AHSAA official speaks at Rotary Club

On Sept. 8, the Enterprise Rotary Club hosted Alabama High School Athletic Association Southeast Director of Officials Mark Kelly to speak at the club’s weekly meeting.

Kelly – a Dothan resident – has been involved in officiating for more than 30 years – including college basketball for 27 years and high school football for 34 years – since he was 18 years old.

Kelly discussed a number of topics with the Rotary Club, including new rules for the 2020 football season, COVID-19 guidelines and the state of officiating in Alabama.

Kelly said that the two primary rule changes this year is that quarterbacks are now allowed to spike the ball from the shotgun formation and defenses that attempt to call out snap counts – to disrupt the offense – have their own five yard penalty. In the past that penalty was given as a 15-yard personal foul.

Kelly also discussed points of emphasis for officials in 2020. Intentional grounding, ineligible receivers down the field and not enough men on the line of scrimmage are primary points of emphasis this season.

In college and pro football quarterbacks can escape the “tackle box” and throw the ball away with no penalty, but that rule does not exist in high school football. Also, offensive linemen that are more than two yards down the field when a forward pass is thrown past the line of scrimmage is going to be called very strictly this season, according to Kelly.

“We are going to give you two yards – whether you are engaged (in a block) or not – but no longer two yards and an inch,” Kelly said. “It’s been taken advantage of.”

In years past offensive tackles have tended to line up a bit off the line of scrimmage but Kelly said that officials would be policing that much more strictly this year.

“There is a point of emphasis to get them back on the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Rather than having to form a pocket they already have one at the snap, which is an unfair advantage.”

Kelly also pointed out the COVID-19 regulations that the AHSAA has adopted, which includes expanding the player box on the sideline from the 25-yard line to the 10-yard line, allowing coaches and officials to wear masks, doubling all stoppages in play – including timeouts – to two minutes, only allowing one captain per team at coin tosses and urging social distancing in the crowd.

The state of officiating in Alabama is also something Kelly touched on. He said that in 2020 the AHSAA saw a 13 percent decrease in the number of officials for football season compared to a typical 1/2 percent or 1 percent decrease in most years. While much of that is over COVID-19 concerns, Kelly said that the breakdown in sportsmanship across the board is also a big problem.

“The primary reason over the years that we have lost officials almost every year is the deterioration of sportsmanship in athletics,” Kelly said. “A lot of officials come out their first year and say they are done. Recruiting and retention of officials has been difficult because of the lack of sportsmanship.”

Kelly said that players are not typically the issue but rather the adults.

“Normally there is a player or two (on each team) that struggles (with sportsmanship) but the rest are fine,” Kelly said. “Coaches and spectators are a different story. When you have spectators following officials to their cars and threatening them with bodily harm or death that discourages officials.

“That discourages people from officiating, so that is where we are.”

While some states have created laws that enforce stricter penalties for threatening or assaulting officials, Kelly said that isn’t what is going to help retain officials.

“Either officials simply have to grow thicker skin and bring their own security or folks realize that if we drive everyone out of officiating then there won’t be anyone there to officiate anymore,” Kelly said.

Kelly told a story to close out his remarks that emphasizes just how great athletics can be and how good sportsmanship can mean the world.

In 2008, Faith Academy in Texas played the Gainesville State School – which is made up of juvenile inmates at a maximum security institution – and Faith coach Kris Hogan asked half of his parents and cheerleaders to stand on the sidelines of Gainesville to cheer the team on, which is something that those players had never experienced.

“He wanted the message to be that you are just as valuable as any other person on the planet,” Kelly said. “Some folks were confused and thought he was nuts. One player asked him, ‘Coach, why are doing this?’

“And Kris Hogan replied, ‘Imagine you don’t have a home life or any one loving you or pulling for you. Now imagine what it would feel like and mean to you for 100s of people to suddenly root for you.’”

After the game Gainesville’s quarterback asked if he could pray with both teams after the game.

“He prayed, ‘Lord, I don’t know what just happened, so I don’t know how or who to say thank you but I never knew there were so many people that cared about us.’ I think you’ll agree with me,” Kelly continued. “That is an illustration of what is good in athletics and the people involved in athletics.”