[ChrisSportsFan]

"but i will also say that some of the refs out there are only there to make the extra buck and could care less about communicating with any coach or player.”

I don’t officiate football but do a ton of basketball and I work youth games all year long, even during the HS season if I have the time. I know a lot of guys who do it to make extra money but I don’t know anyone who does it JUST for the money. This is a mentality that coaches and parents presume but none of us want to go out there and embarrass ourselves.

“case in point happened a couple of games ago. at the end of the game we finally found a pass play that was gaining good yardage for us and we were moving the ball quite well. after an incomplete pass with 3 seconds still left on the clock, the head official refused to spot the ball and let the clock run down, again after an incomplete pass.”

You were there and I wasn’t so you know better. However, are you sure there was 3 seconds left? Are you sure you know all the facts here?

“it is officials like this that make some of the coaches act the way they do.”

Again, this is another mentality amongst coaches. IMO, we are all responsible for our own actions. Whatever happened to teaching good sportsmanship no matter what? I understand though…..we live in an “it isn’t my fault society”, and you shouldn’t be held responsible for your own actions.

“being both a youth coach and an official has taught me when i can open my mouth and how far i can take a discussion before i cross the line. and there are times when i get real close to that line,”

Why even get close to the line? Besides, who set the standard for that line that day? Not to sound arrogant but if you coached in one of my basketball games, you’d learn real quick that your line is very close to you. Coaches are there to coach and not to worry about what I’m doing.

“but i always have the respect for the officials that i would expect to be given by a coach if i were the one with the whistle. granted not all of them deserve it, but i still show them the respect.”

You already said it yourself “I myself have gotten that way on more than one occasion this year, and have been flagged for it.”

one of the first things i tell the officials who actually have a pregame conference with me is that i just want my kids to have a fair shot at playing,

I bet this really gets things off to a good start. Sheesh!

“and most after hearing that show me, as a coach, a little more respect. we are all (both coaches and officials) out there to teach the game to the players, and should think of that first and foremost.”

That’s because you already told them you’ll be watching to make sure they don’t cheat your team.

Coach, please take the time to reread my comments to your comments. Officials are people to. The reason we get into officiating, whatever the sport, is because we love the game and we want to support the kids. Then we find out that we can get paid too. If you knew how much money some of us spend on uniforms and equipment plus going to camps to get better, you’d rethink the comments about we do this for the money. I will agree that there probably are a few of them but I have not run across them yet.