Now that I'm no longer coaching I can do something I was never allowed to do as a coach. I can comment on gymnastics judges, the ladies and gentlemen who wear the blue coats at meets and determine the scores the gymnasts are awarded on each routine. I'm sure most of my readers will think I'm going to unload on what a poor job they do.

If that's what you think, you're absolutely wrong. I think college gymnastics judges are people of tremendous skill and integrity. But they are not appreciated to anywhere near the degree they should be. On the contrary they, like most athletic referees, umpires, or judges are maligned by fans who don't know nearly as much about the rules as they do. Yet, we boo and hiss every time there is a score we do not agree with. You see for most gymnastics officials, judging is not their primary occupation. They are accountants, physicians, scientists, teachers, lawyers, housewives. Name a profession; you'll likely find some in that profession among gymnastics judges. They are singles, moms, dads, and grandparents; who find a way to judge our beloved sport on their weekends.

Judges all have one thing in common. They love gymnastics. Most were either gymnasts themselves or had a daughter who was a gymnast and/ or they owned or coached in a gym. Some were just addicted fans. But one thing is for sure, they have to love gymnastics. Otherwise they wouldn't give up their weekends, driving or flying hundreds of miles, often judging two meets on a weekend. Many judges will be gone for four days to judge only 6 hours.

Yes, judges are paid, but not very much relative to their qualifications; an average of $200.00 per meet. To become a National or Brevet gymnastics judge (the levels who judge NCAA gymnastics) one must study and train under a curriculum with requirements similar to or exceeding those for a bachelor's degree. They must have two years of experience in judging at the next two lower levels, and they must undergo 20 hours a year of continuing education, 10 of which must be institutional training. Every four years, all National and Brevet officials must attend a 3 day intensive judging course and be retested at the conclusion of that course. All judges must be members of the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges and conform to the many canons of the associations' Code of Professional Responsibility.

At each meet, the judges huddle up before the competition begins to make sure that they will be consistent in areas where interpretation of judging standards may be flexible. They are evaluated and criticized constructively by experts and disciplined if appropriate.

Bias among judges at one time was a serious problem. Many coaches selected their own judges and were openly friends before and after the competition. It was a typical practice, for the same judges to be officiating all the home competitions of their favorite school, and yes, Georgia did it too. Naturally this practice hurt the integrity of the officials and made a joke out of our competitions. In one Southeastern Conference Championship meet, a fan of ours studied the individual scores of the judges and demonstrated conclusively to me that one judge's biased scoring resulted in the wrong team's winning the championship. Even without the data, it was obvious to everyone in attendance that the judging was dramatically biased particularly at the end of the meet when everyone knew exactly how close the competition was. At the time only two judges were used on each event. The next season, and every season thereafter, four judges have been used at the Southeastern Conference Championships.

While four judges at SEC championships eliminated the problem at the conference championship meet, having four judges at all meets was prohibitively expensive, so unethical coaches and unethical judges, in combination, could still present a problem in dual meets. So in 2004 the NCAA gymnastics coaches worked with the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges to create the Judges Assigning System. In the system all judges at all meets are assigned by a national assigner who follows specific guidelines in assigning judges to eliminate bias and improve uniformity of judging from one region to another. No judge can officiate at one location more than two times during the season. The assigner assigns all officials and the judges cannot decline an assignment unless they decline working the entire weekend. No longer can an official choose what schools he or she wants to work and the coaches have nothing at all to do with current day assigning of their officials.

I believe the judging in college gymnastics today is the most accurate and fairest judging of any sport, college or professional. And the people who make it that way are the "Ladies and Gentlemen in the Blue Coats." So now that I am no longer restricted in commenting on their performance I want to express to them my deepest appreciation for the outstanding job they do.

This Saturday, when Georgia has its home opener against Stanford at 4:00, pay close attention to the men and women in the blue coats and show them the respect that they deserve.