Nick Stevens, Managing Editor of HighSchoolOT
North Carolina’s shortage of high school sports officials and referees has become more pronounced since the pandemic, but data released last week by the NC High School Athletic Association suggests it could worsen.
Over the summer, the NCHSAA formed a committee to look into the issues of the lack of new officials and the inability to retain current officials. The committee conducted a survey of all NCHSAA officials in all sports and received a 42 percent response rate.
There was a lot of data covered in the survey, but one number stood out more than any other – in the past two years, 53% of NCHSAA officials considered resigning.
“If you lose us, you lose high school sports,” NCHSAA board president Steve Schwartz said in an interview with 99.9 FM The Fan on Wednesday. Schwartz coached high school basketball in the Triangle area for 36 years. “The school system in the state of North Carolina is going to have a very real possibility of having to cancel programs because they won’t have officials to call their plays.”
Schwartz said there are two main reasons officials leave: sportsmanship and compensation.
“Why can’t we recruit and why do we have a challenge to retain officials? Well, those are the two main reasons. Sportsmanship — people are above abuse and it’s gotten significantly worse over the years … The NCHSAA needs to get to deal with sportsmanship. The schools need to deal with sportsmanship. And pay — a lot of officials just don’t believe they’re being paid what they deserve,” Schwartz said.
The survey found that 63% of NCHSAA officials believe bad behavior from fans, coaches and players has made officiating less rewarding, and 66% said spectator behavior today is worse than ever.
According to the survey, another big issue is salary. 51% of officials who responded to the survey believe that the level of salary does not reach the appropriate level. Schwartz said officials in neighboring states are paid more.
A basketball official earns $52.50 for a varsity basketball game or $105 for a varsity doubleheader.
“For many of them, it’s not an Uber ride to school,” Schwartz said. “And a lot of officials say, ‘Why would I go to a high school competition and get paid $105 for two varsity games and put up with that level of abuse?’ Young people say, ‘I don’t know how to do this’ … And for high officials, ‘How much longer do I want to put up with this?'”
Last week, Schwartz and other committee members met with the NCHSAA board of directors to present their findings and make recommendations. The board is expected to take these recommendations into consideration and act on them at the regular winter board meeting beginning later this month.
“”The NCHSAA has a challenge ahead of us where we need a seat at the table – the referees need a seat at the table – we need to be fully engaged in their mission. We believe in the education-based mission of athletics,” Schwartz said. “I really hope that the pay issue will be resolved in some way given the financial challenges that schools have so that everybody out there judging will say, ‘ OK. That’s being addressed.” And then that buys us a few years to deal with the issue of sportsmanship. That’s what I hope will come out of it.”
Schwartz said he left last week’s meeting with the board feeling optimistic.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said in a written statement last week that the board is ready to address the issue of referee recruitment and retention.
“Our board members are committed to thoroughly reviewing the commission’s findings, developing a plan and timeline to address these issues, while continuing the dialogue with officials from across the state,” Tucker said. “Our goals are to effect change, both short-term and long-term, to improve the conditions and experience faced by officials in our schools and at our competitions.”
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