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Referees and Umpires: In your pre-Game meetings with coaches be real, real careful telling the coach what he can do and then repeat it back 3 times so there's no question.
Last night: BOTH coaches told me and my umpire they will sit in the press box. Of course I told both coaches their sideline designees can not call time outs. And, of course it went in one ear and out the other.
Game starts and in the 2nd quarter the Asst. HC wants to call timeout from the sideline. My linesman told him he couldn't and of course he went ballistic. Low and behold at halftime the HC comes out of the booth and was extremely frustrated with me indicating I told him preGame that he could have the assistants call a timeout. BS. BS. BS.
The asst. was yelling "But I'm the Assistant (emphasis) HEAD COACH...and head coaches are allowed to call a timeout."
My suggestion...repeat it back more than once. Even though I did this in the presence of my umpire and we got into a SHORT pissing contest "you told me this...no I didn't...yes you did..."
I handled it the best I could saying "Coach, perhaps we had a misunderstanding. I'm certain I told you and you're certain I didn't. So, let's move on, put it behind us and I'll accept accountability for the misunderstanding."
I bit my tongue the best I could. But, in the end he was OK. The bad part is the crew the week before allowed this.
So my advice: Don't only repeat it back a couple of times like I swear I did, but take the asst HC coach aside (which I didn't do) and remind him that he can't call a time out, then ask if he has any questions.
UGH!
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