NASO President Bill Topp Keeps a Keen Eye On the Officiating Crisis — And Potential Fixes

Bill ToppBill Topp and his umpiring partner were surrounded in a parking lot. They had just worked an adult recreational baseball game, and not to the liking of some of the participants involved. It was a scary situation that Topp, to this day, contends met the definition of assault, and one all too familiar to the men and women who officiate sporting events — no matter the level of competition. At one point in his career, Topp officiated not only baseball (including NCAA Division I games) but basketball and football, too. As the president of the National Association of Sports Officials, and executive editor of its Referee magazine since 1990, he’s focused on all sports these days. In particular, Topp keeps a keen eye on the decades-long decline in officiating talent that plagues organized sports at every level. AB senior editor Paul Steinbach, a former baseball umpire himself, asked Topp to assess the current officiating crisis and — true to form — he called it like he sees it.

What drew you to officiating?
I started as a 14-year-old, working at our local Little League in Germantown, Wis., where I grew up. Just one of those things where I was an athlete, playing multiple sports, and that particular summer there was an emergency where an umpire didn’t show up, and my coach said, “Hey, go over to that other field there and help.” There were a bunch of 10- or 11-year-olds playing, and I went out there not knowing what I was doing, and kind of had some fun doing it, and dabbled in it a little bit. Then, I was a four-sport athlete in high school and didn’t do any officiating. But then I played Division II baseball at Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, and between my sophomore and junior year, the dad of one of my roommates and teammates was a local umpire. He was visiting and knowing that I had dabbled in it as a teenager said they were looking for umpires for that summer. I was looking for a summer job and decided to do it. I went to some training classes with the Wisconsin Umpires Association and fell back in love with it. I continued to play at Parkside, but then would umpire during the summer. I started with baseball, then added basketball, then quickly football. At one point I was doing all three.

What would you consider your best single-game experience?
One that we all look back on fondly was in 2009. Our crew got a chance to work the WIAA Division 1 championship football game, and it happened to be a conference rivalry game at the time. It was Menomonee Falls and Marquette High School, and it was just a very intense game, but in a strange way, because Marquette had scored, if I recall, on the very first possession to go up 7-0, and then there was not another score the entire game. Now that sounds boring, probably, to the average fan, but to us that meant every play mattered. Everything was intense, and it was a very well-played game. We only had, I believe, four flags in the entire game. So, I was just proud of the crew that we stayed out of the way, if you will, of a very good, well-played and well-coached game in which every play seemed to matter. It turns out, on that particular five-person crew, we ended up with one of my crewmates in the Big Ten as a white hat, as a referee — really incredible success — and to this day he’s in Big Ten replay. Another one is in the Mid-American Conference replay. So just really proud of that whole crew and that whole experience.

What was your worst experience?
I did have a situation fairly early in my baseball umpiring career where it was an adult recreation type game, and borderline got assaulted by a player, chased to the parking lot, surrounded by a number of players. Kind of grabbed me by the shirt as I was trying to get into my car. Nothing went further than that, but looking back on it, probably would have met the definition of an assault. So those are scary situations. My partner and I were just trying to get out of there. It’s unfortunate when it happens. You learn a lot from it, but it’s unfortunate. And, of course, those are the reasons we’re losing so many officials — just the atmosphere of it. There are a lot situations like that, unfortunately, that you could point back to, but that one in particular was one where I was really questioning my sanity and why I was doing this.

I noticed the NASO phone menu prompts callers to press a number for insurance or assault information.
Yeah, it’s really a sad state of affairs. Part of our insurance package to protect officials is an assault protection package, so if you do have a physical confrontation or are assaulted, we have a team of experts who are here to actually help you recoup some of your medical costs and actually provide some benefit where you can go after the perpetrator in a court of law. It’s just come to the point where NASO needs that insurance to protect its members. It’s a very difficult thing, when you think about it. You noticed it, but here at NASO we wake up every day trying to promote and really celebrate officiating, and yet we have that in our kit bag when we have to help our members. It’s not exactly something we like to market to, for obvious reasons, but we are there if you need us, including when you’re confronted like that and you’ve been assaulted.

