His Story: TBL Crew Chief Joshua Koch Serve And Protects On The Court And The Streets
Whether he's wearing a referees shirt or bearing a Plainfield Indiana Police Department uniform, you can trust Sergeant Koch is going to be on top of the call.
Over the course of the 2023 season in The Basketball League, players, coaches, and Team Market Owners (and now TBL referees!) will take time to openly share their compelling stories and individual journeys from around the country and overseas to ultimately reach the TBL. In their own words. In their own way. Written only by them.
This is his turn.
This is Joshua Koch’s story
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Plainfield, Indiana –
Are you born and raised in Plainfield, IN? When you are not officiating basketball games, what are you doing for work?
I grew up in Vassar, Michigan, and got my degree from Olivet Nazarene University near Chicago, Illinois. In addition to my role as an official, I am a Sergeant at the Plainfield Police Department in Plainfield, Indiana where I currently reside with my wife Hannah, two sons (Carter / Jack), and daughter (Layla).
Did you always want to get into officiating? Do you aspire to call games beyond the level of the TBL (G-League / NBA)?
My Dad coached or scouted most of my life, so I got into coaching out of college. Since I played collegiate golf, I got asked to play in outings all the time. One outing I got teamed with NBA Referee Tyler Ford, who had just gotten hired into the NBA D-League at the time and he said I should try officiating.
I laughed and said, ‘Why would I referee? I hate referees.”
Tyler put me in contact with an IHSAA assignor – the late Eric Harmon and he filled my summer up with AAU games and I was instantly hooked. Later that summer I met #26, Mark Baltz, who was officiating in the NFL at the time but also did high school basketball games in Indiana. He offered me a handful of Varsity games to jump-start my career. Not many people know this, but I never had to drudge through the middle-school, freshmen, and JV games. It was literal baptism by fire for me. My first sanctioned basketball game as a referee was at North Central High School in Indianapolis between North Central and Richmond.
Eron Gordon, younger brother to Eric Gordon of the Houston Rockets, was making his Varsity debut as a freshman in a standing room only gym. I had no business being there. I must have stayed out of the way enough because a local assignor Chris Shields added me to his staff from that game and shortly after other local assignors Gary Hamilton and Dan Morgan added me and my winters were booked.
Prior to that season, Court Club Elite, which we will talk about a little later, had an opening at their teaching camp in Las Vegas. Tyler Ford made a phone call for me to the director Rob Rorke and got me invited. I believe this was the key component in building the foundation for my officiating journey.
I met Paul Carter, the TBL Supervisor of Officials, in 2014 when he was running the officiating staff for the now defunct Premier Basketball League. He was pivotal in giving me my first opportunity in professional basketball. In my first game on staff I worked with Mark Robbins and current TBL Crew Chief Jerry Middleton. Jerry to this day has been a catalyst in everything I have accomplished. He is an elite game manager and communicator and is owed a lot of credit to any success I have or will have at any level.
In 2016, I attended a couple of NCAAM try-out camps and was hired onto a couple of collegiate officiating staffs and now work NCAAM DII, DIII, and NAIA games in conjunction with my IHSAA and TBL schedules.
I have every intention of getting hired into the NBA G-League and then the NBA.
That is the goal.
How long have you been officiating and how many of those are on staff in the TBL?
I have been officiating in the TBL since its inception and was blessed to be named the inaugural Nunn Better Referee of the Year. Mr. and Mrs. Magley presented me with the award before a Conference Finals game in Yakima, WA at the Sun Dome. I remember walking over to Yakima Head Coach Paul Woolpert, who could be very demanding on officials, and he shook my hand and said, “that award bought you fifteen minutes of silence from me.” I assumed he meant fifteen minutes of game time (roughly half-way through the second quarter). Mind you, this was before the national anthem, introductions, their pre-game team video, and the tip-off.
Apparently, he meant fifteen minutes in real time because at the 10:07 mark in the first quarter I had a whistle against Yakima and Coach Woolpert went ballistic on me. I looked his direction and he smirked, winked, and said, “times up.” We had a good laugh.
How have you grown as an official over these last few years?
I have grown as an official simply by working games and watching game film from every single game.
I have a group of about fifteen local guys ranging from NCAAM D1 officials to new Varsity officials who talk in the group chat every single day. Nobody cares about resumes or “what you have done.” They just want the group to get better.
What does it mean to be a Crew Chief? Also, how are you preparing for this season?
