October 2005
High school coaches and administrators long fought the three-referee system in basketball. The coaches believed more officials meant more foul calls and the administrators claimed they didn’t have the money to pay the third official.
Our feature that included a survey of games in Illinois, which used three officials, and neighboring Iowa, which used two, showed there were actually fewer fouls called with three-person crews. As for the game fees, we acknowledged many school districts were hurting for funds. So we advocated that officials be open to reduced game fees or other accommodations (such as working both the JV and varsity games) in order to get three-person instituted.
Referee’s story was used as a talking point by many officials associations when they negotiated with schools, conferences or assigners.
- 2000s
