The player ejection was good as it sounds like he was loud enough for all to hear. That old line that he wasn't talking to you is just BS. There is no warning needed before ejection.

You mad a mistake talking to the assistant coach. I tell assistant coaches to get back in their box and if they don't, they too, are ejected. I only speak to the HC.

If the HC comes to you after the fact, "Coach, that play is in the past and I am not discussing it." and walk away. If he continues to follow and push the issue, give him a choice - restriction or ejection.

No offense to your UIC, but I believe he is full of it. He is advocating baiting the player into repeating the swearing. By doing so, you would open yourself up to much more scrutiny. Then the coach could rightfully claim that you baited his player into swearing twice. You already heard what he said, you didn't need it repeated. Your opinion was and is correct. This is HS baseball, and the participants are not allowed to vent using swear words. In adult ball, college ball, pro ball, whatever...saying "Bullsh*t" is nothing at all, even if in your direction. The point is that HS children are not adults, and are not to be permitted to speak to adults in such a disrespectful manner. Hopefully, this young stud learned a lesson about talking to his elders.

I would agree with this BUT- In the last few years I have seen waaaay more "veterans" (guys repeating their first year for the fifteenth time) that allow this kind of behavior. It's a poor example, and I have no problem with an official posting here and being affirmed that, yes, there are plenty of officials who penalize unsportsmanklike behavior with the appropriate sanction. YMMV.

Steve I agree with you that it seems like you are baiting the player if you do as the UIC suggested. I believe that it was a good ejection and given the situation again I will probably do the same as I did. There is no reason why a high school aged athlete should use profanity toward an official and not get reprimanded. Maybe now he will think twice before smarting off to a call. The sad part of this is that the play was not even close as he was clearly out.

That's not sad at all. It's like a teaspoon of sugar with the medicine.

I think your UIC needs some backbone - this is bad advice.

It is bad advice because the rule does not provide an option for a team warning, only a warning to the offender (and only if the offense is minor).

To the other posters: What would be an example of profanity you would consider minor in nature? In other words, what profane statement would result in a warning for the first offense rather than an ejection? Just curious.

Anything under the breath, or something like "damn" without God preceding it. Something that isn't directed at the umpire, or with gestures. These examples come to mind. I find profanity on the ball field unacceptable at the youth ball level. I usually will tell players to knock it off, unless it is said so everyone can hear it and it shows me up in any way.

Profanity that is loud enough for others to hear but not directed at me or a result of a call might qualify (such as anger at one's self after a swing and a miss, or maybe even after hurting themselves (although I suspect my cursometer would be a little more lenient in the latter as compared to the former). Or perhaps a non-F-Bomb cuss word that was quiet enough that only I heard it.

You're asking us to define borderline - this might be an exercise in squeezing butter.

I don't have a problem with his posting at all. I thought he let the coach be a bit of douche, but the last thing I would want to do is eject a coach. I've restricted two to the bench, but they were JV coaches and young. Plus, all it would done in the long run was hurt the fans, and both teams. Dumping a HS varsity coach is somewhat frowned upon by our association for various reasons, but we have so few problems with them. For the most part, they all come out, and address a call politely, and in a proper manner.

Coming out and addressing us politely is much different than being a douche.

None of us want to dump a coach. However, if he needs to go, he needs to go.

This is bad umpiring. This shouldn't be the last thing or the first thing you want to do. Your "wants" shouldn't come into play at all, just like on any other call. An ejection is merely another call you make, just like any other. If a runner is safe, it's your job to call it. If a coach ejects himself, it's your job to announce it. You shouldn't "want" anything in either direction here. Call what you see.

This is the way I approach any ejection. I do not eject anyone -it is a self-inflicted wound. I just formalize.

Well said.

I amend my statement to read that the head coach was a whiny douche.

I've never had, in my opinion, a good enough reason to eject a head coach, not that I wouldn't if necessary. We all know who the idiots are, you just have handle them a little different. I know how to shut them down.

I had one that gave me a very slight bump one time. I read him the riot act in front of everybody, but I did call his AD, and let him know what happened. I also reported it to my association president to let him know what the deal was.

Looking back I probably should have ejected him at that time because of an incident with his players earlier. But I was somewhat still "wet behind the ears" at the varsity level, and it also being my first year. However, he now walks the straight and narrow for the very most part. He now knows the repercussions that would have come with an ejection, and thanked me the next time I worked his team.

I've had two partners that ejected a head coach, and they both said it was more of a headache in the long run than they anticipated. They love the restriction rule now. The UIL doesn't have a lot of love for it's officials.

There's always three thing in some of these cases. He said, she said, and the truth.