Gooding & King Work to Fill SW Michigan's Officiating Ranks, Schedules
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2023
KALAMAZOO – Cheer them or boo them, without officials, there are no games. That’s just a fact in the sports world.
Two area men are tasked with supplying those officials for Southwest Michigan schools, and it is not always as easy as it seems.
Portage’s Todd Gooding is in charge of assigning football referees for 70 schools across eight leagues, with 500 officials on his staff.
Vicksburg’s Rob King assigns officials for girls and boys basketball in five leagues and has 290 men and women on his roster to work 1,100 games throughout the hoops season.
“We have six females on staff,” King said. “We’re looking to add more. I think the girls who are playing enjoy having a female ref on the court with them, plus it shows them they can do this, too.”
Although totals were dropping a few percentage points every year, the MHSAA still registered an average of 10,317 officials annually during the decade ending in 2019-20. But the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that spring played a large part in a decrease in registered officials by 12 percent for 2020-21, down to 8,090.
The last two school years saw a bounce-back of four percent, and recruiting and retaining efforts continue. But Gooding and King – also veteran officials themselves, Gooding for 25 years and King for 24 – and their assigning colleagues across the state have the closest look at the effects of fewer officials as they work to schedule at the local level and make sure everything is covered.
Doing so gets even harder with unforeseen roadblocks.
One of those challenges for Gooding came in August when extreme heat forced most schools to reschedule or delay their football games.
“Everyone was trying to get their games in,” he said. “We were moving start times back, then we were moving days. Football is a little different than basketball or baseball because you can only play within so many days, so we were really squeezed against the schedule.
“I had a school or two reach out on Monday or Tuesday (before the Friday night game), so they looked ahead at the heat. Some of them waited, waited, waited, and then in some cases, it posed some big challenges because most of those crews had been spoken for.”
For a typical football Friday, Gooding staffs 30 or 35 games, “which is really difficult because everybody wants to play Friday night.”
Some referees in both football and basketball “double dip” by officiating games at freshman or junior varsity levels on nights other than Friday.
Gooding said at one time he hoped to go to seven officials for a football game, but with a shortage of officials, “Right now we’re just lucky to staff five in the games we have, and we’re still very short.
“Parents are a key component to a shortage of officials. A lot of it is more at the youth level, but everyone has to remember the sportsmanship aspect. Without officials there are no games, and sometimes we lose track of that, and that’s one reason there’s a shortage.”
Still, King noted that officiating provides more advantages than disadvantages.
“Everyone hears about the bad stuff, getting yelled at by fans and coaches, but those are so small,” he said.
“After a season of doing this, you learn to block out that stuff and realize it’s just part of the game. Fifty percent of people are mad at you every time you blow the whistle, so you get used to that.”
Pay raises in some leagues enticed many of those who “retired” to return, King said, but both he and Gooding agree the camaraderie developed while officiating is what makes it most special.
“It’s more about the time you spend on the floor with guys, in the locker room, driving to games, grabbing something to eat after the games, just talking about life, just building friendships,” King said. “That’s the part you remember.”
Gooding added some games stick in his memory more than others.
“My first varsity game (refereeing) was Lawton playing Saugatuck,” he said. “I show up and Channel 3 was there. I wondered what’s going on.
“Both schools were 0-8, both senior classes were 0-35. Somebody had to win, and it was my first varsity game. I think Saugatuck won, and it was close to 25 years ago.”
Another memory came as he officiated a basketball game.
“A girl from Benton Harbor (Kysre Gondrezick in 2016) had 72 points,” he said. “It’s in the record books. and you’re just one small part of that and you remember them.”
Officiating is not only for adults. Even teenagers still in high school can become referees as part of the MHSAA Legacy Program.
King recently hosted an officiating summit at Paw Paw for high school athletes.
“There are nine schools in the Wolverine Conference and six of them brought 10 to 15 kids,” he said. “Myself and another official presented on basketball. They also did something on other sports.
“We got the kids up blowing the whistles and doing some of the signals. Three reached out wanting to get involved.”
King said officiating is a great way to earn money, especially while in college.
“You’ll work maybe two or three hours at the most and make $150 to $300 depending on the level,” he said. “Your friends will have to work six-, seven-, eight-hour days to make that much money.
