Gotcha BW and I concur with your assessment of the specific statements jrut made. I also thought his language was a bit extreme, but I have seen that behavior enough that I sometimes tend to ignore the stylistic elements and focus on the overall message, which was that the refs tended to ignore the coaching box POE and focus on the game. And I agree with jrut that it is the right thing to do.
I have only seen one ref that made the box a personal POE, and he can't ref the floor to save his @$$. However, he issues timeouts as soon as he sees a coach leave the box, reasoning that the only way you can leave it is to request a TO
. You can't contest the TO or he will give you a T - his rule! He has even gave my team a TO when I was in the six foot painted box, because he redefined the box to his liking and I wasn't in it - no argument allowed! Never mind that it was the third quarter and I was standing exactly where I had been the entire game.
When you see those kind of extremes, you appreciate the refs who have a sense of perspective.