AAC to hire HC consortium to oversee their officals

In my experience, when consultants are around it is more often about having someone to blame that isn't internal when whatever they're being assigned to goes haywire. The other common trend with consultants is that they're doing a job that would cause permanent staff you want to retain to start dusting off their resumes if you assigned them to it. Common thread: they're convenient whipping boys.

Redwood Forrest said:

This is interesting. The AAC is hiring an entity called College Officiating Consortium to oversee their officials. We have become a nation of consultants and I suppose this is another step in that direction. I have to admit probably anyone could do better than the AAC and ACC officials have done lately but I hate to see us going in that direction. Imagine in 2023 the SEC hiring a College Football Head Coach Consortium to oversee all things pertaining to SEC Head Coaches, from conduct on the practice field to recruiting visits and even the calls made on the field. I suppose I am in a minority but I don't like paying someone big bucks to PASS THE BUCK to some consultant. Some schools pay an AD big bucks and then he spends school money to hire Coaching Search Firms, Fund Raising Consultants and the like instead of doing his job himself. Heck, I am qualified to do just about anything if I can hire experts -- with your money -- to do it for me.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...shifts-new-football-official-model/410989002/

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I agree. I've always thought it was beyond ridiculous.

rgw said:

In my experience, when consultants are around it is more often about having someone to blame that isn't internal when whatever they're being assigned to goes haywire. The other common trend with consultants is that they're doing a job that would cause permanent staff you want to retain to start dusting off their resumes if you assigned them to it. Common thread: they're convenient whipping boys.

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Bingo!

If this were to somehow speed up the on-the-field calls and improve the quality of those calls, it might be an improvement.
I doubt that calling in consultants will do either.

You guys are misunderstanding this article. The COC is not a consulting firm. It's just a combination of multiple conferences in one officiating staff. The COC is the Big Ten, MAC, and Missouri Valley. When you are hired by the COC you are assigned to a crew that primarily works in one of those conferences, and officials are promoted within the COC if they earn it. They hold joint training and meetings throughout the year rather than doing it on their own. What the AAC is likely doing is becoming a part of something similar potentially with the ACC. Because of that they don't need their own supervisor.

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Consultants: If you can't be part of the solution, there's good money in prolonging the problem...

Redwood Forrest said:

Well maybe I don't understand it. I assumed that Steve Shaw was the overseer of the SEC officials and was responsible to the SEC office. Who was Steve Shaw responsible to? This consortium, who do they answer to? It appears they do not have one boss but several. In other words "bossed" by committee?

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He is still the supervisor of SEC. I think they may have a consortium with the Big South but I'm not sure. The consortium are probably some sort of legal entity but they report to the conferences they work for.

So Bill Castillo is the supervisor and reports to the Big Ten, MAC, and MVFC (plus non-scholarship Pioneer). The crews are assigned to one of the conferences but the officials are employed by the consortium. Their checks come from either the home school or the conference of the home school (I'm not 100% certain). I've worked scrimmages and checks have come from both.

So it's not a committee at all. The MVFC has no say over what happens with the Big Ten officials and vice versa.

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Redwood Forrest said:

IndyBison said:

He is still the supervisor of SEC. I think they may have a consortium with the Big South but I'm not sure. The consortium are probably some sort of legal entity but they report to the conferences they work for.
So Bill Castillo is the supervisor and reports to the Big Ten, MAC, and MVFC (plus non-scholarship Pioneer). The crews are assigned to one of the conferences but the officials are employed by the consortium. Their checks come from either the home school or the conference of the home school (I'm not 100% certain). I've worked scrimmages and checks have come from both.
So it's not a committee at all. The MVFC has no say over what happens with the Big Ten officials and vice versa.
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A consortium hires and assigns refs to games. But they have no say. Well, what is the point of working for you if you have no say with me? This is a big waste of time and topic. I wish I had never read the article and thought it was newsworthy. Sheesh. That fake news is alive and well.

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I understand your confusion and agree this isn't newsworthy to the average fan. It's not fake news though. Ultimately the consortium is a way to coordinate the officials on the ref side. The conference is still hiring a supervisor who is responsible for hiring, assigning, and evaluating the officials and that supervisor is accountable to the conference. It's just 2-3 different conferences are hiring the same person to do it. The "have no say" part means the Big Ten conference commissioner who hires the supervisor for his/her conference for example, doesn't have any say over what that supervisor does for the MAC or MVFC crews/games. But if he/she is not happy with the supervisor or crews for his/her games, he/she definitely holds that supervisor accountable. That conference could always choose to fire the consortium and hire a different supervisor just like they do today.

Something like this is definitely news within the officiating world because the supervisors are the path to getting hired by the conference. If you had a connection with Terry McAulay, and you knew he was considering you to be added to the AAC staff, that path just went away. You may have to start all over with someone new. But if the AAC then joins a consortium with the ACC and Dennis Hennigan doesn't know you, your opportunity goes away until you can make that connection. It also creates better training opportunities and a clearer progression path for the current AAC staff. I did read today the Big South is actually part of the ACC consortium so Dennis Hennigan is also their supervisor. The normal progression could be Big South-AAC-ACC. But if you are a Big South official you have to apply separately to the AAC and make sure their supervisor sees you and knows you. Then if you make it there, you have to eventually reapply to the ACC when you feel you are ready to advance to that level. If the AAC joins this consortium, your advancement opportunities are within the same organization as all 3 conferences have the same supervision administration.

None of that matters to the general fan. If you didn't like the way Terry McAulay was managing situations within the AAC I guess you would be happy to hear this.