We have to talk about college jerseys

I believe that the college jerseys are mandated. I don't think individual NISOA can change the jersey that their members wear. During a game, you could have officials from three to four different NISOA chapters or even referees who are not NISOA members.

 

Totally agree they are terrible. An embarrassment to wear.

I'd love to see associations allow refs to wear the new USSF gear, as an option. YMMV by region, but there are already assignors that have an unwritten rule allowing crews to wear whatever.

Someone feel free to correct me, but I don't think NCAA cares what we wear.

 

they only thing that NCAA cares about are the fees that they collect from the assignors who use Arbiter and for the fees that we pay to them for the chance to work their NCAA playoff games.

 

Why would you wear a USSF jersey for a NCAA/NAIA match? They are completely different organizations that play under different variations of the rules.

The NCAA must care a little bit. I've never seen the refs on TV for college games wearing USSF jerseys.

 

I've seen guys wear USSF jerseys in University of Akron games, which is D1. I've also seen them wear Adidas for those types of games. My understanding is it is based more on conference/assignor than it is NISOA.

 

Minor quibble here, but....my guess is that NCAA doesn't give a hoot....NISOA cares! Otherwise why would they require/demand that as part of your registration/affiliation that you must purchase the ENTIRE kit (long and short sleeve) from OSI. No second hand goods allowed. At least that is how the local NISOA chapter rides! Smells like there is some sharing/kickbacks going on. Which by the way is not an unusual arrangement, since I suspect USSF and OSI have a similar arrangement. Don't know it to be factually the case.

 

I bought some second hand stuff. I bought the smallest gear package available from the NISOA/OSI registration (two jerseys) and bought the rest on Ebay. At least I could save some money on other guys retiring. One nice thing about these jerseys being consistent for so long. Would like to see them updated (like the new USSF stuff) in spite of extra cost.

 

NISOA gets $1.00 per shirt or pair of shorts from OSI. Commission. Other vendors do not but they are not the "official supplier."

Remember that NISOA is not the official supplier of referees to the NCAA. NCAA assignors can use anyone they want to referee the games they assign. What they wear is up to the assignor. Many D1 conferences now have the referee wearing a conference badge, not a NISOA badge. I can even tell you that the post-season assignors are not allowed, by their contract with the NCAA, to even ask if a referee is a member of a particular organization (i.e. NISOA) or not. So, if you want to wear something else, ask your assignor.

 

Every NCAA tournament game that I have ever seen on TV, the refs are wearing NISOA jerseys. Why would NCAA want their refs wearing jerseys with logos of other organizations (i.e. USSF)?

 

I remember when NCAA games started getting on TV and some of the crews wire the Adidas kits and nisoa was not very happy about it.

 

I'm sure they weren't. You know what I'm not happy about?

Paying a fee to NISOA, Elite College Soccer Referees, NCAA, and the NAIA. Oh, and having to wear OSI's shite NISOA uniforms to start with. Who cares what NISOA thinks? Their fees are insane for what they provide. Insurance? You can get a policy with twice their coverage for half the cost of NISOA annual registration through your home or auto provider.

 

Well the only solution to that would to start a competing organization and compete with nisoa for assigning contracts for conferences and schools.

 

Or the NCAA will come in and disolve it, which seems to be the way the winds are blowing in recent years.

For many the fog has been lifted and they are realizing that NISOA isn't needed to ref college.

 

How? They have no authority to do so. It's an independent organization. Legally, they can't dissolve it.

 

On the jerseys, I say wear the NISOA jerseys. NISOA & USSF have been coming closer together in the past few years, but they are still separate organizations. Dance with the one who brought you. If your assignor instructs/gives permission to officials in your conference to wear something else, then fine, but I still wouldn't wear USSF jerseys. That just reeks of some sort of childish spite.

Remember that if you show up in something different than every other crew that year, the coaches are going to think you're special...and not in a good way.

Regarding the last several posts about NISOA itself, it will either have to adapt or fall behind and become totally irrelevant. Period. The NCAA changes over the past few years have indirectly given everyone the courage to look behind the curtain - much like when FIFA went down a year ago and all the countries started speaking up.

The two main problems that I see are:
- National leadership is made up of none of the "big" soccer names right now
- Local leadership largely creates a culture where young referees do not get the chance to earn bigger games

NISOA is a national conglomerate, but our interactions are virtually all local in nature. In my experiences, the chapter is only as good as the leadership. If the leadership is in tune with modern refereeing practices and standards, then the chapter as a whole has a clear vision of how to succeed throughout a season. If the leadership is washed up, ex-USSF guys who are jaded and hate "the system", then the chapter will have season after season of giving the home teams every call and making sure that they keep all the coaches happy.