“You can also block your schedule. We have a software with a calendar on it. If there are days you know you can’t work because you have classes or other things, you just block those days out, so you control your own schedule.”
With training, freshmen and sophomores can work junior high/middle school games, and juniors and seniors are able to officiate at the freshman and junior varsity levels.
“Usually what we do is get you a mentor,” King said, “and you work with that mentor and make some money.”
Those Legacy officials hopefully continue in the avocation, eventually becoming the next mentors.
Officiating, like school sports in general, is a cycle that’s constantly in motion – both when it comes to filling the ranks and filling the schedule to cover games ahead.
For example, although football season is over, “I don’t know if there really is an offseason,” Gooding said. “Leagues are going to start giving me their schedules. We’ll get those into an Arbiter system. Everything’s assigned by Arbiter, a computer system where officials get their assignments.
“I’ll start evaluating the crews, reach out to the crew chiefs. They’ll let me know any changes in their crew dynamics. I’ll evaluate the year gone by, how they performed and then start getting ready to work on getting those games staffed. That will start after the new year.”
For more information on officiating, including the Legacy Program, go to the Officials page of MHSAA.com.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Todd Gooding, left and Rob King take a photo together while officiating the Division 4 Final at Ford Field in 2022. (Middle) Gooding signals during that contest between Goodrich and Grand Rapids South Christian. (Below) King officiates the 2019 Division 4 Boys Basketball Final at Breslin Center. (Photos courtesy of Gooding and King.)
Breslin Bound: 2024-25 Girls Quarterfinal Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 18, 2025
We always try to celebrate the rare or unique when it comes to MHSAA Tournament success, and we welcome two first-time Regional champions and a few more first-time-in-a-long-time contenders who have advanced to tonight’s Girls Basketball Quarterfinals.
But you’re right on if this field also looks a little familiar.
Of 32 teams competing to reach Breslin Center this time, 16 also played in Quarterfinals in 2024. Of those 16, 10 advanced to last year’s Semifinals – so there is plenty of championship week experience to go around as we look at tonight’s matchups below.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. (Abbreviations below denote ppg - points per game, rpg - rebounds per game, apg - assists per game, spg - steals per game, and bpg - blocks per game.)
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Tecumseh 50, Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 39 In this Regional Final, Tecumseh (24-1) avenged last season’s five-point Quarterfinal loss to FGR (24-2), which went on to finish Division 2 runner-up.
2. Grandville Calvin Christian 39, Pewamo-Westphalia 36 Calvin (20-6) clinched a Division 3 Regional championship by handing the Pirates (25-1) their lone loss of the winter.
3. Goodrich 58, Haslett 56 The Martians (23-3) claimed a Division 2 Regional title with their closest win of the season; the Vikings finished 22-4.
4. Fowler 57, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart 36 The Eagles advanced to this week in Division 4 by dealing Sacred Heart (21-1) its only defeat.
5. Genesee Christian 45, Kingston 40 The Soldiers (23-2) moved on to championship week by edging a Kingston team that ended 21-3 coming off last year’s Division 4 runner-up finish.
Quarterfinals at a Glance
DIVISION 1
DeWitt (25-1) vs. Belleville (25-1) at Holt
Belleville is seeking a second-straight trip to the Semifinals and is led again by sophomore guard Sydney Savoury (26.1 ppg, 3.0 apg, 4.2 spg) and junior guard Se’Crette Carter (19.3 ppg). But the Panthers can counter with a pair of 1,000-point career scorers in senior guards Tara Kurncz (13.4 ppg) and Madi Uyl (12.2 ppg, 2.4 apg), the former having become the program’s all-time leading scorer last month. Both teams avenged their lone defeats.
West Bloomfield (18-8) vs. Utica Ford at University of Detroit Mercy, 7:30 p.m.
The reigning Division 1 champion Lakers graduated four starters from last season’s team, but the new crew has won 15 of its last 18 games led by that lone returning starter, junior guard Sheridan Beal (16 ppg, 54 3-pointers). Ford has taken a strong step this season, winning its first Regional title since 1984. Senior guard Anayya Davis leads with 21.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and just over a block per game.
