Leading off today: Tom Blackford isn't done just yet, but the next assignment for the winningest boys basketball coach in Section 3 history will be his biggest challenge yet.
Blackford, the coach of two NYSPHSAA champions and six sectional titlists, announced his pending retirement prior to last season and then guided Hamilton to a 16-7 record. He began having misgivings about the decision to step down within a matter of weeks.
"Nobody called me. I didn't get any messages," he told Syracuse.com. "I was looking at my ceiling and I'm going, 'This stinks. It stinks. I have nothing to look forward to, like with summer league or anything like that, or open gyms.' And then all of a sudden, my phone started ringing."
A bunch of those calls were from Westmoreland AD Jerry Fiorini. One thing led to another, and Blackford, 72, who has won 644 games at Hamilton and Fayetteville-Manlius, will start over this fall with a program that has gone 5-54 over the past three seasons.
"We just want to change things around and change the entire culture," he said. "Those are things, obviously, in my coaching career that I'm good at. Changing the culture and giving them hope and building relationships and teaching them all the things that go into a successful program."
Section 3 dispute with soccer referees escalates
The dispute between game officials and school administrators that caused minor disruptions to the Section 3 boys soccer last fall has turned into an all-out skirmish that has prompted the NYSPHSAA to pull out a figurative red card.
With Section 3 and the Central New York Soccer Officials Association unable to resolve their differences over the use of a popular electronic assignment and payment system, the NYSPHSAA took a significant step last week by dumping the CNYSOA as its recognized chapter for covering contests in Central New York.
"Basically, for the state, we don't exist anymore,” boys soccer officials rep Judson Ames told Syracuse.com.
That does not translate into an instant fix. Section 3 will have to assemble a new roster of officials, and Ames said members of CNYSOA have indicated they will not participate if CNYSOA is not recognized by the state.
So, what's behind the dispute?
Last fall, CNYSOA members started refusing to work games at schools using Arbiter Pay, an online system that streamlines the bookkeeping of paying officials for school business offices. That led to a smattering of postponements of modified, JV, and varsity games until some schools agreed to stop using Arbiter Pay.
The Officials Coordinating Federation Board ruled that CNYSOA officials were withholding services, ultimately paving the way for the NYSPHSAA to stop recognizing the organization as an officiating service.
According to the website, CNYSOA members had cited concerns about the security of the online system and objected to an $8 service charge to issue checks if officials do not opt into direct deposits.
Now, the CNYSOA members allege the NYSPHSAA wants to force officials to accept assignments regardless of travel distance with no ability to decline if they've flagged themselves as available on a given day.
My 2 cents on the dispute
(1) Giving the soccer officials group the benefit of the doubt on the issue of being forced to accept distant assignments, there's a relatively simple solution: Adopt the basketball model of multiple IABBO boards by splitting the CNYSOA into three closely aligned regional chapters.
It's admittedly imperfect and will require the ability for officials to opt-in to accepting assignments in other regions, but it drastically reduces the number of potential round trips exceeding 50 miles.
(2) Concerns about Arbiter Pay potentially exposing Social Security numbers and other personal data are nonsense. Arbiter Pay employs end-to-end encryption and the same multi-factor authentication protocols used by banks and investment services.
The company has been around for more than 40 years. As such, the difference between Arbiter Pay and the ancient paper voucher system still employed by some schools is the difference between a 75-inch flat screen with Smart TV technology and a 13-inch black and white television.
(3) As the last member of my social group to begin using cell phones (I was initially forced into it by being assigned one that the company paid for) and ATMs, I'm sympathetic to opposition to paying $8 to be paid by check if officials haven't kept up with modern conveniences.
That being said, it's reaching a point where it's nearly impossible to get by in life without a bank account that can accommodate direct deposits. In fact, I'd bet that many officials complaining about check charges are already paying for cell phones and/or some utility or cable bills via automated withdrawals from checking accounts.
(4) It's time for Luddites to move into the 21st Century ... or at least the late 20th Century.
If you're not aware, the NFHS recently inked a deal with Arbiter, making the company its exclusive game scheduling partner through 2028.
Neither the NYSPHSAA nor its individual sections are obligated to begin using Arbiter products, but ADs, school business managers, and sectional executive directors are going to be besieged with invitations to participate in online presentations demonstrating the ease of use and potential cost savings and security enhancements.
Gatorade track and field honors
Aiden Bryant of Midlakes in Section 5 pulled off the long jump/triple jump double last month in the NYSPHSAA track and field championships, then went to the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia, where he won the triple jump with a leap of 51-2.75.
They were the exclamation points on a strong junior season that earned him Gatorade's recognition as New York's male track and field athlete of the year. He's the first Section 5 award recipient in boys track since Newark runner Joe Matias in 1996.
On the girls side, the selection of Miller Place thrower Jillian Scully was nothing short of inevitable. The LSU-bound senior broke the state record in the discus three times in five weeks, including a heave of 184-10. She won the shot and discus in the NYSPHSAA championships.