Within 5 years, the "younger" referees in NISOA will either all revolt and not be members, or they will have taken charge of the organization and adapted it for the times. It cannot continue as-is.

It's easy to blast "NISOA" - this dinosaur of an organization that is becoming irrelevant - but we also need to remember that some great referees in the history of modern US Soccer cut their teeth participating in NISOA for many years and helped were/are proud members. It's easy for people to take a drive-by pot shot, but consider who your mentors are/were and look where they were refereeing every fall.

 

They can't do it directly but they can let the cat out of the bag and let everyone know they don't have to be a member and stop upholding the system where it exists.

 

There is no other NCAA sport with an officials' organization at the national level. There was an attempt to organize one for D1 football officials. That lasted about six months, all out of season. The NCAA is not going to tolerate a referees' union. At one time, NISOA was even identified in the NCAA soccer rules. No more, and the annual NISOA rule changes video didn't mention that change when it happened.

Yes, to a great extent, NISOA referees only experience their local chapter, for better or worse. Where I am, the D3, NAIA and community college games are assigned through the chapter's board. D1, however, goes through conference assignors selected by the conference and completely beholden to the coaches for their jobs. It's pretty clear to referees travelling to do those games that you do not make 50-50 calls against the home team, particularly against an assertive home coach. If you do, you don't get those assignments anymore. "Can't use you." It has also become clear that the late stage playoff games will be done by PRO officials who drop into college play at that stage of the season. This, I think, creates a bit of a disincentive for those who want to dream of doing the D1 national championship game, with the whistle.

 

And this is the major fault in the system. It just develops and encourages unctuous referees.

This is not new. A certain FIFA referee did 4 D1 national championship games in a row back in the 80s! It was usually a quite political appointment. Several other very capable top referees in the country never got this appointment. Hopefully it is changing a bit these days!

PH

 

Correct me if I am wrong but most of the PRO guys who work college don't just drop into college games late in the season. I'm pretty sure guys like Grajeda, Fotis, and Penso work games throughout the season in order to be considered for high level tournament games.

 

I'm not being snarky here but how would you like to change the system to reduce/eliminate the problem?

 

Well for starters I do strongly disagree with part of your post, at least in my area. The 'local' assignor will gladly blacklist referees for certain coaches as well. In his own words to me last year, "I have a conference commissioner to answer to." One coach in particular is rather known for just skipping past the assignor and going to straight to the conference. It's not limited to DI, and the chapter board can't do anything about it.

Want to eliminate the problem? Eliminate half the assignors in this country doing unethical things like this, or charging money to be on their lists even though NISOA just told them they aren't supposed to be doing that either. Plenty still are.

 

But you, I, NISOA, even the NCAA can't "eliminate half the assignors." Assignors work for the conference. They make a pretty decent living at it, too, working maybe three months a year. There's going to be a lot of clucking and squawking before they let somebody throw them off that gravy train. Unethical? I could tell you some hair raising stories about college assignors doing horrible, exploitive things but there isn't anything I can do about it. Only the conference can deal with it and I don't see that they care, as long as it doesn't get in the newspapers. All they want is officials at games who don't get the coaches upset.

I don't know what the solution is and I'm just hoping that someone else has some practical insight.

 

I don't think anyone is saying anything terribly new. We all should be aware by now that the college system, not just in soccer, is terribly corrupt.

When you allow the coaches to control the system this is what you get. Lawyers don't pick the judge why do coaches pick the refs?

 

It's a short season and coaches get fired for W-L record rather than graduation rate far too often. As a result, they want the referees that are like their warm, soft blanket. They don't want anything new, even if it's for one game. They're terrified of change. That creates a system in which referees don't develop - they stagnate. NISOA has done nothing to change this and promote development, and that's their biggest failure in my mind. When their favorite "warm blanket" ref is now 50+ and misses a PK because he's severely behind play...well, the coaches create their own problems sometimes.

You say "eliminate", and I'm confused. If you want to eliminate the 50% of assignors who are doing unethical things - and replace them with honest people - then I'm totally with you. If you want to eliminate 50% of assignors because they're unethical - and reduce the number of assignors - then I couldn't disagree more. I need the "power" spread out among as many assignors as possible. The Oligarchy is strong enough already.