How do you get to State?

[The Man in Blue]

This topic has come up often in other threads, so I thought I would go directly to the question . . . 

How does your state association determine post-season assignments?

Here is Illinois' "power ranking" system:

How the Power Rating is Determined: The power rating is a number from 0 to 35, derived from 7 different criteria, as follows:

1. Promotion level: Certified (C) -- 5 pts., Recognized (R) -- 3 pts., Registered (X) -- 1 pt.
2. Part 1 exam score: 96 -- 5 pts., 92 -- 4 pts., 88 -- 3 pts., 84 -- 2 pts, 80 -- 1 pt.
3. Previous tournament experience within the last five (5) years for contests by this gender (updated July 1, 2022): state final -- 5 pts., super-sectional -- 4 pts., sectional -- 3 pts., regional -- 1 pt.
4. Contest ratings (percentile rank of all officials): 90% -- 5 pts., 80% -- 4 pts., 70% -- 3 pts., 60% -- 2 pts., 50% -- 1 pt.
5. Top 15 lists (percentile rank of all officials): 90% -- 5 pts., 80% -- 4 pts., 70% -- 3 pts. 60% -- 2 pts., 50% -- 1 pt.
6. Clinic attendance (most recent clinic): this year -- 5 pts., last year -- 3 pts., two years ago -- 1 pt.
7. Varsity games worked (percentage of games a school is allowed to play in the regular season in that sport): 70% -- 5 pts., 60% -- 4 pts., 50% -- 3 pts., 40% -- 2 pts., 30% -- 1 pt. See table below.

SPORT	MAX	70%	60%	50%	40%	30%
Baseball	35	25	21	18	14	11

 

Percentile ranking "explained"

How the Ratings Percentile is Determined: All ratings in a particular sport that are received during the current school term, plus the two previous school terms, are averaged and then divided by the number of ratings. The result is that an official who works often (and is rated often) will generally receive a better ranking than an official who obtains a high average on just a handful of ratings. These numbers are sorted from top to bottom and divided into 100 groups of equal size. The officials in the highest group are assigned to the 99th percentile, the next group to the 98th, and so on down to 0. Why Your Rating Percentile Suddenly Went Down (Probably): At the start of the new school term, the ratings from three years ago are no longer included when computing your percentile. If you had a lot of good ratings three years ago, or if you simply had a lot of ratings three years ago, your percentile is likely to go down when the new rating is computed. How the Top5/Top 15 Percentile is Determined: All Top 5/Top 15 Lists in a particular sport that have been updated during the last two years (730 days) are used. Officials receive points based on their position in the lists: 15 points for each 1st-place mention, 14 points for each 2nd-place mention, and so on down to 1 point for each 15th-place mention. The total points are sorted from top to bottom and divided into 100 groups of equal size. The officials in the highest group are assigned to the 99th percentile, the next group to the 98th, and so on down to 0. Why Your Top 5/Top 15 Percentile Suddenly Went Down (Probably): Top 5/Top 15 Lists expire exactly two years (730 days) after they were submitted. If you are at or near the top of a list that recently expired, your percentile is likely to go down when the new rating is computed. Alternatively, you may recently have been moved down in the rankings (or completely removed from the rankings) on a Top 5/Top 15 list or lists. Such a change can often result is a fairly dramatic drop in your percentile.

 

Promotion process:

The promotion process involves the following steps. The first four steps must be completed prior to taking the promotion examination.

1. Recommendations. You will need three recommendations. At least one must come from an IHSA member school principal, athletic director, or varsity head coach in the sport applied for. At least one must come from a Certified official in the sport applied for (but may not come from a family member). The third evaluation may come from a person in either category. The recommendations must be submitted through the Schools or Officials Center. (Mailed letters of recommendation will no longer be accepted.) Once you identify individuals to submit letters of recommendation on your behalf, you should provide your official ID number to those individuals so they may locate you in the Schools or Officials Center. You will be able to view your recommendations in the Officials Center.

2. Clinic. You must have attended a Level 2 clinic in the 365 days prior to the start of the promotion exam.

3. Rules Video. You must view the current Rules Video in the Officials Center (or redeem credit for attending a traditional rules meeting).

4. Part 1 Examination. You must take the Part 1 Examination and achieve a grade of 84% or higher.

5. Part 2 Examination (Promotion Examination). The Part 2 Examination will be administered online between Tuesday, March 18, 2025 and Tuesday, March 25, 2025. You must achieve a grade of 84% for promotion to the Registered level or 88% for promotion to the Certified level. There is a two-hour time limit that will begin once you enter the exam. You will be graded on the questions you have answered during the two-hour window. You will not be able to retake the exam. Your grade will be posted immediately once you submit your exam.

