[CYO Butch]

This might be a little presumptuous coming from a coach, but here goes. Not to cast any stones at you or your partner, but isn't it just a little bit possible the he was going out of his way (either consciously or subconsciously) to call it extra tight because you are a novice. My guess is there was at least as much of that going on as there was you not seeing decisive/actionable fouls occuring. As a novice, I would think your natural reaction would be to hold your whistle unless you were totally sure of your call, and by then the action has moved on (maybe a little bit of "deer in the headlights" reaction to first real game). Conversely, I can imagine some partners feeling they have to keep an even keener eye out than normal to keep the game under control. I would suggest you talk to other people who have worked with this guy before, and explain your quandry to them and ask for advice. Maybe even try to get some feel for how the total number of fouls called in your game compares to 1) other games your partner has worked, and 2) other games by these teams 3) the experiences of other officials who have worked with him. If the total for the game seems right, and partner has not seemed to be working games with a lot of fouls called, then he was probably trying to "balance" for you. If his games tend to have a lot of fouls called and his other partners say he calls a tight game, then you probably missed some.

As far as a coach getting on you because you eren't calling many, that's why they call us "Howler Monkeys". Since the overall foul count seems that have been about equal, if you called more, some of them would have been on his team, so he'd still be complaining. Complaining coaches are best ignored, except when you do your post game and try to see if there might have been some merit in the complaints. That appears to be what you did. That's the right way to handle it.

In any case, listen to all the advice you can get, both here and from other officials that you come across. Adopt what works for you as you learn from the others. If you've read this board often, you will know that not everybody agrees on everything (maybe on anything ?), but I know that I would welcome into our league any official who is a regular here.