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Originally Posted by Refneck
I've had this exact situation and was uncomfortable telling the coach he had to sit the rest of the game. Easy, I know it's the rule. However, I don't think the intent of the seatbelt rule is to punish a coach who's player gets stuck during a moment in the game when they happen to be bench personnel. IMO, the seatbelt rule is designed to punish a coach who can't control his bench area. Seems very ticky-tack for me.
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(IMHO)...Bench personnel is bench personnel. What would you do if one of the players on the way back to their locker room swears @ you? Are they bench personnel? Are you going to enforce the "T" but not the loss of the coaching box?
Its still the coaches responsibility to coach his kids. If this situation has never happened to him before, his kid gets whacked, and he looses his box, well I guarantee you he will teach his kids accordingly. (They need to know that there are consequences for their actions even after the quarter/game has ended.) Its not our responsibility to consider fairness to the coach. The kid is @ fault not the official.
By not enforcing the loss of the coaching box you set up your fellow officials for failure. If down the road the same thing happens and the officials on that game administer the entire penalty correctly then the coach is going to question them on the validity of their actions!!!
There's really nothing for us to consider as far as intent goes. Did the players actions require a "T"? Yes! Were they bench personnel? Yes! Charged indirectly to the coach and he loses his box. (Losing the box is part of the penalty. We can't arbitrarily decide to set any or part of a penalty aside because we don't agree with it.) The officials didn't do nothing wrong the player did.