How common are assault situations?
We probably get three to five incidents from around the country that cross our desk every week — mostly involving competitive youth parents, sometimes coaches. It really is a sad state of affairs. 

These are formal reports from officials out in the field?
Yeah, not always leading to arrest. Sometimes our job is trying to convince the officials to press charges. A lot of times, officials just want to move on and get it in the rearview mirror, but we have to convince them that, no, you need to follow through with this for the good of the officiating order, if you will — for everybody — or it’s going to continue.

Did you ever consider getting out of the game before you felt you were ready to because of that kind of abuse?
I think everybody, if they’re being honest with themselves, goes through that at some point. If you just stack up negative experience after negative experience, you just say to yourself, “Why am I doing this?” You know, young family or new job — all the other things in your life —  you think, “I don’t need this stress.” I think most everybody has one of those “I don’t need this” moments. But you pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and you say, “Well, look at all the good that officiating brings to your life and the effort that it takes to do it.” This isn’t for everybody, and I think there’s some real pride in that. We have down moments. Maybe we missed a play or misapplied a rule, and we know it, and it really affected a game. Those eat at you. If you let them eat at you too much, it can really affect your decision-making on whether you want to do this anymore. The fans. The coaches’ behavior. It’s occasionally the players, but it’s really fans and coaches that can eat at you. That’s why we have each other. You know, there’s a real camaraderie in officiating. You need each other to get through those moments. We have local officials association meetings, and sometimes there as much therapy sessions as they are education sessions, just because you need each other to get through that. And if you step back from it, maybe you take a little time away, that’s when you realize all the value that there is in sports officiating — what it brings, not only to you, but to sports as a whole. It is a calling. It is something that you have to fight through every once in a while, but it’s worth it.

We used to say the best compliment a baseball umpire could get was if someone had to ask who worked the game. If the umpires were that anonymous, it meant they were that good.

I gotta challenge you on that, Paul. It’s one of those things that the media loves to say, but it’s nails on a chalkboard to us. Here’s why. You can be anonymous out there and not do your job, avoid doing the tough thing, avoid doing the right thing, and maybe you’re not noticed, but you didn’t do what was right by the game. Our job is to do what’s right by the game without fear or favor, and sometimes the game dictates that we have to do something that is not popular and that draws a lot of attention — make a last-second foul call in a basketball game, or a holding call that brings a big touchdown back. But that is the job we have to do, and if that means we’re in the spotlight because of that, so be it. We’re not seeking it, but it does happen. I don’t subscribe to the theory that the best officiated game is when you don’t notice the officials. That might be nice. Everything wrapped up in a nice little bowl and a cherry on top. We love those games, too. Don’t get me wrong. If the ball is going in the hoop and we can stay out of the way, that’s great. But when it comes down to it, we have to enforce the rules the entire way, all the way, and it takes courage to do that.

I only bring that up because I wondered if there were any moments in your career when you were approached by a coach or even a player who said, “Man, you were on your game today.” It’s so easy to criticize an official. It’s much rarer, I would guess, to be offered a compliment.
It does happen. We’re a little jaded with that, too. I always tell people that if you’re going to believe them when they tell you’re good, you have to believe them when they tell you you’re bad. Generally, they don’t know either way. A smart coach will be saying that to you because he might realize you’ve got him again in four weeks. So we’re always a little suspect of that. That doesn’t mean we don’t like compliments. There are those with whom you build a relationship — a professional and distant relationship that you respect. It’s nice to hear, but where that really matters to us is when one you feel it inside, and you know whether you did a good job or not before anybody else does. But secondly, it’s your crew. It’s your crewmates or your mentors coming out to observe you — those are the ones giving you an honest critique. That’s what means more to us than any compliments from anyone who’s involved in the game. They have a vested interest in it, and we know that that’s part of their role. We understand. It doesn’t mean we don’t like compliments, but we take them with a grain of salt sometimes.