Once you have met all the requirements, your promotion will be registered immediately. If you do not meet the requirements, you will have to wait another year to apply for promotion.

[834k3r]

For Idaho, brand new umpires will begin (as with other states) by working sub-varsity games only (Tier 3 officials). They must score 70% or higher on Part 1 of the NFHS exam (Part 2 is optional).

The district (there are 6 geographical districts in Idaho) evaluation committees (based on in-person evaluation) will determine promotion to varsity (Tier 2 officials). They must score 80% or higher on Part 1 the NFHS exam (Part 2 is optional). Varsity officials must also attend a State Rules Clinic, plus two local officials meetings.

For the state tournament crews (Tier 1 officials), they are determined with a pretty simple (albeit with some gray area) process:

1. Each district rank orders the umpires (both peer ranking and evaluator ranking)
2. District rank-order lists are used by the IHSAA to fill state tournament requirements; specific number from each district is determined by IHSAA

Some other considerations:

• Umpires (or any other official) are not eligible for post-season tournament until their second year of service
• To be eligible for state tournament service, officials must attend a clinic (outside of the normal pre-season rules clinic) once every three years.
• Officials cannot be assigned to a game in which their hometown team is playing.

[Kevin_K]

Everything is subjective and dependent upon availability, just like every other assignment.

Both @The Man in Blue and @834k3r provide their state guidelines, which highlight the subjectivity of the objective process. I bet any state that offers guidelines have these same two aspects as the foundation of their state tournament assignments.

[Thunderheads]

Michigan has certain criteria that needs to be met:

• Submit your schedule (certain number of games required)
• Be a current member of an association
• Take the state test and pass w/ at least 80% (I think)
• Watch/listen to the General Rules meeting and sport specific meeting
• Be a registered official for that school year

The rest is just politics🙄

[Richvee]

I think our system works  something like this. 

 

[BLWizzRanger]

Usually*, in my state, decisions on who can join the state crew(s) are performed at the latest get together, when needed.  They are far and few between.

 

 

*I really have no clue but it does seem this way....

[The Man in Blue]

9 hours ago, Richvee said:

I think our system works  something like this. 

 

 

"Something like" but not exactly.  That guy is looking when he throws the dart.

[Tborze]

On 7/24/2024 at 9:06 PM, The Man in Blue said:

 

"Something like" but not exactly.  That guy is looking when he throws the dart.

I wish it was “something like” that!  Even without looking you still have a chance!  

[dumbdumb]

gee, this is like everything i have ever heard about anything mentioned in life, one side saying everything in life is merit based (and they may be the ones that are the receivers of the merit based), and the other side saying the dartboard based method (and they may be the non receivers of the dartboard).

[Richvee]

15 minutes ago, dumbdumb said:

gee, this is like everything i have ever heard about anything mentioned in life, one side saying everything in life is merit based (and they may be the ones that are the receivers of the merit based), and the other side saying the dartboard based method (and they may be the non receivers of the dartboard).

Perhaps...To a point. The dartboard is 1/2 tongue in cheek. 

But I've seen more than one of the following scenarios in the past. So it's more than just a biased look from your side of the fence. 

Subject "A" : 13 years calling varsity baseball. 6 D3 and JUCO. A long list of county and state playoff games over the past 8-9 years, including county finals and state semi finals the last 3 years. 

Subject "B": First year '22. In Sept of '22, Subject "A" is asked to do a few fall ball games with him to "Get him familiar with high school 2 man mechanics" 

 Subject "A" notices "He's willing to learn and getting better, but he has never even heard of Pause/read/react". He's got some work to do.  

Spring '24- Subject "B" is selected to do a state final. 

Did he work hard and get better? Absolutely! He's a good umpire.....with barely 2 years of  games under his belt. 

[BigBlue4u]

I will say this:  Avoid like the plague giving an umpire a playoff game as a reward for a career well done.  I've seen this way too many times.  A few years ago, in a day of playoff games at a major league stadium, some of the umpires could barely make it up the stairs from the umpire room to the playing field.  The commissioner of the school league then informed the president of the umpire association that if the association can't do a better job of selecting umpires, he would do it himself. Believe me, that definitely solved the problem!

[agdz59]

Get coach to put you in the 4th quarter. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.

 

[MadMax]

1 hour ago, BigBlue4u said:

A few years ago, in a day of playoff games at a major league stadium, some of the umpires could barely make it up the stairs from the umpire room to the playing field.

… and the use of the umpire room, while appreciated and deserving, was completely foreign to them. I bet one of them was bewildered as to why he/they couldn’t just change in the parking lot. 

