[johnny1784]

Originally posted by SMEngmann

I understand that the line is accepted and it is widely used, sometimes with more success than I've seen or imagined. As BktBallRef said, he has used it tactfully and successfully, but to me, personally, I don't find it very effective. I find the line too confrontational for most situations.

The more I officiate, the more I find that the best way to communicate with coaches is to work with them and do so on a human level. I've seen the CBOA guide as I am a member of the CBOA, and the SAVRs are simply guidelines to consider, rather than hard and fast rules. They are very helpful in teaching officials the basics of communication and helping us keep control of games, but often they are so confrontational that they lead to a number of technical fouls that may have otherwise been prevented. The problem with these guidelines is that they attempt to apply a one size fits all solution to coach-ref interaction, and some of them just further intensify any frustration/anger that may exist.

One thing that I have learned and continue to learn is that coaches are not the enemy, most of the time they just want an explanation or to have an opinion heard, it's not personal and as soon as I realized that the number of technicals I've called has fallen dramatically. Using this handbook at the wrong time can destroy any rapport as the coach will simply get more frustrated with your response. The coaches have much more at stake in the game than we do, so we should take that into account when dealing with them.

There is no such thing as an automatic response to a coach. BktBallRef's style probably differs from mine, some officials like to use humor and one liners because it fits their personality, I don't because it doesn't fit my personality. I stand by my original statement that if I said the "I coach, you ref" line, and then had to call a technical immediately on the coach, I would have a hard time defending that T to my assignor because in my personality it sounds like I baited it. IMO, the worst thing I can do is back the coach into a corner because then it starts to become personal, but my way clearly isn't the only way. Whatever works for your personality is best.

Come on now, do you really believe that I posted those comments as being a requirement, an automatic response for all basketball officials to communicate back to a head coach?

Those were posted as a suggestion and yes, the coach will or attempts to back you into a corner, each and every game you officiate. It is their god given belief to do so.

I do not think a good official feels that a head coach should not have a warm-hearted short conversation with an official.

The problem is a head coach needs to understand when it is appropriate to converse to an official. It sure isn’t warm-hearted to do so during a live ball unless it is for a correctable error, a time-out or the coach screams... "Hey ref, I give up. My team quits!"

You might feel more comfortable by ignoring and holding long personal conversations with an irate or pesky like head coach.

Maybe you’re more like the football ref in those Budweiser commercials, where the football coach who keeps yelling into the football ref's ears but the ref holds a very calm, straight face look and never makes a comment.

You do not have to be funny when using humor to get your message across that you had enough of an irritating coach.

When a coach keeps yelling give me some of those calls too, why not reply with "coach, I ran out of minutes on my AT&T calling card."

It may or may not cease the tension but at least you tried yet if he had asked a question, you could respond on a dead ball... "Coach, we are calling it on both ends... "Can you hear me now?"