Brownwood residents will have an opportunity to hear from an active NFL official when the Kiwanis Club of Brownwood hosts referee Brad Rogers at its weekly luncheon Thursday, Oct. 1.
The luncheon is scheduled from noon to 1:15 p.m. at the Brownwood Country Club. Rogers is expected to bring a career spanning Texas and Arizona football, college officiating, the Arena Football League and the National Football League.
A career that reached the NFL
Rogers began officiating football in 1991, working in Texas and later in Arizona from 2000 through 2005. He started officiating junior college football in 2001 and reached Division I in 2010.
Before joining the NFL, Rogers worked in the Arena Football League from 2007 through 2014, including six playoff games. He also officiated multiple high school playoff games, including a state championship game.
His college football assignments included work in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Southeastern Conference. Among the postseason games listed in his background are the 2010 Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern, the 2011 Hyundai Sun Bowl between Georgia Tech and Utah, several Conference USA championship games, the 2014 Armed Forces Bowl, the 2015 SEC Championship between Florida and Alabama, and the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl between Indiana and Utah.
From field judge to referee
Rogers interviewed for the NFL Training Program in 2015 and was hired as an NFL official in 2017. He worked as a field judge during the 2017 and 2018 seasons before moving to the referee position in 2019.
His NFL postseason experience has included the 2018 divisional game between the Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots, as well as alternate-referee assignments for the 2021 wild-card game between Pittsburgh and Kansas City, the 2022 wild-card game between Seattle and San Francisco, the 2023 divisional game between Tampa Bay and Detroit, and the 2024 wild-card game between Washington and Tampa Bay.
Rogers was the referee for the 2023 wild-card game between Miami and Kansas City, a contest described in the event material as the fourth-coldest game in NFL history. Temperatures reached minus 9 degrees by the end of that game.
Rogers' work beyond football
Rogers has lived in Lubbock for 29 of the past 34 years. He is married and has two daughters, both of whom are in college.
He has worked in higher education for more than 24 years and currently serves on the faculty at Texas Tech University. He also is an assistant basketball coach at Lubbock Christian High School, where he has coached the boys and girls varsity programs to six Texas state championships combined. That run includes five consecutive state championships from 2021 through 2025.
The Kiwanis luncheon gives Brownwood attendees a chance to hear directly from an official whose career includes major college bowl and championship assignments, NFL regular-season work and playoff experience.