[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

The use of certain socially unaccetable language being used by a coach when addressing his players on the court. I do not have a problem with the coach receiving a flagrant technical foul in this situation. How is this different than the situation that I described.

1) The coach's language took place during play and was directed toward his players who were on the court not bench personnel. The coach's language also affects all of the players (both his and his opponents around him). AND, more importantly, his language is a classic example of NFHS R10-S4-A1c.

2) The assistant coach's actions in my situation took place on the bench involving other bench personnel.


No one has ever accused me of not charging a player or bench personnel with a technical foul when warranted. But, we have all been taught two important game management rules:

1) Don't use a 500 lbm bomb to kill a fly, or don't use a nuclear warhead to destroy hornest's nest (which is probably a better analogy for my situation).

2) Do what is best for the game at that time, while not abusing the rules.

In our situation, a technical foul was not best for the game but the Elastic Clause gave us an way do deal with a serious problem while not abusing the rules.