Am I missing something here?

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by mkuk

I protested, probably a little more than I should have and a little longer than I should have.

As Walt points out, a protest is not a matter of degree. A protest is an official lodging of a complaint that an official has misapplied the rules. The official and protesting coach should make a note of the game situation when the protest occurs, in case the protest is upheld and the game is to resume at that point on a later date.

That said, many states do not allow protests, including mine. Whatever the official says on the field, goes. That does not leave coaches without options: on the field, they can politely request that the officials confer and consult the rule book (unlikely). Afterward, they can explain to the assignor what happened and hope for a "teaching moment" between the assignor and official. In the worst cases, AD's can take a complaint to the state association.