How are college umpires rated?

Watching the UCLA-Oregon State game, there was a play that the umpire at 2B missed - should have been an obvious out (R1 at 2B headed toward 3B on contact, line drive to F6, caught and thrown to F4 well ahead of the runner diving back). Although the commentators jumped on him and said he was out of position, I didn't think so - his being on the 1B side of 2B should not have prevented him from seeing all four elements of the play, which granted from my TV screen appeared to be right in front of him. Next batter - single to LF scores R1.

I'll only mention in passing the already well discussed "shoe box" strike zone.

This leads to my question (since I do not work college ball...have done some fall ball JC games and scrimmages)...how are college umpires rated for post-season play? Are they on video? Does an assessor from a conference go to games and watch? If a blown call results in a run (such as my example), is that a black mark?

Just curious...

SoCalASABlue said:

Watching the UCLA-Oregon State game, there was a play that the umpire at 2B missed - should have been an obvious out (R1 at 2B headed toward 3B on contact, line drive to F6, caught and thrown to F4 well ahead of the runner diving back). Although the commentators jumped on him and said he was out of position, I didn't think so - his being on the 1B side of 2B should not have prevented him from seeing all four elements of the play, which granted from my TV screen appeared to be right in front of him. Next batter - single to LF scores R1.

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Sort of curious as to just where did they expect that umpire to get to on a line drive to get a better look at a play which probably took all of 2.5-3 second? Or were the stating U3 should have made the call from 60' away?

I'll only mention in passing the already well discussed "shoe box" strike zone.

This leads to my question (since I do not work college ball...have done some fall ball JC games and scrimmages)...how are college umpires rated for post-season play? Are they on video? Does an assessor from a conference go to games and watch? If a blown call results in a run (such as my example), is that a black mark?

Just curious...

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Not sure in today's world.

Do any of the certifying bodies have formal review processes?

Greenmonsters said:

Do any of the certifying bodies have formal review processes?

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Umpire reviews are generally done on a conference basis and run by the umpires organization that is contracted to provide officials for games. All conferences have an umpires coordinator.

Depending on the level of conference, in general there will be an umpire evaluator, a peer review process and a coach evaluation process. Actual umpire evaluators will be there for most (if not all) games at a top tier DI conference so perhaps less than 1/4 of games at the bottom of lower divisions. At conference tournaments, most, if not all games will be evaluated and often those evaluations go along way in determining assignments for later rounds of play.

At the NCAA level, Donna Vavrinec still runs the Softball Umpire Program (https://sup.arbitersports.com/front/104484/Site) which handles officials for WCWS and which most NCAA officials are required to be part of by most conferences. They also run the rules and mechanics tests (to be considered for post season you must score 90 or higher), and also have a SUP observation team which tries to observe recommended umpires by Conference Coordinators for evaluation and selection for postseason assignments.

There is also access to the SUP Online Clinic on this site which is eye opening and interesting - including focus on strike zone accuracy information and recommended and approved mechanics, chasing fly balls, and game management (including 'going for help' on a call, handling coaches complaining and so forth.) How umpires are selected by SUP is also covered in the clinic.