[BillyMac]

Coaches should not be allowed to request timeouts during live ball situations. Over the past several years there have been a few points of emphasis regarding coaches calling timeouts during live ball situations, but this hasn’t made the enforcement of this rule any easier. A common situation is where a player is trapped along a boundary, often in a corner, is about to turnover the ball, or is about to be caught in a held ball situation, or is about to commit a five second violation, and the coach requests a timeout to maintain possession of the ball. As officials, we’re watching for fouls, traveling, boundary lines, counting five seconds, etc., a very difficult situation to begin with, and now we hear, usually from behind us, “time out”. We have to make sure that the request came from the head coach, not an assistant coach, or from a parent sitting behind the team bench, and check to make sure that the ball is being held, or dribbled, by a player from that head coach’s team, before we grant the request. Either go back to the old rule only allowing players holding, or dribbling, the ball to request a timeout, or only allow coaches to request timeouts during dead ball situations, including during the dead ball period immediately after a made basket.