On the issue of "Automatic T's":
Playoff game, HS Varsity Girls, the game is well into the blowout stage. B coach, his team down by 30+, starts accusing the officials of extreme bias ("you're only calling our fouls", "that's horrible", "why don't you just give them the game?") He was assessed a T, followed shortly by a second (while the first was being reported, I believe). He left the gym without incident and escaped the humiliation of coaching the rest of a game he expected to win.
I was in the stands with other officials and several evaluators. One of the evaluators, after making a complimentary remark about the handling of the coach, offered another tactic. He suggested that, after the first T, the second official could have wandered by and informed the coach that he would not be given a second T and therefore would not be given an easy escape from horror of witnessing his girls' embarrassing loss. If he wanted to give up on his team and leave, he would have to do so on his own volition. Otherwise, I (the official), who cannot leave and must suffer through the remaining 15:00 of the game, would expect him to suffer as well.
Personally, I like it. It's cheeky
and punitive
, and does not allow a selfish coach to escape when his team cannot.