Officials work the Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, between Boylan Catholic High School and Hononegah High School. The NIC-10 has had to hold several Saturday games this year because of a lack of officials. (Photo by Mike Paterson/Mid-West Family Broadcasting)
By Paul Anthony Arco
Special to the Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The local high school football schedule has been a little wonky this season, to say the least. 

While most of the games have been played under Friday night lights, high school athletic directors and coaches have had to be a little creative when it comes to scheduling. 

All due to a lack of officials. 

The number of high school officials has dropped 20% in the last decade, according to IHSA associate executive director Kurt Gibson. This year, the IHSA has between 10,000 and 11,000 licenses (if an official works three different sports, for example, that counts as three different licenses). And that’s caused a shift in scheduling as schools are being asked to play some games on Saturdays and Thursdays. 

On the opening week of the NIC-10 season, all five games were played on Saturday. Two schools, Freeport and Harlem, have three Saturday games on their schedule this year and Hononegah has two. 

On Sept. 23, Auburn and Boylan moved their game up to a 4:45 p.m. start time so the same officiating crew could travel to work the East and Hononegah game, which was pushed back to 7:45 p.m.

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The official shortage isn’t just in football. Other high school sports – basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball – are experiencing similar shortages. Last spring, some high school varsity baseball games were played with only one umpire. 

“It’s definitely not ideal,” said Jody Flynn, Belvidere North’s athletic director. “It’s a challenge for one umpire to call the entire game from behind the plate. Did they make the tag at second base, for example? Coaches need to have some patience and understanding when it comes to missed calls.” 

“What we’re facing in Illinois is consistent with other states in the country,” Gibson said. “This isn’t something that happened overnight.”

There are several reasons for the low numbers – the expense of buying your own officiating equipment, the lack of pay, the COVID hangover and, of course, verbal abuse coming from the cheering section and the athletes and coaches on the sidelines. 

“It’s an angry world we live in, and it carries over to high school sports,” Gibson said. “Coaches get grief and so do the officials. We’ve lost sight of the fact that they are human, they make mistakes, and they are trying their best. Plus, we don’t have the technology and the resources that they have in college and professional sports.” 

You need ‘thick skin’

Pat Burke, who officiated for 40 years before retiring six years ago, agrees. 

“You have to have real thick skin,” he said. “An official has to know the rules and has to be able to react to situations. And you have to let coaches and fans know they can only push you so far.” 

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Jeff Carr officiated high school sports and college football for 38 years before retiring last year. He assigns football officials for the NIC-10. He knew last spring that he would be short for this football season when he held meetings with the athletic directors. 

“Everyone has been fairly flexible when it comes to scheduling,” he said. “The biggest problem is we lost between 13-15 officials, and we had only eight new officials start this year. When COVID hit and we didn’t have games, I think that’s when some guys thought this is a good time to give it up. We’re trying to come up with ways to recruit, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. I don’t know what the solution is.”

Belvidere North, who is undefeated and sits atop the NIC-10, has only had one Saturday game this season, and that was the opening week against Freeport. Jeff Beck, North’s head coach for the past 10 years, is a proponent of Friday night games. 

“Having an extra day to prepare for Freeport was good, but there are no other positives to it,” he said. “It’s weird to play on a Saturday. A lot of teams like playing Saturdays during the playoffs, for example, but our players have a routine for nine weeks during the season – we prep Monday through Thursday and then have a team meeting on Friday before the game. I’m a big believer in high school football Friday nights under the lights.” 

The number of high school officials has dropped 20% in the last decade, according to the IHSA. In this photo, officials confer over a call on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in a matchup between Boylan and Hononegah. (Photo by Mike Paterson/Mid-West Family Broadcasting)

It’s also proving difficult for administrators to find help to work the Saturday games. “It’s easier for people to work Friday night,” Flynn said. “I had to scramble to find game workers – concessions, gate, security – who would normally work on Friday but can’t on Saturday.”

In an effort to better compensate officials, some areas of the state have increased pay. “We’ve increased varsity pay from $76 a game to $112 and $69 from $56 at the lower levels – and that’s across the board with our sports,” North’s Flynn said. To help cover the cost, admission to football, soccer and volleyball has increased a dollar to $6 for adults and $3 for students. 

“The pay across the board was too low,” Carr said. “Rockford needed to be competitive with the suburbs. It’s hard to get officials to travel especially when they look at what they spend in gas.” 

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According to Gibson, the IHSA would like to see an additional 3,000 licenses to officiate games. In the meantime, he says the worst-case scenario is schedules may have be adjusted to make sure there are enough officials for all games.

“Fewer games played would be a lot easier to cover, but we haven’t got to that point yet,” he said. 

Trying to attract more young officials

The IHSA is planning on rolling out a program later this year to incorporate officiating classes into the high school curriculum in an effort to attract younger officials. The plan is to introduce students to officiating and have them start in the youth leagues of various sports. 

“The hope is they could gain some confidence, and by the time they get to post high school, they will like it and stick with it for several more years,” Gibson said. “The key is getting them past the five-year mark.” 

Pat Burke would like to see a mentoring program in place for younger officials. “It would be nice to get pro athletes like Dean Lowry and Fred VanVleet involved. As pros they know what it’s about, and it may get some people motivated.” 

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It took some prodding by friends, but former high school quarterback Diego Gomez became an official five years ago. The 2005 Rockford East graduate officiates football, soccer and basketball, sometimes as much as six days a week. 

“I like being part of the action, for sure,” Gomez said. “It helps me stay active and the extra money is nice.” 

At 36, Gomez is usually the youngest official in his crew. And he’s felt the impact of the official shortage. 

“We’ve started a couple of football games with only four refs. One ref was working a game 15 minutes away so we had to wait for him,” he said. “I’ve worked three-man crews for sophomore games that was supposed to have four officials, and sometimes I’ve worked junior varsity soccer games by myself.” 

Gomez mentions the need for more officials to friends, but says he’s not going to pressure anyone. As for harsh treatment from the fans or participants, Gomez adds it shouldn’t be a deterrent. 

“It hasn’t caused me to lose any sleep,” he said. “These are people who are here to see their kids play. I just try my best to relate to them. After all, I’m a sports fan, too.” 


Want to officiate?

You can learn more about how to officiate at the Northern Illinois Football Officials Association website, nifoa.net, or learn how to become a licensed official through the IHSA HERE.


This article is by freelance journalist Paul Anthony Arco. Email feeback to news@rockrivercurrent.com

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