Described even as an epidemic, the referee shortage in prep football has hit Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the entirety of the country, and hard. There’s not a singular reason for the shortage, but there are a few ideas as to why.

“Ideally, everyone wants to play Friday night underneath the lights, but because of our situation with officials right now, that’s not always the case. Sometimes we just have to adjust,” said Ray Kosey, a referee in the area and schedule assigner

Adjusting has been the new norm for football teams in the Northland.

According to a National Federation of State High School Associations study done in 2022, more than 33,000 officials have put away their whistles for good since the start of 2018.

“The way officials are treated overall is really sour, some people are coming out, especially young sports,” said Kosey. “You get a young official at a little league game or youth football, those parents, I don’t think, truly understand what it’s like just to have their kids involved. Then you get over-aggressive coaches too. So I think when you get people in the game too early, they get attacked in a negative way and they have a negative experience and then they’re less likely to come back into it.”

The most popular of any high school sporting level is varsity, but it’s the JV and even freshman games where the scrutiny is the worst.

“Schools are recognizing that they need to create an environment where, especially at the ninth grade, JV level, they just can’t leave those games unsupervised, where those parents or those maybe unexperienced coaches are just attacking the officials. Because all it takes is one bad experience for an official not to ever do a game.”

Kosey not only referees himself, but is in charge of scheduling all other referees in the area.

“We have some nights that everybody’s working. We use a system that you can block your schedule. I have to send out texts or emails, begging people to unblock and then that gets into their family life, into their work life. So it is stressful for me as a scheduler to make sure we get all these people in the right spot so these kids can still play their games.”

The willingness of referees to move around their schedules goes hand in hand with schools athletic departments though.

“It always seems that somehow we’re able to get the games covered, working with schools, moving game times, moving dates, asking people to open up. But it just doesn’t happen without a lot of work. People come in, they see officials show up and they think, “Well, great, we got officials.” But I don’t think they truly understand all the work that gets those teams and those officials to that site just so the kids can play the game.”

Luckily for Kosey and his crews, schools are willing to change things around.

“We really like to help them out whenever we can because we get so much support. Having them show up and take care of our games,” said Moose Lake/Willow River’s head football coach, Dave Louzek.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s not a level of uncomfortability.

“I think football and football coaches are creatures of habit,” said Erik Lofald, Duluth Denfeld’s head football coach. “You’re used to structuring your whole week around Friday night. If anything alters that plan, you know, a game gets pushed back time-wise. It gets pushed back an hour. A game gets moved up by an hour. For most football coaches who are a creature of habit, that’s a big deal.”

Moving a game up is not all bad news though. High school football players are given the chance to enjoy a Friday night during the season.

“You get a day off. You get Friday off. You know, we decided not to practice after our game. Actually, our guys wanted to go watch football. So they got a chance to self-scout, and go to a game. I think that’s the unique thing is they get to enjoy a Friday night. You get a three-day weekend. We get an extra day to prepare. You know, you kind of get that day on the back and then to prepare for the next opponent, you get that extra day as well.”

“I really like Thursday games actually,” said Louzek. “Weeks get kind of long. Football’s a real grind and when we can have a one-day shorter week, I give the kids Friday off so they can be a normal kid, go home after school, hang out with their friends in the middle of the season and it does shorten things up as far as preparation, but kind of gets the kids to focus a little more too because they know they have one less day to get ready.”

Referees leave the game for whatever reason and don’t end up coming back. But there is a bottom line.

“Everybody has a role at a contest,” said Kosey. “Let the kids play, let the coaches coach, let the officials officiate. Parents, just sit there and enjoy your kids playing. Whether they win or lose, just be happy that you got to watch them play because there is enough people willing to coach and officiate that game for your kids that day.”