[jeffpea]

As a former D1 asst. basketball coach, I can tell you that coaches simply want to feel like they're being listened to and will receive some feedback.

You shouldn't feel like you need to respond to every statement they make. One of the most overlooked skills an official needs when dealing with coaches is.......listening. You have to learn when a coach has a specific question/complaint or if they are just venting their frustration. Respond to specifics questions with an answer ("will you watch #34? he just set 2 illegal screens"). Ignore or just pass on generic statements ("they're just pushing us around all over the place").

Sometimes the coach just starts saying things that you can't ignore and need to address. Recently, I called on player control foul against Team A's best player in transition that the coach didn't like. On the ensuing possession, my partner called an illegal screen on Team B. Team A's coach starts yelling (with me right next to him) "at least we've got him to balance the crew out!". I turned to the coach and said, "Coach, you can't just start yelling crazy comments outloud to no one in particular. If you want to talk about my last call, I'd be happy to discuss it. But you can't start yelling those crazy things". He disagreed and simply said - "just ignore me!". "Alright. But I'm not going to ignore you very much longer", I said. Four mintues later he apologized after calming down and we talked about my player control foul.

This is not to illustrate that I'm the best at dealing w/ coaches during a game, but I tell this story to illustrate my point - LISTENING to coaches is a "technique" that officials should pay more attention to. You've got to know when to respond before you even decide what to say.