I am both humbled and honored to be your 76th President of CBOA. My first order of business here is to thank outgoing Executive Director, Tom O’Connor, for his many years of service to CBOA, especially in this leadership role. Tom has been a very steady guiding hand and driving force of CBOA over the last 15 years. I was fortunate to be able to experience his guidance first hand over the last several years that I was on the Executive Board. Tom was great to work with and I fully expect the same of our new Executive Director, Dave DeYong. I look forward to collaborating with him to create a new vision for CBOA, one which adapts to the current landscape of college officiating and uses all available tools to take us as officials and our organization to new heights. I also want to recognize Jimmy Quinn as the outgoing and now Past President for his leadership and focus over the last year and I want to congratulate Marty Herrick who takes over as Vice President. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you this year.

When I was accepted into CBOA in 2004, I received a letter from then Executive Director, Tom Lopes, which I still have. It was a great feeling to be selected to be part of such a prestigious group that has the privilege of officiating college basketball games. An organization with a rich history in the development of college basketball, its officials, and the way its games are officiated. CBOA has also presented officials with the opportunity to gather both socially and professionally with referees from other areas that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. Sharing stories of great games or tough situations or even things we could have done differently are ways that we all can improve our performance. Learning from the mistakes that our colleagues share either by word of mouth or even by video can prevent us from repeating those same missteps in our own games. These are the reasons the younger generation of officials should support CBOA and keep this thing going. The experience I would gain, the mentorship I would be given, and the friendships I would forge had only just begun with the receipt of that letter from Tom Lopes. After 20+ years in CBOA, I now find myself more on the other end of that spectrum: observing and giving feedback at camps, providing mentorship and advice, and doing my best to help others improve and have their hard work rewarded.

I’d also like to recognize those who have helped me throughout my officiating career, both outside and inside of basketball. As we all know, taking up this avocation would not be possible without the support of family and particularly our significant other. My wife, Jordan, may not always be happy with the time I need to spend away from the family, but she does all of the things needed to allow that to happen, and for that I couldn’t be more appreciative. As far as my officiating career, Joe Demayo gave me not only my first Varsity high school games, but also the assignment every Philadelphia area referee aspires to earn, the Catholic League Championship at the Palestra. Thanks also to John Koskinen and Owen Hannah, who assigned me my first collegiate games, Bob Donato and Reggie Greenwood who gave me my first Division 1 opportunity, Donnie Eppley for my first D3 Championship and NCAA tournament assignments, and Mike Chesney for my first D2 NCAA assignment, and Donnie and Ches for continuing to support and promote me throughout my career. To all of the younger or newer CBOA officials, if you don’t have a mentor, get one… someone to navigate you through this crazy and sometimes frustrating business, someone you look up to who can give you advice on plays and getting through your games, someone that you can trust and confide in. This could be one person or several that fill these roles in the process of your development.

To conclude, I look forward to seeing you all at this year’s banquet, hosted by the Philadelphia Area, at the Tropicana in Atlantic City over the weekend of Saturday April 12th. Philadelphia CBOA is represented by Marty Spencer, who has done an incredible job in this role over the last couple years. I appreciate Marty’s support and that of all of the Philadelphia Area officials, who will make this event the best one yet! I hope you all have a healthy and successful 2024-25 season. Thank you and good luck.