D’Andre Lewis | KGAN 2, Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA — Friday night lights returns to Iowa this week, but the state is heading into the 2026 high school football season with significantly fewer officials available to work games.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association said there are just over 1,000 officials registered for the 2026 season, about 350 fewer than last year. The IHSAA does not assign officials to games, meaning it does not know exactly how much the drop-off could affect schedules this season. Still, the association said it is optimistic every game will be covered, though some adjustments may be needed.

“Every game is the most important game to all of the players and coaches, communities, so we would love them all to be covered with five-man crews, but again stress wise, it could just be that aspect of maybe having to move a game to a Thursday night, which may not be ideal,” said Todd Tharp, assistant director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. “I’m not aware of those situations those might be happening internally that we just are not aware of that occur.”

To help address the shortage now and build a pipeline for the future, the IHSAA is expanding its Ref-Reps program, which gives high school students a chance to become officials.

“We’re very excited we’ve had close to over sixty schools that are offering that program throughout the state,” Tharp said. “So, our goal this year is to hopefully maybe double that number.”

Tharp said the program includes a ready-made curriculum and hands-on instruction, particularly for basketball.

“The curriculum is all written out for them, they can go out on the floor, probably not the football field, but for basketball,” Tharp said. “Say for example they can go out and actually teach them some of the mechanics of where they’re supposed to be standing, actually have them blow a whistle, and raise their hand and call a foul.”