Wayne Memorial (20-6) vs. Temperance Bedford (24-2) at University of Detroit Mercy, 5:30 p.m.
Wayne is the lone team to defeat Belleville this season, splitting with the Tigers to share the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East title. Junior Mariah Cross (19.4 ppg) and senior Colleena Bryant (17.2 ppg) make up a high-scoring backcourt, and Bryant was a Miss Basketball Award finalist. Bedford is returning to the Quarterfinals for the second-straight season and with plenty of power in the post. Senior forward Victoria Gray sets the pace at 20.6 points, 15 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.
Rockford (25-1) vs. Grand Haven (22-3) at Muskegon Mona Shores
Senior forward Anna Wypych (21.8 ppg, 85 3-pointers) was named Miss Basketball on Monday, and tonight she’ll attempt to lead the Rams to back to Breslin with a third win over Grand Haven this season after Rockford won the first two meetings by 12 and 11 points. The Buccaneers are making their first Quarterfinal appearance since winning the Class A championship in 2013, and their only other defeat this winter was to Hudsonville.
DIVISION 2
Gladstone (24-2) vs. Frankenmuth (22-4) at Cheboygan
Gladstone is making its first Quarterfinal appearance since 2012 having avenged its only losses with a District Final win over Negaunee. Junior guard Lillie Johnson has made her name known statewide, averaging 22.4 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game. Frankenmuth has reached at least the Quarterfinals three of senior Clare Conzelmann’s four seasons and avenged its two losses to Division 2 opponents this winter in winning last week’s Regional.
Goodrich (23-3) vs. Tecumseh (24-1) at Northville
All three of Goodrich’s losses came to opponents that reached at least Regional Finals, and the Martians follow a pair of playmakers in junior guard Kayla Hairston (12 ppg, 3.6 apg) and sophomore guard Baylor Lauinger (11.3, 4.4). Tecumseh’s only defeat came to Rockford two months ago on the way to reaching the Quarterfinals for the second-straight season. Senior 6-foot-2 forward Alli Zajac (14.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and sister 6-0 sophomore center Addi Zajac (13.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.1 bpg) combine to give their team a powerful post presence, and Alli was a Miss Basketball finalist.
Grand Rapids West Catholic (22-3) vs. Grand Rapids South Christin (24-2) at Hudsonville Unity Christian
These Ottawa-Kent Conference Gold co-champions split their regular season meetings, West Catholic winning the first by 13 points and South Christian taking the rematch by seven. West Catholic was the Division 2 runner-up in 2022 and reached the Semifinals the last two seasons, and senior guard Elisha Dykstra (10.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.2 apg) has started all four years. South Christian will attempt to reach Finals weekend for the first time since 2016 led by junior guard Sophia Prins (14.3 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.2 spg).
Detroit Edison (18-6) vs. Detroit Country Day (20-5) at St. Clair County Community College
Edison is playing for a second-straight Division 2 title and third over the last four seasons, and with three of its losses this winter to teams still playing. Senior Isis Johnson-Musah (17.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.9 apg, 3.7 spg) was another Miss Basketball Award finalist and the team’s leading scorer in last year’s championship win. Country Day is seeking to return to the Semifinals for the second time in four seasons and keyed in part by high-scoring guards junior Jayla Jackson (19.6 ppg) and sophomore Cece Arico (16.5).
DIVISION 3
Calumet (21-5) vs. Sanford Meridian (23-3) at Manistique
The Copper Kings have jumped from 11-12 a year ago to reach the Quarterfinals for the second time in five seasons, and downed reigning Division 4 champion Ishpeming in the District Final. Guard Jackie Kiilunun is the lone senior starter and lead scorer at 14 ppg. After falling a win shy last season, Meridian won its first Regional title last week and also follows a talented senior guard in Halen McLaughlin (28 ppg, 77 3-pointers, 8.4 rpg, 3.4 apg, 4.5 spg).
Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (19-6) vs. Sandusky (24-2) at West Bloomfield, 6 p.m.
