For the past two decades, Mike Thibodeaux has been on the sidelines for dozens of football, basketball and baseball games. However Thibodeaux hasn’t been coaching; he is a referee. For over 26 years, Thibodeaux has called games in conferences such as the Big XII, ACC and SEC. Thibodeaux was once a basketball player in college, but after his college days were over, he decided to be a referee.
“Officiating is the way I felt I could stay in sports and give a little bit back,” Thibodeaux said.
Thibodeaux started off working church league games and junior varsity high school games, and through the years he eventually worked his way up into some of the bigger leagues. Thibodeaux now gets assigned games through his supervisors who send him to different conferences around the country.
“We may get a game on Wednesday in the SEC, Thursday in the Southland and then a Big XII game on Saturday,” Thibodeaux said. With traveling to all the different conferences, Thibodeaux is on the road four or five times in a week. “It’s pretty tough when coordinating with airlines; we always want to make sure we get the first flight to be at the game site three hours before the game starts,” he said.
In the past couple of weeks, referees in major sports like the NFL and NCAA have received complaints about certain calls that were either made the wrong way or some plays being overturned after the game has been over for days. In the SEC, Thibodeaux said both coaches and athletic directors critique the referees and have each game taped so it can be watched after the game has ended.
“Just like players and coaches watch tapes to get better, we do the same thing,” Thibodeaux said. “If we can hit on around 94 to 95 percent of our calls, we’re doing a pretty good job.”
Although there haven’t been too many games that have gotten out of hand for Thibodeaux, he said that rivalry games are the toughest games to keep in control, and being an experienced referee helps in those situations.
“As you progress in the game, you make sure to keep an open line of communication with the coaches and players to where you can recognize if something is getting out of hand and prevent it,” Thibodeaux said.
Because of his experience in high school football, Thibodeaux currently oversees 160 football officials in the Shreveport area. Of the three sports he’s officiated, basketball is the most challenging sport to cover.
“Both football and baseball are tough on rules, but when it comes to basketball, you’re up and down the floor, you’re physically drained and mentally applying rules to real-time situations,” he said.
Advice Thibodeaux would give to somebody who wishes to be an official is to start locally, then gradually keep progressing into bigger games to be prepared for what may lie ahead.
“Be patient; don’t expect too much too soon,” Thibodeaux said. “Everybody wants to jump in there and cover the Final Four, but you have to be ready when it comes.