Crew Chiefs are responsible for running the day of game meetings, ensuring everyone gets into town on time, writing game reports, and ultimately is responsible night in and night out for the crew. I also attend camps in the summer either as a camper or a clinician and I now teach for NBA Hall of Fame Referee, Ed Rush, and Court Club Elite. The same camp that laid the foundation of fundamentals and teaching that helped pave the way for the career I am trying to build.
To prepare for this season, I have been watching film from last year and I will attend the TBL Draft Combine in Indianapolis as a clinician to evaluate new referees at the referee’s portion of the camp.
At the combine, we are looking for officials who can eventually be Crew Chiefs. They need to have a working knowledge of the NBA rules, and honestly, their location plays a factor too. We are at the ground floor, along with the Magley’s and the league office personnel, TMO’s, players, and coaches. Due to that fact we are all sacrificing time and talents in lieu of the salaries you see at the more established professional leagues (ie: The G-League and NBA). The handful of Crew Chiefs will travel throughout their season, but much of our staff remain local (within a three to four drive) and work games for the handful of teams in their geographical location.
We also look for call selectivity, communication with coaches and players, and pain threshold (as in differentiating between marginal and illegal contact).
Can you share a bit more about communications with coaches / players? Are they generally good to work with through the course of a game? As a Crew Chief and with your experience, how have you grown in this area?
It’s strange.
People think being a police officer that my communication would make me a better referee. But officiating has made me a better police officer. The thing I enjoy about working pro basketball specifically as opposed to collegiate and high school, is pro basketball players are grown adults. You can utilize sarcasm in the right context to bring brevity to a conversation. The overwhelming majority of the players and coaches are very fair. I gave technical fouls and threw everyone out when I was a rookie in this league, much to chagrin of my supervisor and the league office. However, in a way, I felt like it helped build some respect. Now I am much better at giving extended patience if there is a reaction for a play, I may have gotten wrong, if that makes sense.
I often remind coaches and players, ‘I would not scream or yell at you or clap my hands or wave you off so afford me the same respect’, and just tell me at the appropriate time (at a timeout or in between quarters) your feelings or argument and we will go from there.
How do you feel officiating TBL games has changed since its inception? Do you think elevating talent on the floor has helped you call a better game?
Oddly enough as the league has become more professional and talent rich, it is easier to call the game. Part of that is the respect I have gained from being in multiple games, working deep into the playoffs, and being a familiar face. However, in general talented players are always easier to officiate.
I have learned the more you treat coaches and players with respect and make yourself approachable, the easier to diffuse situations become. And yes, you will have some conflict stories.
I am almost certain Derrick Rowland, Paul Woolpert, Mark Anderson, and Cliff Levingston to name a few, could tell you a couple we have had. I like to think we all have grown to really respect and appreciate each other. That has been my favorite aspect of working with other professionals.
I will leave you with a final story that encapsulates how blessed I feel working in this league. My wife has always told me to “cherish the moments” because those are what matter. Last year Jerry Middleton and I were working a two-game regular season set in Shawnee, Oklahoma at FireLake Arena between the Potawatomi Fire and reigning TBL Champion, at the time, Enid Outlaws. During a mandatory timeout in the second quarter Jerry came down to my spot on the floor, probably to tell one of his terrible jokes that he thinks are groundbreaking comedic material. When he got within earshot I was instantly reminded of my wife’s motto “cherish the moments.”
I remember, vividly, to this day, grabbing Jerry by the shoulders and telling him, “look around at all these people, look at what we get to do well into June when 98% of officials in this country are in their off-season, remember all the moments we have shared together and the countless miles driven and flown. We are officiating some of the best athletes in the world. You have made me a better official, but most importantly a better person. I love you.”
Officiating has gifted me some of the most treasured relationships I have in my life. I cannot imagine not having these memories, relationships, and moments woven into the fabric of who I am.
Thank you, Wendell, for allowing me to share my story. Thank you to all who have read this story. And please remember, the wise words of my wife, “cherish the moments.”
You can follow Joshua Koch through this TBL season on Twitter or give his IG page a like and listen, as Joshua also leads a worship band and has played music around the world with Joshua Koch Music.
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Wendell Maxey is the author of Around The Basketball League and has written about professional basketball and sports for 19 years. He’s been featured on NBA.com, ESPN.com, USA Today, FOX Sports, and SLAM Magazine among other publications and media outlets. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn or read through his archive on Linktree.