Just a rough night...
 

JV boys game, 3-man. I had probably six block/charge plays that came right at me. First half was going smoothly, until one block/charge play that went against V. V's coach loudly tells me "YOU'RE CRAZY!" Whack #1. Second half, my less experienced partner has another block/charge that goes against V, and the coach jumps off the bench and starts stomping his feet in disgust. I called his second T from C opposite table. He then stared me down for probably thirty seconds before leaving the court (which I included in my report).

I could've sent him when he made a comment to one of my partners along the lines of "I'm glad you called that because your buddy [referring to me] wasn't going to." I'm actually pissed that my partner didn't toss him on that because I had to clean up after him later.

I'm frustrated. Because I felt like I was the only one that was willing to take care of business tonight. The most senior partner on my crew just coddled the coaches the entire game, including the V coach after I'd already booted him.

But my biggest regret was that although I took care of business with the V coach, I didn't have the stones to T the H coach. He was not demonstrative, but asked for explanations on every call and insisted on officiating for us. I tried to hard to be a "communicator" with him, rather than shutting him up, which I should've done. I guess in the moment I just didn't want to be the official that called three T's on coaches in one night. Ugh.

Anyway, this game ends up going into OT, and we have a mini-scuffle late in the period and the H assistant coach runs onto the court. So he got tossed, too. The acting V head coach and the H coach were jawing at each other in OT. We got the hell off the court as soon as that final horn sounded.

Just a rough night. Mad at myself for not taking care of business enough, mad at my partners for not taking care of business at all. Guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.

It is and we learn. It seems there was some sort of disconnect among the crew. Did you talk about what was going on during halftime or dead balls? That might have eliminated some of the "togetherness" issues.

Just a thought.

I was fed up with the "veteran" on the crew for carrying on extended conversations with the coaches and not taking care of business. I told him at one point that we need to stop putting up with it. It just went in one ear and out the other I felt like. It was ridiculous that I had to give the V coach his second T. Not that I have a problem with it, it's just annoying that neither of the other two had the balls to stick him.

Of course, I say that and I didn't stick the H coach when I should have.

I work football and those comments wouldn't even draw a thought to me. He's mostly disagreeing with judgement calls which is understandable. He is biased and has a different perspective. If he's not calling you a cheater or cursing at you, he is just blowing off steam. Maybe that's why your partners had a different threshold.

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How is this relevant?

Yeah, but you football guys are crazy. :D

I like how they put it in soccer: public, persistent, or personal. Yelling "You're crazy!" is both public and personal and an easy T. The second comment is challenging his integrity and is right on the line if not over it.

The comment the V coach YELLED across the court is easily T-worthy. The 2nd T wasn't for a comment, it was for being up and demonstrating disgust after getting the seat belt.

If a coach who has already been seatbelted, stands up and yells and stops his feet to protest a call, his actions are well over the line. I learned when I started reffing intramurals that sometimes you just have to take care of business and try not to worry about the fact that you're the only one on your crew with the stones to do it.

"You're crazy" is personal. It's a technical in basketball and 15 in football. In baseball it's an ejection.

Standing and stomping in disgust after getting a technical already? Good bye.

Don't forget "profane." And yes, "you're crazy" is a T/yellow card (unless you think the coach is trying to stop the clock with a card. In that case, take your time on the restart).

bballref3966, there's no substitute for experience. You earned some experience last night.

The second comment was the "glad you called it because your partner wasn't going to." not the foot stomp.

It's a personal comment directed at an official. And after already being T'd up, he's taking a chance that comment could send him. That's questioning an official's integrity in my book.

I read it as questioning his competence, but it could really be read either way.

I would never consider a UNS for a coach who says "you're crazy." He's frustrated because a call went against him and in his judgement is wrong. It sounds like basketball had a different threshold which may have as much to do with how much more visible a coach is. I have no issue with you guys calling that in your games.

