Even though it’s been 10 years since he coached high school basketball, Brennan Torgerson still vividly recalls how he used to interact with officials during games.
 
In many cases, Torgerson wishes he’d done it differently.
 
“I was a statement coach and didn’t ask a lot of questions,” said Torgerson, a veteran Buhler High School teacher who still coaches the Crusader boys and girls golf teams. “The questions I did ask were pretty pointed. I did it that way until I quit coaching (basketball).”
 
Positive communication was one of the topics that Torgerson, who is now a basketball and football official, and two other KSHSAA-registered officials discussed with approximately 60 Kansas boys and girls basketball coaches during an hour-long breakout session in early August at the KSHSAA Coaching School in Salina.

 
While rules meetings are a staple of the annual coaching school, the Coach to Official Forum brought two sides together in an offseason setting much different than game night.
 
“It’s just coaches seeing officials in a different environment and not just with the stripes on,” Torgerson said. “Kind of, ‘Hey, we’re people too. We love the game of basketball just like you do. We’re trying to do our best to put the best product out there just like you’re trying to put the best product out there with your team.’”
 
Alex McConaghy, cross country, track and scholars bowl coach at St. Marys, and Shawnee County Parks and Recreation superintendent Josh Maike – both veteran officials with more than a decade of experience – also participated in the exchange of perspectives with coaches that was face to face, not in your face. Scott Goodheart, KSHSAA’s director of officials, helped facilitate the discussion.
 
“I think it was great,” Eureka girls basketball coach Shelly Hoyt said of the forum, which spotlighted officials’ pregame responsibilities and 2024-25 basketball rule changes – most notably, KSHSAA’s pilot trial of a 35-second shot clock – as well as recruitment efforts of officials and coaches’ concerns with officiating consistency. “Scott brought in the best to give us clarity.
 
“For them to kind of hear a little bit of our concerns and frustrations, they can pass that along to the rest of the officials. That’s what I’d like to see. But we all have to realize, like Brennan said, coaches and officials, we’re all going to make mistakes.”
 
Torgerson, a member of KSHSAA’s 2024 officials advisory committee, took up officiating the same year he stepped away from the bench. The striped shirt offered him insight he wished he would have had as a coach.
 
“When I started officiating, I started hearing all the statements that I said to officials, and those were just aha moments,” Torgerson said. “I’m getting the medicine back that I gave. But it’s been great. The neat thing for me is officiating with officials who officiated when I was coaching.
 
“It’s been very rewarding to give back to the game that was so good to me all those years as a coach.”
 
The officials shared that sentiment with the coaches who gathered, in part to encourage them to consider officiating when their coaching days are done. But the laid-back setting also served as an opportunity for the participants to highlight common ground.
 
“At the end of the night, we’re all there for the kids,” said Maike, an 11-year official and former assistant coach at Wabaunsee. “I know the coaches are and even though they may not believe it sometimes, we are too. We choose to be there.”
 
At a time when demand is outpacing the supply of officials in Kansas and other states, Maike emphasized the importance of positive communication between coaches and those making the calls. With KSHSAA offering member high schools the option to utilize the shot clock for varsity boys and girls games this season, patience with the process will likely be required.
 
“Every year we have rules changes and there’s always points of emphasis from the (National Federation of High Schools) and KSHSAA,” Maike said. “We try to communicate that to the coaches as much as possible. That’s a lot of the pregame stuff.
 
“The shot clock is going to be really unique because night to night it’s going to be different. From a school’s standpoint, they may be playing all of their games with a shot clock. For us, we may be going from a Monday night shot clock to no shot clock on Tuesday night and so on. And then you are going to have table workers who will be running it for the first time. It’s going to take a lot of communication.”
 
During the session, the officials shared their approach to court coverage among crews in making certain calls. They pointed out the value in communicating with assistants when head coaches are focused on instructing their players. Coaches, in turn, asked for tips on the best ways to approach officials with a concern, and wondered if crews may have different approaches to the way they call boys and girls games.
 
“I loved it because it makes me better and it makes me want to be better,” Hoyt said. “I’m sure they’re the same way.”
 
Torgerson and Buhler took steps to address the officiating shortage last year by offering an officiating class to students using the RefReps curriculum approved by KSHSAA. Thirty-six students took the class over two semesters. This year, Torgerson expects to teach and train 15 students each semester to become officials.
 
Those who sat in on the coaching school forum also make strong candidates to officiate, he said.
 
“They already know the game,” Torgerson said. “And when you know the game, it makes it easier to officiate the game.”