Restricted To The Dugout??
 

Head coach is restricted to the dugout.

What is he restricted from?

In reading 3-4-4 it says something about "if a coach who is restricted to the dugout is involved in a charged conference...." that seems to say he can go out for a conference.

Is there somewhere that says what he cannot do when restricted?

A charged conference can be held at the bench. Also if a player is ill or injured, the coach may attend to them. That is about all he can do. However, his official duties can be only conducted on/at the bench. Any further unsportsmanlike conduct gets him ejected.

Basically, he can do all his coaching duties as long as he doesn't leave the bench area - conferences all have to come to him at the bench

And there are instances where he should be ejected and not restricted. Make sure to toss him when by rule you can't restrict.

I am glad I work a ruleset that doesn't permit restricting. I fail to see the merit in it. Throw them out.

I only do it when it's required, which has happened exactly once--and I loved it. Annoying (state legend) HC in my ear as BU, then AC gets tossed for arguing. Got to sit the HC down for free.

A restriction to the dugout should be used similar to the 1st technical a coach is given in basketball. It enables you to quieten down the coach without the coach suffering further trouble. In Texas, if a coach is ejected, he has to go to Austin, go before the UIL, and explain his actions. He is also put on probation for a year and if he is ejected again within the year, he may suspended for a year. Ejection(s) on a coach's record can make it difficult for a coach to move up in the coaching ranks. UIL prefers that the coach be restricted first and then if he continues, eject him.

I don't work FED, so this question: does having conferences at the dugout create significant delay?

Delay?
 

Not really, the players run in and run out just like at the half-inning change with no warm-ups. I usually allow the same amount of time for the coach to make his point, then break it up.

I have never restricted a coach to dugout and then witnessed a conference where players come to bench. Coach delegates conferences to assistants.

The best part of restricting is that I get the coach sitting on the bench and quiet (since by rule he is ejected if he causes any more trouble) and I don't have to write a report. :D

+1,000,000

Yes, that's why the conference is charged.

It's no more delay, and often less, to have F1 jog over to the dugout and back than to have coach haul his butt out to the mound and back.

This is the dumbest rule in all of baseball. The dugout restriction. What good does it do. Every time I have restricted an ejection comes later. So I have stopped restricting and just ejecting.

That's quite odd. I would be unejected seatbelted coaches outnumber seatbelted-then-later-ejected coaches about 20 - 1 in games I've been involved with. I almost never hear another word from a seatbelted coach - AT ALL - during the remainder of the game.

"Every time" seems to me to be a tremendous stretch.

In our state, any ejection carries a minimum $300 fine. We are asked to restrict first (if at all possible), even though an ejection may soon follow. The coach will have a hard time winning an administrative appeal in those circumstances.

I'm going to assume that you are from West Virginia by your screen name, I know that it's dangerous to assume, but here we go. BTW, I'm not saying anything bad about West Virginia, I'm just going to tell what the UIL wants in Texas. The University Interscholastic League, UIL, is the governing body for HS sports in the State of Texas.

UIL wants officials to keep head and assistant coaches in the game if at all possible. It's our job to diffuse any situation to where the coach is prevented from ejecting himself. The restricting to the dugout is a tool that we can use. It's like the first tech given to a coach in basketball. Basketball officials call it the seat belt rule, the coach can't get up out of the chair to do diddly squat. The restriction to the dugout does the same thing. The coach knows he has parked himself right on top of the line and he will be gone if he does anything else.

If we eject a coach, a report has to be filled out with the UIL. It shows due diligence on behalf of the official if a restriction to the dugout was done first. I agree with you that in certain events an ejection is warranted without using a restriction, but as Texas officials, we are encourged to use the restriction as the first step.

Mike, you type a lot faster than I do. :)

Actually, the dumbest rule in all of FED baseball is the immediate dead ball on a balk. At least I thought that when my son played and his two-run double was negated because the pitcher didn't pause after going set.

Or has FED finally come to its senses and changed that rule? I don't umpire FED baseball, so I don't have any idea.

It's still an immediate dead ball.

It's also why when you call a balk you call it VERY forcefully so hopefully everyone will stop and F1 doesn't deliver the pitch.

At least that rule has its basis in OBR. It's just a shame that FED hasn't progressed the six decades since then.