[deecee]

Originally Posted by Kostja

Some of these answers are no brainers, but very valuable ones, so to say Someone wrote that good coaches wouldn't try to complain about every call or put a lot of pressure on the referees. That's where I can't agree. In the past two years I met a lot of very experienced and knowledgeable coaches while refereeing on a semi-professional and professional level here in Europe. Almost all of them where focusing on coaching their teams most of the time, but I think every single one of them tried to get me or one of my partners at one point in the game and then it wasn't about asking a question and wanting to hear about a different angle or something like that. These situations were about giving the ref a hard time, get inside his head, or at least see to which of the above mentioned categories the ref belongs (hard a**, entertainer, or whatever).

A very popular move was to question a close call (block-charge or something like that) in a way that one could not ignore the coach, and as soon as you moved towards him to handle the situation coach turned around and walked away from you ... What is the referee supposed to do? Follow the coach who will probably pretend he can't hear the ref and finally give him a surprised "What do you want from me?" look with the ultimate power shrug of his shoulders while looking at his assistant coach for help, or just turn away and let it go? Both ways, you don't look very good in this situation, which is of course what the coach tried to achieve. I think it is part of the game, coaches try to get to know their refs, they try to influence our decision making and this does not only apply to bad coaches.

From my own experience a couple of years ago I know that at least in highschool in Canada referees were treated with more respect then in youth basketball here in Europe. Would you say this is also true for College basketball? And how would you react to the situation described above?

Cheers,
Kostja

unless the coach asks me a direct question i have nothing to answer... why follow him anywhere -- once he turns his back after asking a question once the next time he asks a question i will make it clear if he asks a question one more time and turns around i will not answer any of his questions for the remainder of the game. Dont play his stupid games, let him act like an idiot. Then if i feel like hes showing the officials up i will also let him know one more act like that will cost him more than a block/charge would. but thats just me -- if he wants to make a scene and look like an idiot thats fine / if he wants to mock us and make us look like idiots than that is not.