10/03/23 – KHSAA Hires Longtime Official Scott Bottoms as Supervisor of Officials Licensing

October 3, 2023 2023-2024 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCT. 3, 2023

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association introduced the newest addition to its staff on Tuesday with the hiring of Supervisor of Officials Licensing Scott Bottoms.

“Scott Bottoms brings an abundance of experiences to this newly created position within the Association” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “He excelled on the courts, and frankly, in the business world, but more importantly, he brings the right demeanor and enthusiasm to the position.

“He will be vital in advancing our implementation of several new initiatives to help garner more officials and retain many of those having second thoughts about continuing with today’s contest environment,” Tackett said. “And though the KHSAA does not employ officials or supervise their game-by-game activities, we will be able to use his expertise to streamline processes and make a concerted effort to ensure no contests fail to be played due to a lack of officials. This move will pay near immediate dividends.”

The Supervisor of Officials Licensing is a new position added to the KHSAA staff, created to oversee the officials licensing process that manages the records of nearly 4,000 contest officials and nearly 80 assigners across the Commonwealth. In addition, Bottoms will be charged with the final implementation strategy for the introduction of RefReps into Kentucky schools and colleges, a turnkey product to integrate officiating education into the curriculum and help bolster the Associations’ roster of officials. He will also be available to work with assigning secretaries, policy boards, officials and school administrators.

“I am very humbled and honored to work with the great staff at the KHSAA and the member schools, assigning secretaries and local officials associations,” said Bottoms. “I am very excited to fill this new position and work closely with assigners and officials in all sports across the great Commonwealth as we strive to recruit and retain officials in all sports. I have a lifelong passion for officiating and look forward to helping in any way possible to add to the number of outstanding individuals that we currently have calling games and matches throughout the state.”

Bottoms served as a licensed basketball official for 30 years and an officials assigner for seven years, earning KHSAA Basketball Official of the Year honors in both 1996 and 2012, as well as a dozen Region 12 Basketball Official of the Year selections. He has officiated the KHSAA Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16® eight times, including seven championship games and one semifinal round, in addition to 22 region tournaments. He was inducted into the 12th Region Hall of Fame in 2012.

A lifelong Kentucky resident, Bottoms graduated from Boyle County High School in 1981 and Eastern Kentucky University in 1985. He is the father of four children, Kyle, Chad, Blake and Clay, and resides in his native Danville with his wife, Jana.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 290 member schools, both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 229 state championships to 59 teams and 178 individuals in 13 sports and six sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 109,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.