[bebanovich]

Originally posted by bgtg19

Coach, I'll take your sincerity at face value, but can I suggest that you did not give the alternate approach much of a chance? In the first post, you said: "I decided that I was going to put all of my game energy into coaching the bench and was not going to say anything to officials during the games (except when necessary for a clarification or conference, etc)." You then changed your mind "by the end of [your] first game back." You said: "After that game, I decided that I couldn't just say nothing and needed another plan." I'm not accussing you of being insincere, but I will say that if you changed your mind after one game it does appear that you were a little too eager to enter the fray with the officials. As you say, you've given this topic a lot of thought.

Why not give your first plan a real chance at success? Tarheelcoach has given you/us a coach's perspective that in many games "working" (even in the positive sense) officials is unnecessary. There might be a few crews that invite some "working," and you simply respond to their invitation. You admitted that the crew on your first game back was an inexperienced crew. Can you go through a whole season with a coaching-only attitude and see how it goes? You might be surprised at the results.

I agree with those who have posted that when a coach is constantly questioning the officials, it sends a message to their players. You have been careful to point out that you are clear with your players about *their* roles - they don't get to complain - and that is a good step, but you may not be fully appreciating the message that you are sending to the young people who are learning life lessons from you.

Best wishes as you continue to learn and improve. Most of us here are similarly hoping to learn and improve.

Thank you for your thoughtful post and you make an excellent point. I will start by answering the point and saying that, from a coaching stand-point, feeling like I got worked was not acceptable to me. OK Dan_Ref and BlindZebra, start cutting and pasting from above.

I also knew that my kids thought that, despite my coaching them, I wasn't in the game. Imagine The White Shadow but without Salami and Goldberg. I had one early season practice with two players in the gym and 6 players standing in front of the school making some kind of a statement. Coach Drill-Instructor gets abandoned and coach Buddy-Boy gets walked-on. By game 1 I've got their attention but afterwards I've got a silent van full of disappointed players who think I wasn't in the game.

For most of the first season I didn't have the tools or awareness to do much more than chirp enough to not get out-squeaked and, while that seems to have raised a lot of ire here, I have never so much as flirted with a T. My original post - obviously poorly titled and, I guess, not totally clear - was meant to say: I started out wanting to say nothing; I decided I couldn't do that and started saying something - respectfully, never personal, not constantly but without much thought or plan; a good crew made me realize that I needed to be much more discriminating and selective; I then asked if coaches-working-officials-interactions were a necessary evil or if they should be mandated out of existence, I speculated that maybe there were times where a coach legitimately pointed out some concern or emphasis that was legit, I asked if there was some positive aspect as long as they could be controlled.

I don't plan to go a whole season of just coaching the bench mainly because I feel like 90% my interactions with officials are very positive. What I defined as "working" an official is what several thoughtful posters described as things I should try instead of "working" an official. Asking questions, showing respect, talking quietly and on breaks and picking my moments. I would say that about 8% or maybe less, I might put the heat to a less-experienced or less-confident crew. Basketball is competition and we all learn to take the heat. No new official will ever get a personal slur, accusation or F-bomb from me, they also won't get my apologies for poking at the edges a little. About 2% is emotion/ego.

I've come this far, I might as well finish 'er off . . . I did not intend to ruffle any feathers or push any buttons with this thread but now that I have I will admit it's been a little fun to watch. I've seen:

A few very thoughtful posts from officials who thought that sometimes the squeaky wheel does get greased but that it might be best to bide my time and wait for the opportunity to point out that the opposing wheel was just doing a bunch of squeaking. One or two officials tried to help me project what this might look like and if this was possible. I think I learned something new here.

A lot of very thoughtful posts who admitted that sometimes a weak crew could be worked but that, by and large it was better to focus on the kids and pick your spots. I think I'm already 90% with you.

A few thoughtful posts who gave helpful advice telling me to stop being a pest but many of these responses seemed to be based on an impression garnered from other posts that I was just a howler monkey.

A few less than thoughtful posts telling me that the suggestion that ANY officials calls could be influenced by a coach was outrageous and that any coach trying to influence his calls was going to negatively influence his calls. These were fun.

A couple of flame baits. I resisted the urge because I know this is already a touchy subject for a coach to drop on an officials' forum and I do appreciate the thoughtful feedback on a topic that I obviously didn't do a great job of communicating from the start. Another time maybe Dan_Ref and BlindZebra.