help with new league

[UmpJM]

tidefanintenn,

I would say that Pete Booth has given you the best advice on your question, and I'm glad to hear that it sounds like the BOD members you mentioned are planning to give you their full support. The only thing that bothers me is that in your intial post you said:

Originally Posted by tidefanintenn

...The President wants me to clean up his league with the way the coaches act on the field. ...

This bothers me because it is NOT the umpires' responsibility to "clean up the league" - it's the President's (and other BOD members') responsibility. Now, if he's enlisting your support in doing so, that sounds fine to me. If he's trying to dump his responsibility on you, personally I'd find another league to work.

The travel league I am currently coaching in has the following policy regarding coaches' behavior:

A. SPORTSMANSHIP
1. Managing and coaching in the NSBL is a privilege and not a right. We will monitor the conduct of both manager and coaches throughout the season and reserve the right to remove, suspend or discipline a coach or manager for failure to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. If any community has a coach on suspension or probation, they should notify the league.
2. Any manager or coach ejected from a game is automatically suspended from his team’s next NSBL game. A second ejection will automatically cause the immediate suspension of the offending manager or coach from all remaining NSBL games. The NSBL may suspend a manager or coach from any or all NSBL games or unsportsmanlike conduct at its discretion. There is no appeal from this rule.

On the very rare occasions that a coach acts like a jerk during a game, the league BOD enforces the policy strictly - as stated. As a result, we tend not to have problems with coach behavior. But the burden is really on the BOD, not the umpires.

JM