Northwest won this same matchup last season 38-16 to reach the Semifinals and has four starters back from that team, with junior forward Addie Troska moving up from super sub last winter and becoming the fifth starter and leading scorer (10.2 ppg). Sandusky has won three straight Regional titles and is seeking to return to the Semifinals for the first time since 1999. Sophomore guard Caroline Reinke fills the stat sheet at 10 points, 7.2 rebounds, four assists and 5.8 steals per game.
Jackson Lumen Christi (19-6) vs. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (14-12) at Dansville
Lumen Christi has reached its first Quarterfinal since 1988 by defeating three straight opponents that finished with at least 18 wins this season. Center Kathleen Doane is the lone senior. Reigning Division 3 champ Arbor Prep has navigated injury and inexperience to stack up seven straight wins. Senior guard Eliza Bush is the lone returning starter from last year’s team, although junior guard Angela Meggisson was a top sub and starts now.
Grandville Calvin Christian (20-6) vs. Niles Brandywine (26-0) at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
After heading into the postseason with two straight losses, Calvin has won three straight games by three points or fewer including handing Pewamo-Westphalia its only loss, in the Regional Final. Junior forward Addyson Rhodes (13.6 ppg) and junior guard Leila Nelson (13.3) set the scoring pace. Next up is reigning Division 3 runner-up Brandywine, which is a combined 52-2 over the last two seasons and has six players scoring at least five points per game led by senior Adeline Gill (12.5 ppg).
DIVISION 4
Ewen-Trout Creek (25-1) vs. St. Ignace (25-1) at Gladstone
A loss to Division 2 Negaunee is all that’s kept Ewen-Trout Creek from a perfect season, and this will be the Panthers’ first Quarterfinal since 2005. Freshman guard Bree Besonen (16.9 ppg, 4.5 apg) and junior center Irelyn McGeshick (16.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg) lead a team with no seniors and only three juniors among eight players total. St. Ignace’s lone defeat came to Division 2 Sault Ste. Marie, and the Saints are pursuing their first Semifinal trip since 2019 with guard Jillian Fraser (17 ppg, 6.2 apg) and center Addison Cullen (16.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg) two of only three seniors of their roster.
Byron Center Zion Christian (20-6) vs. Concord (21-4) at Battle Creek Harper Creek
Zion has won 16 of its last 18 games to emerge from third in the Alliance League and claim its first Regional title. Junior forward Audra Kaptein (13 ppg) and junior guard Jayda Steenbergen (12.2 ppg, 5.9 apg, 4.4 spg) lead a lineup with only one senior starter. Concord has won 10 of its last 11 games to reach the Quarterfinals for the second time and first since 2012. Senior Grace Thorrez, at 6-2, is strong in the post with 14.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, and sophomore guard Bradie Lehman (13.7 ppg, 4.2 apg, 4.5 spg) provides balance in the backcourt.
Frankfort (18-6) vs. Fowler (24-2) at Cadillac
Frankfort is seeking to reach the Semifinals for the second-straight season and after an 0-3 start and two losses over its final three games heading into the playoffs. They’ve bounced back again, with lone senior Savina Anhalt (12.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg) combining with junior Addie Jarosz (13.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg) to form a solid frontcourt duo. Fowler has reached five straight Semifinals (not counting 2020, when the season ended prior to that round), and three starters are back from last year’s run led by senior guard Katie Spicer (12.5 ppg, 4.5 apg).
Morenci (24-1) vs. Genesee Christian (23-2) at Brighton
A one-point overtime loss is all that’s kept Morenci from a perfect run as the Bulldogs return to the Quarterfinals seeking their first Semifinal trip since 2011. Junior guard Emersyn Bachelder (15.6 ppg) is again the leading scorer, upping her average more than five points from a year ago. Genesee Christian has emerged from 14-10 last winter to reach the Quarterfinals for the second time in four seasons, this time with lone senior starter Haven Chapman (20.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.8 apg, 4.2 spg, 1.3 bpg) setting the pace.
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PHOTOS (Top) Ewen-Trout Creek coach Jacky Besonen presents the Division 4 Regional trophy to her team after last week's win over Norway. (Middle) Fowler's Paige Thelen (10) drives to the basket during her team's Regional clincher over Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart. (E-TC photo by Cara Kamps. Fowler/Sacred Heart photo by Kolleth Photo.)