Response to coaches
I am a big believer in using a short, witty comment to diffuse a situation with a coach, whenever possible. When a coach is constantly riding me, one of my favourites is a comment along the lines of "Let's make a deal coach, I won't call your plays for you - you don't make calls for me".
Several years ago I was refeering a Under 18 Mens game (probably similar level to JV), I knew both coaches well, and the whole game one had been on our back. After a time out, I approached his bench, and took the spare seat next to him. After a couple of seconds of stunned silence, he asked me what the hell I was doing, my response:
"Well, you seem to have the best view from here, so I'll run the rest of the game from here - any problems?"
As you can imagine, he wasn't quite sure what to say or do, I made my reply loud enough for the other coach to hear it, who thankfully broke into laughter. Even the guys own players started giving him grief over it.
Obviously this is not recommended, and I got dragged over the coals for it. However, the story got around, and I've never had to do it again (and never would).
As far as how much is too much? I think that's a personal decision, I know some coaches that believe they aren't doing their job unless they're questioning every call. In their case, it isn't always that they are insubordinate - it's just the way they are. Again it comes down to consistency, playes and coaches in the leagues that I referee know exactly what they can do and say before I "T" or toss them, and it is the same in every game. Whenever I ref with a new partner, I always go through my feelings on techs during the pre-game, just to make sure that we are on the same page.
In a nutshell - COMMUNICATE first, then if need be OFFICIATE with a tech
|