MIAA Officials Clinic Kicks Off 2009 Season

By David Boyce

The final few hours of the three-day clinic for MIAA football officials had the ingredients for spicy debate on interpretation of rules and penalties.

Inside the Truman room at the Downtown Marriott Sunday afternoon, nine of the 10 head football coaches in the MIAA sat at the same table with the seven referees who head the seven-man crews that will work conference games this season.

Actually, the setting was perfect for healthy discussions on some of the new rule changes and why certain penalties are called.

Away from the heat of competition on fall Saturday afternoons, it was easy for the two groups to talk in such a relaxed manner that even the topic of resuming a day of golf between the officials and coaches was brought up.

"I think it was very valuable," Nebraska-Omaha coach Pat Behrns said. "Anytime you can put what we do on a personal basis I think it helps both of us.

"There is always, I'm sure, that impression in the coach's mind and the official's mind that we are not all in this together. I think this helps us out that we are all in this together."

Jay DeHardt, a 28-year veteran in the MIAA, said the meeting was just as beneficial for the referees.

"It is invaluable for us to sit and talk to the coaches before the season because we can have an exchange in here that helps both sides," said DeHardt, a graduate of Van Horn High School. "Whereas, when we get on the field it has to be all business.

"It is not adversarial when we get to game day, but it is much more about the outline of responsibilities and it is also under pressure and a lot more tension. So being able to informally talk to these guys and share concerns and be able to put faces with names is essential for success down the road."

It's the first time MIAA coaches and the referees have met before the season. It is also the first time the 53 MIAA officials have had a three-day clinic to get ready for the season.

The three-day clinic was organized by MIAA commissioner Jim Johnson with the help of Phil Laurie, who is beginning his second year as supervisor of officials in the MIAA after 24 years as a Division I official, including 12 in the Big 12.

"When Phil joined us, one of the things he and I discussed was having a more comprehensive camp instead of a few hours reviewing the rules," Johnson said. "We wanted to break out by positions and by crews and have more intensive meetings. We wanted to follow the model the Big 12 uses."

A year ago Laurie had a two-day clinic and before that it was a one-day meeting.

"What we hope they get out of the clinic is the commitment it takes to be successful at the Division II level," said Laurie, who has worked in two NCAA national championship games. "We feel the MIAA is one of the top Division II conference in the country and therefore we feel the officials need to be prepared for the high level of football."

Laurie praised the previous supervisor, Bill Lowe, for establishing such a strong foundation.

Through the years MIAA football officials have moved up to the Big 12 and the NFL. Currently, 21 former MIAA officials are working in Division I.

Some, like Big 12 official David Oliver, a Topeka resident, and NFL official George Hayward, a resident of St. Joseph, attended the three-day clinic to teach what they have learned through the years.

All they were getting paid for their knowledge was a few free meals during the clinic. Their real incentive was to give back.

"I was helped by a lot of people who were older than I was, so I'm just trying to repay some of those favors that were done for me," said Hayward, who is in his 19th season in the NFL.

Sure, during the three days, there were plenty of stories and laughs. But serious work was at the forefront.

Even before the officials arrived at the Downtown Marriott at 2:30 p.m. Friday, they were hard at work this spring and summer. Laurie challenged them as a group to drop 400 pounds. Laurie weighed each person as he walked into the Truman Room.

Laurie quickly learned that this year's group of officials had put in the time to be better. The group dropped a total of 647 pounds.

"There are multiple reasons for us to be in shape," said MIAA referee Dwight Neibling, a resident of Overland Park. "If you are overweight you are not able to move. It's a whole lot easier to get the call right if you are in position to make the call. So the physical condition is the start point for all of that."

In addition, Laurie gave the 53 officials a written test and all but one passed.

The average football fan probably has no concept about how much time football officials put in during the offseason and particularly on game day.

