[JRutledge]

I have to disagree with whether it is appropriate for HS. I first thought it was a bad idea. But as a football official, we can be in front of an entire bench of coaches and players and trainers for several minutes and it is not a problem. Why can HS coaches control themselves in that environment and not on a basketball court? As a football wing official, you are constantly in the face of the coach and you rarely see ejections in that sport or even many flags. I do not think you take any less abuse in football, sometimes I think you take more. I agree that it might be an adjustment at first, but coaches will get the message. I would rather have a queit word with a coach than him yelling all over the court about a call that could take a simple explaination. I also think the presense of the official standing in front of the coach stops a lot of comments. I have found that coaches are afraid that the officials will react negatively to them and T them up. So they just shut up or let it go.

Peace