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Remember to always throw your flag for an official sideline warning. Just because the first one is "free", doesn't make it any less of a penalty per the rulebook.
It is a foul, and the penalty for the first offense is a warning. The most important aspect of this in my opinion is to get the most effect out of it. I use my voice 2-3 times to verbally tell my coaches to get back and almost always I never have a problem after that. But there's always going to be that team w/coaches that don't learn and/or don't care about verbal warnings.
so here's what I do. I never throw a sideline warning during a dead-ball period. It has little affect other than to annoy everyone in attendance for something "administrative" in their opinion and the coaches just keep talking into their headsets anyway. So what I do is wait for the "big play". The one where their defense intercepts a pass and runs it back or they have a long gain or a great special teams play. Inevitably you're going to bump into one of the coaches, especially when they're excited and right on the sideline because they want to see. Bonus points for hitting an assistant coach...the point being is that you let it fly nice and high while their team is running back a pick for 6. Then you take your time talking to the R at the same time calling your opposite wing over for a quick conference...meanwhile the coaches know it's on them and the assistant knows he's probably going to get his *** chewed for getting a TD called back. Let them sweat for 30 seconds and then jog back over after the "conference" and advise the HC that this was a sideline warning and it's either a warning (or ding them with a 5 yarder but it's still a NP/SS foul so they get to keep the score). Then you're the great guy for "just warning them" and "letting them" keep the points--which they would know anyway if they read the rulebook. Then point out the offender to the HC if it's not the HC and watch the fireworks.
As an added bonus, the offside wing gets to tell his coach that the other guy is getting a sideline warning and if he doesn't want the same thing, he needs to control his sideline as well.
Again, just my opinion but it's worked for me....
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