Officiated for 20 years and we had to do the unthinkable Sunday. I was doing an AAU tourney that was used mostly for college coaches to get a look at some players.
This coach is fairly young and she played her freshman year at a national powerhouse D1 school before transferring. The team she actually had at this tourney was her high school team she coaches.
Here is the scene: Her team is up 23-17 with 1:30 to go in the first half. Fouls are 11 to 7, but they are against her.
I am the C as FT's are being administered to the other team. My partner is getting an ear full from her. She is complaining that we have called 40 fouls (honest...she used this number twice) and this isn't a free throw tournament. She goes on about all of this and my partner says enough, puts out the "stop sign" and she continues.
My parnter T's her up after the second FT is completed. He then tells her kindly you must be seated. I heard her tell him she isn't going to.
I traded positions with him so he can get away. He tells me as I'm passing "she will be seated". I tell her she has to be seated and she tells me she isn't going to. This goes on a couple times. Now I'm getting the same story my partner got about this is not a FT tourney, we raised a lot of money doing car washes to come here, etc. Oh...and we have called 40 fouls, too.
I told her you will have to take a seat before we throw the ball in or you will be getting a second T. She wants me to go get the tourney supervisor which I tell her I am not doing, but she is more than happy to go if she wishes. She is not going to go and insist I do. I remind her what will happen if she gets the second T and she tells me she won't leave. Finally the second FT ends and I look at her assistant (who is her father and hasn't said one word this whole time) and asked if he was going to help me here. He ignored me. I looked at my partner at the division line with the ball and say, "Okay then."
Now she gets #2 and has to leave.
But...she is not going. So, I hand it to the lead who now has to hear it all. The only difference is he was nice enough to go get the supervisor. While he's gone my other partner and myself remove ourselves from near the bench. The opposing coach comes to us and asks us what we are going to do. My partner says we really don't want to forfeit the game because it isn't fair to the girls of both team, but especially his. He told us he was fine with it if she didn't leave. (This was a loser bracket game and both teams were only going to play one more game win or lose).
Well, one of the supers comes in and tells her that she has to leave. She said I'll sit, but she wasn't leaving. I piped in with that option has come and gone. The super gives her one minute and she doesn't start leaving until we say "ball game". Once again...too late on her part.
As an aside, her father finally spoke. Once the supervisor got there he came up to the three of us and wanted to tell us about ''all his years of being around basketball and ...........". I kindly cut him off and said you had your chance to speak and you didn't help the situation at all so go sit down.
It was a classic case of defiance you expect from your toddlers.
Her biggest complaint about the T's was she never used any profanity.
This from a coach who was LEADING.
I was the U2 so I had no role in the decision to forfeit. That was the R who served the first T.