What are the current nationwide numbers? Is attrition among officials really at an unprecedented level right now, or is it not that bad?
It is that bad. It’s getting better — slightly. It’s gonna take time, though. This shortage has been going on for more than two decades. The pandemic kind of pushed it over a cliff, but we had a story that we published in Referee magazine back in the late ’90s. There was a cover story, and the cover said, “Not Enough Refs.” That was in the ’90s, and it’s just been slowly going downhill ever since. We used to say that some of the more mainstream sports — basketball, football, maybe baseball —  were sort of immune to it, and it was happening in smaller sports, if you will. But that’s not the case anymore. It’s happening in all sports, and you’re getting those people who are now in their 50s, 60s and 70s and retiring, or maybe they didn’t come back after the pandemic. We estimate that roughly 30 percent did not come back after the pandemic, and that was huge because we were already facing a shortage. We aren’t finding the young people who want to do it.

How do you even go about looking to fill a void that large?
That’s the challenge. And all organizations — state high school associations and national governing bodies like the NFHS and the NCAA — are working really hard to get those numbers up, and there are some signs of progress. Many states are reporting an increase in registrations, which is great. The challenge there, of course, is that it doesn’t provide immediate help. Those are often young kids. Maybe they’re high school kids taking classes that are now offered around the country. Maybe they’re college kids who are just getting started. That’s great. We want them, we need them and we will definitely train them up, but they’re not going to help at the higher levels quickly enough.

What do you do now? Do you have baseball games where one umpire is behind the mound calling balls and strikes and plays on the bases?
That happens at the lower-level games. Depending on the level you’re working, you have to meet a minimum requirement of officials, so you can’t always do things like that. But what we are seeing is inexperienced officials thrust into higher-profile situations, which is not good for anybody. And that’s not just young people — we’re also trying to recruit people who might be in their 40s or early 50s, who maybe have been carting their kids around for the last 20 years, and now those kids are done playing sports, they’ve graduated, they’ve moved on. You might have a sports void in your life and you don’t have the time to coach, necessarily, but you want to stay involved in the game. They obviously love the game, and maybe they can give it a shot. They’ve got an experience level — more maturity, if you will — and maybe we can coach them up a little quicker and get them ready. So that is fertile ground for us. We’ll take those teenagers, too, but we have an opportunity to grow with those 40- and 50-year-olds, as well. Maybe we’ll only have them for 15 years or so, but it’s going to be a valuable 15 years.

How do you reach that demographic?
We actually do some of this locally. We promote having an official speak to a parent conference, or sometimes high school teams will have parent meetings before the season. Athletic directors are supporting the notion of having the officials association support that by having somebody come in and say, “Hey, have you ever thought about it?” If you do it in a fun way, maybe you throw up a few video plays and say, “All right, parents, you think you’re experts on this?” Have a little fun with it. Talk about how they don’t know the rules. And, once in a while, you’ll generate some interest. And it’s really great when you see that, because they are staring into that sports abyss, if you will. They’ve been carting their kids around their whole lives, and now they say, “Hey, I want to stay involved in some way. I’m not quite sure how to do it. I never even thought about that.” It’s been fun to do it that way.

How does the NASO membership break down by level of competition?
We have members at every level, including all the way up to the professional level. Every NFL referee is a member of NASO and supports us. They come in as a group member, through their own association, which is just outstanding. That’s simply because they support our mission. Lots of organizations around the country are group members that come in to support NASO, and then we support them with our benefits and services. But out of our 30,000 members across the country and around the world, 85% are at the high school level.

