Quote:
Originally Posted by APG
If college really wants this behavior out of the game, it'll be up to the conference assignors. NCAA-M can come out with directives and POE's, but it doesn't matter if the conference assignors aren't 100 percent behind it, and officials (except for the bid dogs) are worried about how a T/ejection might effect his coaches' rating or future schedule.
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College administrators/presidents/trustee boards will also help. Coaches represent the schools. They all have to ask themselves the question: Is this how you want the person who is probably the most visible representative of your school to act in public, especially when they're on TV? They're not going to like what we do. I get that. It's part of the relationship. But it makes no sense when you act worse than one of your kids ever would.
We'll get the help when we know conference coordinators are full behind us. We're told the coaches want certain rules enforced, such as the coaches' box, but if we enforce them and hand out Ts there's the chance we're seen as too "thin-skinned." It can't work both ways. Another thing regarding the box: It's 28 feet long. The court is 94 feet long. That's 7+ yards to roam all they want and they can go behind the chairs as well. That should be more than enough room. There's no need to go up to the division line to make yourself heard. If you have something to ask an official in most cases they'll be back your way within less than a minute.
We also have to change the way we act/react. Realistically, if we all enforced those rules better - I'm not saying to the exact letter of the law - and took less "stuff," it would change. It's not as though they can fire all of us.
ESPN and others like it don't help, either. Vitale complaining how "you can't end a game like that" when Boeheim went bananas and got tossed at the end of the Duke game enhances the perception that we're the bad guys when we handle our business. Vitale, again, complaining when Kevin Ollie went flying down the sideline does the same thing. They go nuts like that, we T them and we're the bad guys? The fact it was even a debate among some people in the non-officiating world is a huge problem.