over the top favoring one team.

Also in this day and age if your worrying about scouting, there is so much stuff out there on some kids that scouting can be done many other ways than besides reffing. Most coaches already know what is coming as in what teams are known for.

While I understand this is could be odd for many, I have seen it a few times over the years and to be honest I havent really had any problems with it nor have I noticed anything abnormal concerning if being fair. Actually I do believe that some of these refs that do also coach are pretty good refs and pretty right down the middle.

[EIUwrestler1]

If there were more hours in a day, I would. I believe most of us coaches can be fair, wouldnt want to officiate my own kid tho..

[CLC FAN]

I can see the concern, but I think every coach should have to put on the stripes at some level - youth, middle school, jv...  It really changes the way you look at officials and how you handle yourself with them.

[ramjet]

It comes down to the integrity of the individual.

If there is not solid reason to think that was an issue then it is not.

Actually refreshing to see.

It's a tough job, I officiated a pile of Jr High matches the other night it is a tough job but rewarding at the same time.

[Ghetto]

We had an official last night who also coaches. Maybe same guy you are talking about. Unless it is against his own team, I don't see a problem.

We need officials any way we can get them. If they coach, great. If not, also great.

[woody53]

When I both Coached and Officiated, I didn't take any meets with Schools in our Conference or with ones we would have a Dual with in the season.

[Jimmy]

Ramjet said it best.all about integrity.

[Handles II]

Unless he is reffing his own team, I don't see an issue with it. I've seen this many times and never had a problem with it. I get the concern though. In my area of the state we have 4 brothers who all coach for different teams. They also ref. They ref for each other's teams almost exclusively. There is an observable bias, particularly with one of the brothers, and it's been brought up in meetings that they should not ref for their brother's duals. We get the shortage of refs story every time, granted the head official and director of our Section is one of those brothers...

[cooch]

Think of the man.  If he is comfortable enough to put on the stripes and coach he must have a great deal of passion for the sport.  I would not only thank him, I would want him to officiate my kids matches.  His integrity would be put on the line at every event, coaching or reffing.

Side note, I did this too and I know I am not the only one so, maybe I am just a little bias.  With the shortage of refs it was especially nice for the middle school to just come up to the high school and say we have too many matches, a ref went down or didn't show up we need you to ref! Heck, couple times I even did weigh ins and reffed a couple JV matches when the JV ref didn't show up. Home and Away.

[ElectricGuy]

Shouldn't be a problem, nice way for him to do a little scouting though.

[ramjet]

Shouldn't be a problem, nice way for him to do a little scouting though.

Ha I would like to know how in the heck anyone could ref and scout the officiating is tough enough to keep up with.

[bigoil]

We had an official last night who also coaches. Maybe same guy you are talking about. Unless it is against his own team, I don't see a problem.

We need officials any way we can get them. If they coach, great. If not, also great.

I remember in the mid 1980's, I believe at least two Sussex coaches refereed, never had an issue in fact thought they were always very good.

[dforsythe]

I remember Emil Kuhn used to referee our conference tournament for many years. Some of the coaches started to complain that Emil was scouting our kids for the sectional. So, the AD's listened and found a new crew. They were awful. Everyone was mad at the coaches that whined Emil was scouting. I really don't believe you can referee a match and scout at the same time.

[firemanscarry]

It comes down to the integrity of the individual.

If there is not solid reason to think that was an issue then it is not.

Actually refreshing to see.

It's a tough job, I officiated a pile of Jr High matches the other night it is a tough job but rewarding at the same time.

I don't know if ramjet is referring to it as being tough because of the concentration it takes to ref the number of matches you call in a JH scramble...or because one of the little buggers kicked him in the mush while he was reffing!   He slapped a little Vaseline on the split lip and kept on keepin' on. 

As a person who has been pushed into reffing a lot of youth, JH and even JV games in football I appreciate anybody who gets out there and does the job for the kids. They sure aren't doing it for the glory, and the money isn't that good, especially up here where you probably had to drive 100 miles round trip!

And I think wrestling is actually harder to ref than football.  Football is so chaotic with so many bodies that people are generally happy if you are able to catch the big things.  In wrestling there are an awful lot of calls that could go either way and the focus of the crowd on that one individual match makes them expect a ref to really nail everything perfectly.  It seems to me like the vast majority of wrestling refs do a pretty darned good job.