Just this fall, Al Michaels voiced his frustration with how a Bengals-Ravens game ended, the athletic director at Utah was fined $40,000 for saying a game against Brigham Young was “stolen,” and the Florida High School Athletic Association admitted a fourth-down call was missed in a playoff game. Is referee performance grabbing more headlines than ever?
The scrutiny is off the charts, and part of it is just the nature of society. I think it’s an extension of society. Social media, certainly, has not helped us. The instant world of criticism and the keyboard warriors, if you will, hiding behind the keyboard certainly leads to challenges for us. And it’s the depth of it. The Utah athletic director is a great example of that. You just didn’t see that often. They’re supposed to be the adults in the room. I understand why coaches lose their minds and get upset, even though we have to penalize that. But when it starts to reach the higher levels of education, be it the athletic director or the university president or the board of trustees or whatever, and that pressure is coming forth, you really start to wonder where this is all headed — especially in college athletics, where now there’s so much money involved with NIL deals and these record-setting sponsorships and all that. Sports is really in some measure out of control in the United States right now, and we definitely pay the price. It’s not just officials. Everybody’s more accountable now. You have more coaches being fired in the middle of the season. The pressure is just immense, and it’s on everybody. And we’re certainly feeling that.

In addition to the headlines we’re seeing, what are you hearing from the officials themselves? Are you noticing a change in the perception among officials of their own surroundings when they’re working a game?
 I will say at the highest levels, yes. I think that has been challenging. What I will also share, though, is something positive, Paul. There’s probably been more awareness at the high school level to treat us with respect. Now, it’s not always happening, obviously, but I think there’s been such a campaign and such a push, knowing that there is such a shortage, that if we continue to treat officials this way, we’re simply not going to play the games. And so we’ve noticed more positivity upon arrival. Maybe even schools have assigned students to be liaisons, and make sure that we’re taken care of, that we have an escort to the locker room. Maybe we get some water and a towel for after the game. Just little nice things upon arrival and treating us as guests. There’s been some positives like that. There’s been a real concerted effort to have “Officials Recognition” days at certain events, and it’s showing the high school kids that there is another side to this. You’re not going to agree with everything that we’re going to do, but we are human beings, and you have to treat us with respect. And we’ve earned that respect. We deserve that respect. But I would say the same challenges that we are facing, Paul, are no different than teachers in the classroom or anybody in law enforcement, first responders. It’s very societal, and we have to get back to respect for authority as a whole. And I think that’ll go a long way for officiating, as well.

You mentioned that you’re on the way back from the cliff dive that was the pandemic. Is there a timeline in mind for when your numbers might return to a comfort level resembling pre-pandemic norms?
I don’t see that coming. This is still a triage situation. I don’t see a state of comfort coming for a long time. Like I said, it’s been going on for 20 years. This isn’t something new. If it was just this big blip that we had with COVID, and then we had to dig out of that, that’d be one thing. We were already facing shortages. The challenge is, when you have a shortage like this that’s been going on for all these years, we’re just asking more of the officials. Maybe you only wanted to work two or three basketball games a week, but now you’re feeling pressure to work three to five. Or maybe you’re getting pressure from assigners and from schools to add another sport, and you do like doing that, because we love the game and we also want kids to play, but at some point this is affecting everything else in your life. And so when you are free on a night and an emergency call comes and says, "We just had a cancelation and somebody got hurt, and can you please come out to XYZ school and work?" It tugs at you, because you want the kids to play. We’re asking a lot of our officials right now. They are burned out. They are tired. They are doing the right thing by trying to get these games played, but at some point they have to take care of themselves, too. So I’m not seeing anything immediate that’s going to say, “Wow, we’re on track here in three years. We should be out of this.” Not seeing it yet.

Burnout then potentially leads to early retirements, and the cycle just continues.
It does, and depending on the sport you’re doing, of course, it’s physically and mentally taxing, and you do need some time away to stay fresh. We’ve got a lot of officials burning the midnight oil, so to speak, trying to get these games played. And we are seeing some positives. There are some good things in the numbers, but it’s going to take a while to feel the true effects.