I was at a game Friday night and the visiting coach took off his coat and threw it on the ground after a kicked ball call that prevented his team from getting a turnover. The play happened directly in front of me and I agreed with the coach (my kids attend the home school). An official was just fooled somehow. It happens. There was no T but it could have been because none of then saw it. He had complained a free times earlier but I have no idea what he said and he never got a T. I thought the crew did a good job considering I don't know rules and mechanics for basketball.

Removing and throwing your jacket is an "automatic" T in NCAA-Men's. Have to ask Baylor's coach if the same philosophy applies on the women's side.

A coach throwing his coat (or clipboard, or a student, or anything for that manner) in disgust over a call or non-call is a T if I witness it 100% of the time.

There are occasions where a coach may throw a jacket or the clipboard because of frustration towards the players. In these cases I don't T but I do let him know if he does that again I will.

And I would throw that flag in a heartbeat in a HS game. No coach gets personal on a sideline and gets away with it. Actually, my wing would throw the flag as I'm an R on Friday nights.

In an NCAA football game my threshold may be a bit different, but I know for a fact I'd address that with any coach I've worked for.

The jacket throw would be an automatic for me in a basketball game whether I missed a call or not. I can't control missing a call once in a while, but he can always control his reaction.

One of your partners has to toss him on this. You could have, too, but for neither of your partners to get this would cause me to have a spirited conversation in the locker room.

You're in South Carolina, right? Coach will sit at least one game, possibly two since he didn't leave the court in a timely manner.

And despite what football philosophies may be, 99.9% of basketball officials would've canned this coach. You're asking for trouble by not doing so.

That's all I need or care to hear. You'd better T this every single time it happens unless you want a call from your assigner or state office once the video of it leaks.

I really wish someone on my crew had the balls to send him on that comment.

Yes. Coach told me at halftime that he "has film" of the call that led to his first T. Kinda want him to send it to Columbia so they can see his childish behavior.

This.

And yes, the partner should have rung him up with the comment made to him.

One of the partners should have rung him up for stomping, but since they didn't, the OP was right in doing so.

I checked with local basketball official and he said jacket on court = T and jacket on bench = no T. "You're crazy" would be ignored...don't have rabbit ears.

Nothing wrong with how you handle it in your area. Just sharing how one local official would handle it here.

Might have tossed him here, hard to say.

Your local basketball contact doesn't know what rabbit ears means. A coach talking to you, yelling, from across the court, is not rabbit ears by even the most generous definition.

There are local officials everywhere who are afraid of coaches and won't make this call. They're wrong, IMO.

How is you're crazy not personal and not unsporting?

Speaking of crazy that is plain nuts...

I'm going take a wild guess and say that "local official" is someone that would be on my block list after working with him one time. Sounds like an official that doesn't have the balls to take care of business.

And you and your local official don't know what "rabbit ears" means. No pun intended, but you're crazy if you think that penalizing a coach for screaming at you is having "rabbit ears."

I was thinking the same thing. Depending on how this is delivered I could see a "Whack, get out" on this.

Based on my experience in football, we worry more about things that question our integrity. To me, "You're crazy" is just another way of saying he disagrees with my judgement. That will happen on a block/charge where he is biased and the official understands the rule. If he says "learn the rule" or "you're screwing us" then he's cruising the line to integrity. There is still a little difference in football because nobody in the stands is likely aware he said anything, but basketball is more visible. I definitely understand that.

There's a difference between "That's crazy" and "You're crazy."

Amen

If he says that he has already crossed the integrity line and is getting whacked.

On another note I am amazed at how much crap football officials put up with. (At least in my experience) It's almost like football puts up with the most, followed by basketball, then baseball. If baseball coaches acted like some basketball coaches I know, they would be dumped in the first two innings a lot of games.

I work both baseball and basketball, and I think it's the other way around (because we don't have the equivalent of a T in baseball).

Personal, profane, prolonged, public.

