Finding, keeping officials is a constant battle

Over the past few years, the Minnesota State High School League has aired public service advertisements on television and radio stations across the state asking people to "get in the game" and become officials. The reason those ads air is simple: in many sports across Minnesota, there is a vast need for more officials.

The lack of football officials hit home in Carlton County this year when Esko had to move its homecoming football game time forward to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 while Barnum moved its game time back to 7:30 p.m., so the same crew could work both games, said Esko activities director Chad Stoskopf.

"There's no sport where's there's an abundance of officials," he said. "It's at the point where it's affecting games."

Stoskopf said many of the folks who are stepping up are older, in their 50s or 60s, rather than the traditional 20-something starter referee. Fewer younger people are getting into officiating. There are likely many reasons for the decline, he said.

"One thing is youth events and programming have increased dramatically over the last 10 years," Stoskopf said. "That is usually the way young people are exposed to their first officiating experience, but a lot of times it's a negative experience because parents are going off about calls. So, the kids decide they won't do that again. They also see negative behaviors online around game calls."

Ray Kosey, the high school league's chief assignor for football, basketball, baseball and softball in northeast Minnesota, is concerned about the age imbalance.

"We aren't getting enough of the younger generation to help offset the older guys and gals who are starting to wrap up their careers," Kosey said.

Individual sports have varying degrees of success in recruiting officials, Kosey said, but football in particular is struggling.

"In football, because we have a shortage, sometimes we are putting officials in games at levels they aren't quite ready for," Kosey said. "We have training programs and mentors to try to give new officials as much help as we can, but we need more younger officials to start stepping up."

Football officiating crews are larger than those for other sports, making it difficult to have enough for games. Usually Friday nights are exclusive to high school football games, but over the past few years games have been moved to Thursdays or Saturdays, or even earlier starts on Fridays with a crew doing a doubleheader like the one that went to Esko and Barnum Oct. 4.

"We have a dedicated group of officials, and they can't be everywhere on a Friday night," Kosey said.

Soccer, hockey

Jerry Sillanpa is an assigner of officials for the Lake Superior Soccer Referee Association.

"This past season we were sitting pretty good," he said. "We had a spike last year mainly because local athletic directors were very proactive in getting the word out that we were in need of officials or we wouldn't be able to cover all of our games. We had a nice influx of new people, but unfortunately not a lot of those people came back. Our retention rate for first-time officials is pretty dismal."

Stoskopf shared one recruiting success story, telling how Esko high school principal Greg Hexum stepped up to be a soccer referee last fall. He quickly advanced.

"[Hexum] actually worked a third-place game at State this year," Stoskopf said.

Don Walters is the assignor for officials in the Northeast Hockey Association and the Seaway Hockey Officials Association. Northeast Hockey assigns officials for youth games while the Seaway Association assigns officials for high school hockey games from Moose Lake to Silver Bay and east to Ashland, Wisconsin.

"We are in a pretty good place right now," Walters said. "We've been in an upcycle since Covid, because we've made some strong recruiting efforts, but we can always use more officials, especially in the youth ranks."

Currently, the Seaway Association has 58 officials for both boys and girls high school hockey games.

"Right now, we have 417 games on our schedule for the upcoming season," Walters said. "That does not include playoff games or Christmas tournaments. We also lost a few games this year because of Duluth Marshall folding their program and combining with the North Shore program."

Much like hockey, the Lake Superior Basketball Association, which oversees youth and high school basketball officials in northeast Minnesota, has strong numbers of officials available.

"Our numbers are up and strong right now," Kosey said.

Spring sports

Kosey also oversees the Tri-State Officials Association, which provides umpires for baseball and softball in the spring. It has an average size crew to work the high school games in the spring, but the most volatile season in high school sports is the spring.

"If every game were played when they are scheduled we'd be fine," Kosey said. "The problem we run into is when games are canceled due to rain, snow or bad field conditions, and then all of a sudden the games pile up, so we can always use more officials."

All three regional assignors said officiating is a way to stay active in sports after graduating from high school. Officiating also offers the opportunity to make money on the side, as stipends for all sports have gone up to retain officials and lure new people in.

"There are definitely some financial rewards," Kosey said. "Yes, there are times when you have to deal with unruly parents and fans, but we train you on how to deal with those issues, and the longer you are involved the easier it becomes. I would encourage everyone to check out how they can get involved."

Anyone interested in becoming an official can contact a school athletic director or go to the Minnesota State High School League website, which has information on registering to become an official at http://www.mshsl.org/who-are-you/officiating.

*****

Get in the game

Anyone interested in becoming an official can contact a school athletic director or go to the Minnesota State High School League website, which has information on registering to become an official at https://www.mshsl.org/who-are-you/officiating.