Sarcastic levity aside, my main concern has not been the umpires’ physical condition or age. It’s wholly based on awareness, acuity, and… grasp… of 3- & 4- man principles. More than once, I’ve witnessed umpires move or position themselves into the path of players or a (soon to be) thrown ball, or out of position entirely, all because they regress to “habit”, or freeze because they don’t know where to go and they forget they’re on a crew greater than 2. 

Is that their fault, or failure? Not entirely, nor even mostly. Instead, it’s the fault of the association! Zoom meetings and reviews of diagrams do not constitute training!!! You identify the postseason candidates (“Oh, we’re going to surprise him and reward him, and inform him last minute so he doesn’t get a big head over it” 🙄), you get some time set aside, you pay for their gas to a field or venue, and you get them physically engaged to the point where they become at least – at the very least – cognizant of where they need to position themselves, and where they need to move (and, more importantly… where not to move, ie. “thou shall not pivot in from A as U1 on a 4-man crew… no matter how many times you’ve done it in your career, no matter how many times your association “evaluators” ding you on not doing a buttonhook pivot, and no matter how much that pivot was drilled into you at Jim Evans School”. 

But, the bottom line is, you get your association to act, beyond lip service and granting post-season assignments on charity, favoritism, or nepotism. 

[834k3r]

On 8/2/2024 at 3:53 PM, agdz59 said:

Get coach to put you in the 4th quarter. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.

 

[The Man in Blue]

Twist of fate bump?

I was having the "I don't chase post season as an accomplishment" conversation (again) with another umpire, and I think he summed up my thoughts in a way I hadn't previously put together:

"So . . . you want to be seen for the job you do, not what you did once?"

Yes!  

[Thatsnotyou]

I get the notion, but those aren’t mutually exclusive. 

[The Man in Blue]

41 minutes ago, Thatsnotyou said:

I get the notion, but those aren’t mutually exclusive. 

 

If the system worked that way.

[MadMax]

To be fair, assigning – especially for post-season positions that the/an association provides – is a complex, strenuous undertaking. This is because it is neither wholly objective nor subjective. Err more towards objectivity, you come off as cold, impersonal, and inconsiderate to such abstract “values” as loyalty, dedication, and experience – which is, itself, often misinterpreted because it is either objectively summarized as seasons/years or games (total) worked.
Conversely, if you err more towards subjectivity, then (nearly) every decision you make is scrutinized against whether the metrics, numbers, or facts bear out and support that decision. 

It’s traveling into “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” waters. 

So, my professional opinion holds that it is much better, much more effective, and less emotional, if you divulge / publish the selection process and criteria at the beginning of the season – transparently – rather than revealing it at the end, or worse… having someone “pull back the curtain”, exposing that your system’s “criteria” is based on bias, nepotism, or “sentimentality” that are not grounded in, or are glaringly absent of, facts and figures. 

I really am harsh on associations because the/any preparation (of umpires), training, evaluation (effective, not token), resources, and support often do not equate, relate, or warrant the – ahem – compulsory “fees and dues” that associations require of their members. 

Effective, excellent postseason umpires are not assigned at season’s end; instead, they are identified at the season’s beginning, and cultivated throughout the season. 

[The Man in Blue]

Spoken like a guy who works post season on TV . . . 

[SeeingEyeDog]

I've been playing golf since I was a teenager so, nearly 40 years now...I've never had a lesson, I've never played in a tournament of any kind. There was a time I would calculate my handicap now, I play to spend time with my friends and family. During COVID, many of the golf courses in my market were shut down temporarily while we all figured it out...as was umpiring, of course. So, two of my favorite pursuits were unavailable during that dark time...golf and umpiring.

When I got back to golf...I was horrible, just horrible. Shanks and hosel rockets on the regular. One day I went out and played with a stranger who I was paired up with at the first tee because all of my golf buddies were otherwise busy. We finished the hole and I asked him for his score so I could write it down and he gave me a thousand yard stare and said, "I'm here for the peace and nature and unplugging from the real world. I haven't kept score for 15 years and I really don't ever care to again..." This was a watershed spiritual moment for me and not just as a golfer but, as a human being.

So it is now with umpiring...I'm not here to see how high I can climb. I am simply an umpire trying to work the best game I can each time out. My gear is tight. My pants are pressed. My shoes are shined. My rule book is read. My mechanics are polished. My eyes are checked. My vehicle is gassed. My phone is charged and set to audible notifications. My hydration and snackage is prepped. When that call comes in...when the bell rings, I will rise and answer that bell and go work the game I am assigned to the very best of my abilities. I will pre-game, I will post-game. I will attend camps when and where I can. I will discuss and study The Craft as much as I can.

I would love to have the opportunity to work a state final, of course. But, my only goal when I take off that gear for the last time is for just one umpire to tell me I was a good umpire.

~Dawg