[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by Hawks Coach
Chuck
Don't know the levels you ref or your experience level, so I don't mean to insult you in any way.

I promise I won't be insulted. I honestly appreciate most of the posts you make here. Bring it on

But my experience has been that the higher level refs and the more experienced refs have mastered communicating with coaches when legitimate questions are asked.

I don't know if I'd use the word "mastered", but for the most part, I'd say that you are correct. As I've indicated in a previous thread, communicating with coaches is not my strongest asset as an official. I work on it from season to season, and I think I've gotten a lot better.

But I do take great issue with your preference that I get my information about Your call from My player, who may or may not know what you called

Coach, the whole premise of my comments is that when I call a T, the player definitely, every single time, without question, absolutely knows what he did to earn it. I don't give T's for ticky-tack whining (unless it's been going on all night despite warnings). So if I bang your player, HE KNOWS the answer to your question. So ask him. What's the big deal?

If I had you in a game in that league and you Td up one of my players and wouldn't tell me why, I'd be on the phone Monday morning.

That would certainly be your prerogative. But I think the call would seem petty.

Coach: I'd like to report that no-good, SOB Chuck Elias!

Assignor: (Deep sigh) What'd he do this time?

Coach: He wouldn't tell me what swear word my kid said to him!

Assignor: That heartless bast@rd!!

Ok, ok. That's a joke, obviously. But is this really a reason for trying to bounce a ref from your league?

If your preference is to avoid communicating with coaches in a heated situation, I believe that is a skill that you should work on because it is an essential skill not only in basketball but in life. Yes, there is potential conflict - deal with it.

Coach, my preference is to avoid a situation that could unnecessarily escalate. If the information you need can be gained without further intervention from me, I think that's the better situation. You can't ask your player why that was a backcourt violation, b/c he doesn't know the rule. You can't ask your assistant coach why that wasn't traveling, b/c he might not recognize a legal jump stop. But you sure can ask your player what he said to earn a T, b/c as I said at the beginning of the post, HE KNOWS.

Ok, now I'd like to ask you a question, and again, I honestly appreciate your contributions to the forum. So please bear in mind that this is a legitimate question, not trying to be a wise-guy.

Why does it matter what he said? The fact is that he should not be addressing the official at all, unless he's the floor captain. If the players are trained to simply keep their mouths shut at all times, then there won't ever be a problem.

It's like what I was taught about police officers. You always do what the officer says. If he screwed up, then you work out his penalty later, but you never give the officer lip while he's addressing you. Never. It only makes things worse. Same thing with an official. You can never make things better by telling the ref what you thought of a call. Never. So if the kid gets tagged, he brought it on himself. What does it matter what he said? It's his own dumb fault anyway.

I'm not saying this as a license for refs to give out cheap T's. Very few of us do that, or even want to. My point is that coaches ought to be more concerned with the fact that the player is mouthing off (since this is a loss of control on the player's part) than about what was actually said.

Chuck

[Edited by ChuckElias on Jan 17th, 2002 at 12:09 PM]