“The laborer is worthy of his hire.”
-Luke, 10:7
The umpires that you hire are a reflection of your town. They should be the best quality umpires that can be found. I want to emphasize, “can be found,” because I know that there is a shortage of umpires for high school and junior high school baseball/softball.
As a new coach in an area, there will be a “getting acquainted” period. During this time you will find out which umpires are worth hiring back and which umpires are not. The existing umpires may have been hired by someone other than you, like an athletic director (AD) or athletic secretary. Those people don’t have to deal with the umpires on a regular basis, you do. Your AD is concerned about doing his/her job, and that is hiring enough umpires to fill all of the scheduled dates. Many times AD’s have 15-25 athletic programs to hire officials for annually. Quantity, not quality unfortunately will often become the priority. What AD’s sometimes fail to realize is that choosing officials correctly has a positive impact on your entire program. Without input from you, the coach, the AD can’t do his/her job better.
A good umpire calls the game “right down the middle”. He doesn’t give you the breaks, because you hired him. You would show your “bush-ness” if you expected him to be less than fair. By only hiring umpires that give you the calls, the reputation of your team and town will suffer. Soon you will have trouble scheduling games. No one wants to take his team to a neighboring town to get a taste of the local “home cookin”.
I have a very good friend who was an umpire at the Triple A level. He like many others started by working junior high and high school contests. I recall him telling me about a local high school in which he refused to work. Upon receiving his state patches for umpiring baseball and softball, he was placing calls to school AD’s trying to get on their list. The AD dangled a ton of dates in front of him with the stipulation that they get all of the close calls if he wanted to continue to work at that school. He, of course, refused. During that spring, he heard the same horror story from other area umpires. Eventually, all of the good umpires refused to work for that school. In turn, that school was only able to hire the rejected umps that other school wouldn’t. That was truly a double edged sword for that school. Also, quality schools with quality programs refused to schedule that school. Eventually, that school hired a new AD, but that reputation still lives on years after the fact. 
Find good umpires by paying attention. When you’re on the road, write down the names of the good umps that you see. Often times these umps will have a business card. Transfer that information to your AD. Your AD will be thankful. A good umpire is often willing to travel a few miles to work at good school that treats him right. Treat umpires right by not chewing their ears off on every call. Remember, an umpire can decide not to come back next year. Next, convey this to your team parents. This can be done via a parent meeting or by sending home a code of conduct for games. I have always had my parents sign a contract. The one I’ve used is provided by the state athletic association on their website. Most parents, about 95%, will appreciate this. The remaining 5% are the ones that don’t know how to handle themselves at an athletic event. Signing the contract pre-warns those 5% and gives you ammunition of an understood expectation if an unfortunate parent/umpire clash should take place. Lastly, pay the umpires competitively. Nobody wants to work for peanuts. These umpires are family men, college students, and guys with bills to pay. They know what schools pay better than others. As the coach you should know what the going rates for umpires are and express the need to pay them fairly to your school.
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