State deals with ref shortage as high school football season kicks off in KS

With high school football kicking off across Kansas this week, fans could soon see changes on game day. That's because the state is experiencing a shortage of referees.

School districts in other states have moved varsity football games to Thursday nights or canceled junior varsity games because they don't have enough officials. Thursday, Eyewitness News spoke with an official to make sure that doesn't happen in Kansas where the number of referees is getting smaller each year.

Jake Kuhlman, an official for Kansas high school and college sports says a big reason for the shortage in the Sunflower State is that new refs aren't replacing those who retire.

"Typically, there's been guys who have officiated for a very long time," he says. "Those guys are just getting older, so they may have only one or two more years left and then they're out and they're running out of guys to replace them."

The Kansas State High School Activities Association says over the last five years, it's down to about 1,200 officials. The KSHSAA needs 800 to staff Friday-night football.

This year, if more basketball officials don't step up, the KSHSAA will have about 600 less now than it did five years ago.

Kuhlman says the officials association recruits former athletes with a passion for the sports they played. He says many young people are afraid of being mistreated.

"Maybe a kid will get in for one or two years and then they're out because they don't want to take the abuse from coaches or parents," he says.

Kuhlman says mistreatment of officials often happens at youth levels, but is less common at high school varsity games.

"The verbal abuse isn't that bad the higher you go," he says.

Kuhlman says new high school officials have mentors teach them how to handle conflict and respond to coaches or fans. He says officiating is a part-time job, but he takes the 10 to 20 hours he invests every week seriously.

"We're people too. (Referees) have full-time jobs. We sacrifice a lot of time," he says.