Special Article
NVBUA Situation Management Coordinator: “The Complaint Department”
Norm Gordon, Situation Management Coordinator
With the incredible number of games that NV/MAC assign and administer, the volume of complaints was ‘taking up too much of his time,’ as well as adding too much to the already burdened Chris Williams. Think about everything that happens in a game, the sheer volume of umpires assigned to work, and the number of coaches, administrators, parents, fans, etc., and you can probably imagine what they had to deal with on a daily basis!
His proposal was that he would continue to field all contacts from college-level games, and that I would be the point person for high school and rec level baseball. I mulled that request over for a few days, and agreed to give it the ‘old college try’ or should I say the ‘old high school and rec ball try.’
We talked a bit about what to call the position, and I, with a lack of imagination, came up with the name of “Situation Management Coordinator!” To me, that sounded ominous, authoritative, and all powerful (plus the name the Wizard of Oz was already taken), and so the position was thus christened.
So, starting with the 2024 season, emails, texts, phone calls, and other such contacts were directed to me by Chris. There were a number of what I might call ‘did I do the right thing’ inquiries from various umpires, and with those, I tapped into my (cough, cough) vast experience and knowledge and talked things through with the involved umpire.
I kept a log of what I determined were ‘serious’ or ‘concerning’ happenings that merited some amount of investigation. Contact was made with umpires, coaches, administrators, and whoever else might have been involved in the initial ‘complaint.’ During 2024, there were 25 somewhat serious situations that required some level of investigation. I am happy to report that all umpires involved were honest, forthcoming, cooperative and accepting of all final determinations that were made.
During the 2025 season, the number of umpire inquiries concerning rules, mechanics, and ‘minor’ incidents was greatly reduced. While I would like to claim credit for that, I attribute that to the outstanding training provided by Paul Porto and his staff, the cooperative interplay by umpires with colleagues, mentoring by veteran umpires, and the continual diving into rules books by umpires new and experienced.
In addition, there were only six (6!) incidents that rose to a level of intense investigation (but don’t tell John that…he might think he no longer needs the help)!
I also enlisted the assistance of a wily veteran umpire with a vast legal mind and a wealth of umpiring experience to add his two cents when I was short on change: Steve Levine. Being a barrister, his approach to solving issues is much more analytical that my ‘count to ten, take a deep breath, then count to ten again’ approach to some of the sillier to me, but serious to the complainant inquiries. Like Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Moe and Curley (or Shemp or Larry) we’ve been able to get the job done.
A few examples of things we dealt with, sanitized to protect the innocents:
- An umpire self-reported losing his cool and verbally attacking a coach;
- An umpire caught on video ranting and cursing about being hit by a foul ball;
- An Administrator claiming misconduct by umpires, none of which was supported or verified by both involved coaches;
- An administrator requesting to not have the services of a particular umpire at any future games.
Finally, I’ve been encouraged by several things: the professionalism exhibited by our umpires, the willingness to overcome and correct minor deficiencies, and the ability to self-reflect and be better in all aspects of their game. Gentlemen, keep up the good work and keep improving an already great association!