Bringing refs together might resolve squabble

By PETE YOUNG

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 25, 2000

Is a 3-year-old grudge preventing Pinellas County from using the best basketball officials?

Some of the county's most experienced coaches and referees say yes.

The Suncoast Basketball Referees, which raised the ire of county athletic director Bob Hosack in 1997 when it asked for a pay raise, hasn't gotten a county contract since. This year, the group submitted the lowest bid and its officials scored higher on certification exams, but Hosack is recommending a competing organization be awarded the contract.

When SBR, which had been working county games for years, and Hosack couldn't agree in 1997, Hosack encouraged some of its referees to leave the group to form a separate organization, Pinellas Area Referees. PAR has been officiating public school games ever since while SBR has officiated the private schools.

The split has resulted in a decline in the quality of officiating, some public school coaches say. Meanwhile, PAR was chosen by Hosack in 1999 and again this month despite SBR's lower bid and having a far better average score on the Florida High School Activities Association officials exam.

Northeast boys coach Dave Redding and Clearwater boys coach Rudy Coffin, who each have more than 20 years of coaching experience in the county, have been upset by the officiating situation since the beginning.

On May 12, Redding sent a letter to county superintendent Howard Hinesley, which read in part, "I heard that the possibility of the two associations coming together is for real this time. Based on the declining numbers of quality officials and the drop in quality work being done, I would ask you to do anything in your power to help in this healing process so basketball in our county will get back some justice for the athletes."

Coffin cited the fact that he had two players ejected from games last season for the first time and a brawl at Tarpon Springs as evidence of the officiating decline. His primary complaint is that with a smaller pool of varsity-qualified referees, he's seeing the same officials more often, some as many as five or six times a season.

"There are petty differences between Hosack's office and the two officials (organizations). That's the problem," Coffin said. "They need to come together for the best interests of basketball."

"Three years ago, the leadership of (SBR) took a different approach to negotiating," Hosack said. "They took the hard line, and they were going to dictate to us and pressure us into doing what they wanted us to do. All the other (sports officials) associations worked with us. This one did not."

Hosack said he has had fewer complaints about basketball officials, who made between $26 and $50 a game last season, the past three years than ever before in his 16-year tenure. Some coaches said otherwise.

Lakewood boys coach Dan Wright, who is entering his 23rd season, last year used his allotment of two "scratches" -- requests to not have specific referees. Wright said he couldn't remember the last year he used even one scratch.

Wright said the referees he scratched gave him an incorrect rule interpretation.

According to the FHSAA, PAR officials on average have had among the lowest scores in the state on the association's exam for the past two years. Seventy-six PAR officials took the exam last year and received an average score of 83.41, ranking them 27th out of 29 organizations. SBR had 26 officials take the test and receive an average score of 92.27, which ranked No. 1.

This year for the first time, Hosack was advised by county director of purchasing Mark Lindemann to have an open bidding process for all sports officials. Lindemann said the existence of multiple basketball organizations in the county created the need to have bidding. Previously, Hosack negotiated with organizations.

When bidders were solicited on June 8, Hosack said he told the purchasing department not to send SBR a bid request because of his past problems with the organization. But requests for bids for the contract, worth about $60,000, were sent to PAR and organizations outside Pinellas County. SBR had to contact the purchasing department to submit a bid.

The contract with PAR is scheduled to be approved by the School Board at its meeting at 5 p.m. today, but Ed Wells III, a member of the SBR board, has contacted several board members, including Jane Gallucci.

"What seems like our best interest is to try to work with both organizations to bring them together so we have the best of both worlds; enough referees and the best referees," said Gallucci, who has asked deputy superintendent John Stewart to facilitate a meeting between PAR and SBR. "It's something that we really need to be addressing.

"We can do the best thing for the kids if we make the best referees available."

SBR said its primary goal is to merge with PAR. Jeff Amper, the president of SBR, and Tony Perna, who recently resigned as president of PAR, believe it is in the best interest of county referees and athletes to have one group with all of the best officials.

They met on multiple occasions this spring. However, Perna became frustrated with his own organization and resigned in May, citing its refusal to consider merging and the general poor quality of officiating.

"There is not enough depth, and that goes for both organizations," Perna said. "The reason why I resigned is because the quality with the groups being separate is not what it could be as one. But the (PAR board) members said under no circumstances would we (merge with SBR)."

P.J. Curran, the PAR booking commissioner who along with Perna established PAR in 1997, disagreed with Perna's assertion that PAR had gone downhill during the past three years.

"We've done a tremendous job," said Curran, who also serves as treasurer of PAR. "We're an up-and-coming organization. We've given a lot of younger officials an opportunity, and we're always looking for new members. We encourage any of (the SBR officials) to come over and join. We have an open door for all officials to join us.

"I would not be opposed to discussing (a merger), but I haven't been convinced that a merger's in the best interest at this time."

Perna regrets having broken off from SBR in the contract dispute three years ago.

"If I could do it over again, I would have stuck with the original group," said Perna, a 12-year veteran who will not officiate this year. "We should have gone back to the negotiating table, maybe with different people, and hammered out a deal."

Gallucci is optimistic Stewart will be able to persuade the two organizations to unite. Coffin, Redding and other coaches, weary of the situation, wish they had never split. "They have a lot of personal agendas that have nothing to do with the good of Pinellas County basketball," Coffin said. "It's just grown men squabbling about who gets to control what, and the ones who are suffering are the kids."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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