Quote:
Originally Posted by SC Official
... The two free throws and possession for the opponent are more than enough motivation for coaches to behave themselves ...
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Four years as a high school player (often on the bench watching my coach), twenty-five years as a coach, forty years as an official. Over the years I've found that many coaches are willing to take technical fouls just to motivate their players and to rile up their fans, often timing their poor behavior "act" so that the technical foul is charged when the opponent has the ball to lessen the "sting".
Not for me however. As a middle school coach I never used technical fouls as motivational tools but rather as more of a way to support my players. I occasionally did "take" technical fouls to support my players (and show my support of players to their parents in the bleachers) who had been penalized by obviously poor officiating. Especially when they've done something legal exactly as I taught them in practice, that was ruled illegal by an under qualified official (middle school games don't always have the luxury of getting well qualified officials). For me, it was worth the two free throws (most of my coaching career was before the coaching box "seatbelt" rule) to show my full support of my players, even in a close game (but never late in a game, I wasn't a stupid coach).
Take my word for it, coaches really hate coaching while sitting. Late in my coaching career I was once "whacked" very early in a road game (no warning) by a non-certified official, a physical education teacher from the "host" school with a Foot Locker jersey (that's almost completely true), for coaching while outside the box (it was six foot box back then, and not paying close attention, I was definitely well outside the box, I still don't know how I got all the way down to the endlne corner), and I really, really hated coaching while sitting. I actually had one of my bench players sit next to me whose sole job was to keep reminding me to sit down to avoid an ejection (no assistant coach). Take my word for this, sitting can be distracting to a coach, and may slightly, but actually, impact his coaching ability.
For coaches considering taking a "motivational technical", possibly timing it to reduce the "sting", the additional penalty of having to sit may outweigh the two free throws alone, and they may think twice about their poor behavior.
And I still disagree that the "seatbelt" is a main deterrent that keeps many officials from charging technical fouls. Yes, it may be one deterrent, but it's way down on the list (
see my post above).
I won't lose any sleep if the NFHS changes the rule as they did with volleyball, but I'll use the rule as a game management tool until it's changed.
The "seatbelt" rule is part of doing business when basketball officials have to take care of business.
Wait? I really like the sound of that.
The "seatbelt" rule is part of doing business when basketball officials have to take care of business. © 2020 BillyMac