Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
I do not think coaches having or not having a box makes much difference. There are coaches at the college level that are never T'd and they have no seatbelt rule. That might be up to each official as to if they want to deal with the fallout. Most of the time it is a supervisor that is making it harder for officials to even think about giving a T. I have had assignor that did not want us to give a T to the coaches and it caused more issues than giving Ts. I know a college assignor that told officials in his staff meeting, "Use your people skills" which meant that if you gave a T, you would be penalized when the coach complained. There were D1 officials on that staff that was perplexed about how to deal with certain coaches. That supervisor has since been released and it was different this year. I think Ts are hard enough without all the hullabaloo about them. Most Ts I give to a coach, the last thing is whether they can sit. I am sure it is a factor for some more than others, but I do not think that is the "reason" officials give or do not give them. I know coaches that get them that sit their little behinds right down because they knew it was coming. Not all of them we give is a shock or even unexpected by the coach.
Peace
|
For the record I agree with you, there are multiple factors that go into officials at both the high school and college levels not penalizing unsporting behavior. But from my experience I have worked with many officials in high school games who are hesitant to give T's because they don't want to be the seatbelt police the rest of the game. I don't either but I'm not willing to let coaches act like buffoons as an alternative. Of course, I think a lot of high school officials just refuse to give T's regardless.
Not having the seatbelt rule works just fine in the college game. 9 out of 10 times the coach who gets whacked is back to coaching the next possession and isn't a problem for the rest of the game. I do think high school coaches as a whole are more immature but the reality is that they are very well aware of the consequences should they receive a second T.
Of course there will be the morals police who say "Oh, but this is high school, it's an extension of the classroom." That's lovely but does not mean we should have to babysit the coach the rest of the game to make sure he stays seated. That makes our job unnecessarily more difficult.