Three to four hours before the game the seven officials who work the game show up and first review tape of the previous week. They also go over the evaluation of their performance from the previous week, which is done by Laurie and other officials from the Big 12.

The officials then talk about the game they are doing that day.

For all this work, the MIAA officials get paid $325.

"We routinely put in a 15-to-20 hour day with travel, study and preparation and the actual officiating of the game," DeHardt said. "We certainly don't do it for the game fees, but we are appreciative of being some of the highest paid officials in Division II.

"At this level we officiate because we love football."

No question, when the season starts, the coaches will have disagreements with the referees and will want an explanation. A coach or two will probably scream at some of the officials for their calls.

Laurie knows it will happen. The three-day clinic in early August should give the officials more tools to handle any volatile situation that crops up.

"The best trait an official can have is integrity," Laurie said. "If they have integrity they can treat coaches with respect and professionalism. If you keep doing that over and over the coach will do the same. Our coaches are good about it.

"In the heat of the moment coaches get excited. It takes two to have a fight. If an official can keep his cool there won't be a fight or a misunderstanding. You say coach, ‘this is what happened.' The coach can disagree with it. That's OK. We will evaluate it."

The main thing coaches look for from an officiating crew is consistency. They don't want to see a game where one team is whistled for 10 holding penalties and the other for one unless there is a glaring difference in talent that causes the holding.

They also are uncomfortable if one week an officiating crew calls five penalties against their team and the next week another crew whistles them for 15 penalties and they essentially played the same both weeks.

"We want consistency, week in and week out," said Behrns, whose team is entering its second season in the MIAA.

"That's what I've been impressed with. We don't have a lot of games where we have five penalties one week and 15 the next. They are very consistent."

A lot of that has to do with the officials' clinic. Laurie brought detailed graphics on all the penalties that were called on each team and in each game from last season.

The officials also talked about philosophy and made sure that each crew shares the same views on how a game should be called.

"It's very important for preparation to bring everybody together at one location, one setting and be able to go through the rule changes and any philosophy the supervisor of the conference has so everybody is on the same page as they start their final preparation to start the season," Oliver said.

The 53 MIAA officials range in age from 32 to 59, and 12 of the officials are newcomers (selected from a pool of 150 applicants).

"It takes time to get to the level of being a college official," Laurie said. "Most of our guys will work five or six years, at least, in high school before they can move to junior college or Heart of America or the KCAC.

"The MIAA is even a notch above that, although a lot of our officials have come from the Heart of America Conference. We hope when we hire an official in the MIAA they have at least four years of college experience. In the Big 12 you need at least five to eight years of college experience."

Laurie hopes more football players get interested in becoming football officials after they finish playing.

"You are not going to get rich doing it. You have to love the game," he said. "We are always looking for people who want to give back to the game, and that is what these guys do. We need some young guys to get involved with officiating."

Behrns said meeting at one spot for officials and coaches is good for another reason. It shows a conference engaged and wanting to be better.

That's the way the North Central Conference once was for Nebraska-Omaha until one by one, schools like Northern Colorado, North Dakota State and many others left for Division I.

"Obviously that's why the (North Central) conference was disbanded," Behrns said. "I remember when we used to do these kind of things and then that went away and then coaches' meetings went away and then all of sudden you started to see the erosion. Once the erosion started we couldn't keep it from going over the hill."

Judging by the three-day officials' clinic followed by the football media day on Monday, the MIAA is on pretty strong ground.

"What Jim and Phil are doing here is just fantastic," Oliver said. "Coming in on Friday afternoon and having break-out sessions with NFL officials, Big 12 officials, watching video, talking mechanics and philosophy is extremely important.

"This is arguably the best Division II conference in the nation. The football environment and the stadiums you go to here are just fantastic. That atmosphere to work college football is just the next steppingstone as you progress up from high school to NAIA, junior college, Division II to Division I.

"But some guys are happy to be at Division II and that is fantastic."

On Thursday: Northwest Missouri football preview.