Quote:
Originally posted by M&M Guy
This is, of course, the PERFECT example of why some of us do not like the coach being allowed to request a timeout. The rule before had been only a player on the floor was allowed to request; now we have to divert a little of our attention away from the floor to be aware of the coach's request. I have also granted TO's when I've heard a coach yell for the "Side out!" play. RefDaddy has the right idea in your sitch - if the coach says they're going to want a timeout at some defined point in the future, tell them to make sure they get your attention again, both verbally and visually, so there are no problems with them changing their mind.
I had a situation a couple of weeks ago in a women's game. Team A's coach is known to be rather soft-spoken. We are late in a close game, loud, small gym, and Team A scores. I was T, tableside, and am now new L. I'm starting to turn to go up the court to follow the players, and I hear behind me "Jim! Jim!". I turn around, and it's B's coach trying to get my attention. I get up in front of her, while trying to watch play on the floor, and ask, "What's up?" She says, "Carol (Team A's coach) is trying to get your attention for a timeout." "Huh?" Of course, by the time I turn back around, my partner was already blowing the whistle. We had a chuckle about it, because apparently Carol tried to grab me on the way past trying to get my attention. Oh well.
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Is there an official who
likes the 'let the head coach call time out' rule?
Calling your inbounds play 'side-out' should be a technical foul . . . just kidding, but it is an all night problem when the coach does it.
I can't think of a rule that causes more coach-aggravation -they expect an instant response and it can't happen.
What I do (having granted a time out to a parent the first year this rule came in) is, upon
hearing a coach's plaintive cry for time-out, first, observe is the ball in the control of or at the disposal of a player, and, if so, note the team, then turn to see if it is indeed the head coach of that team who's calling for the time out.
If I see that it is, I'll grant the time out - based on my observation from some tenths of a second back. I note this because, at the speed of basketball, by the time I turn and identify the coach and blow my whistle, the status of the ball may have changed - but the time-out dates from the moment I made my observation.
I've had a couple cases where a player has shot the ball before the whistle and the coach somehow didn't want the time-out to have happened in time. Of course he would have argued mucho the other way had something nefarious befallen his team . . .