"You're" makes it personal. "That's crazy" gets ignored. "You're crazy" get penalized.

It's not rabbit ears when it is yelled at you. That's normal cognitive behavior.

We put up with a lot more in football because we're outside rather than an echo-filled gym. And for every official on the field, at least one coach is 25-50 yards away at minimum.

Working as an Umpire, I almost never hear anything a coach says from the sideline.


Back to basketball.
Last week, visiting team keeps it close for 3/4 of the game, but it slips away from them late... down 10ish with about 2 minutes to go, visiting coach says to me "You know, I bet when I look at this film, you'll have called about 80% of the fouls... your partners aren't calling anything". It was only loud enough for me to hear as I was standing right next to her during a FT. Prior to this point, she hadn't complained about anything as far as I can remember.

Warn, Whack, Acknowledge, or Ignore?

Sounds like you called a great game with what you were given. We're never going to be perfect, so I wouldn't get too mad about not being great enough to hold your own weight and carry partners who don't want to do their job.

Your situation sucked. Not you.

Move away and quit standing so close to her in the future.

Yup.

Standing next to coaches is a magnet for goofy comments.

Move away and ignore this coach for the rest of game unless she needs to be dealt with a T.

This year I had one coach ask me why I wasn't addressing him and I responded with, "Anytime I try you either don't listen or want to bark. So if it comes to the point where I HAVE to address you it will be with a T because I don't think anything I have tried has gotten through to you and it might just take a T."

I walked away and he didn't say squat to me the rest of the game. I have adopted a 100% honesty approach this year and it's worked fine for the most part. Some coaches just don't want to discuss and they don't get my courtesy of talking with them unless it's official business. I'm through with the "expectation" that the coach-official relationship be solely on the officials shoulder. A coach can act the part or not, I don't care anymore.

Was she right? Were you and your partners on different pages? To me, whether playing, coaching, or watching my kid, refs on different pages is maddening. I have watched games this season (to be fair, not many), where it was clear that one referee had a different threshhold for something. In one I recall, parents were going nuts about carrying -- to me it was obvious that what one ref thought was a carry (I think he called 4 or 5 of them) the other did not (he called none). Seen similar things with fouls where there appeared to be two different sets of criteria for fouls -- which makes it really hard for players to adjust. (As a coach, of any sport, I often told my players "that's what's been called all day, you have to adjust," but they can't do that when there is inconsistency between refs.

But on your question, I'd join the "ignore" camp, but also ponder after the game if there was something in the question that you can evaluate that might have hit on something that could make you a better ref/partner. (Mind you, I'm not saying there is, sometimes one ref is calling more fouls because that is just where they happen.)

When she made the comment, I had just called my first foul in about 4 minutes of game time... during which time my partners had called a handful. And we were basically on the same page the entire way. I did have one stretch where I called about 6 in a row (in the first half), but that was more a function of where I was on the court relative to where the action was happening. The old 'call a foul as the lead, move to trail, become new lead, call a foul, move to trail, rinse, repeat' cycle that happens in NFHS mechanics.

Honestly, I have no idea what she was complaining about. I simply gave her an "I hear ya, coach" and took about 3 steps further on to the court (this was during a FT, so I was trail, tableside, near the 28-foot line), and the game finished without incident. Warning or serving T never even crossed my mind.

If a coach says something to me about one of my partners such as what was said in the OP, he's getting whacked. We're a team just like everyone else.

Worked a baseball game last spring. V coach was all over me, H coach was all over my partner on the bases. All game long. Partner calls a bang-bang play in V's favor in the last inning that would've been the last out and H says to me after the inning "He just cost us the game." There's his warning. Game goes to extras and there's a particularly tough call and H coach asks me politely for a second opinion. I approach my partner and coach says, "Not sure if you should be asking him based off what I've seen this game." Tossed that guy so fast. (Besides, who the hell else am I going to ask? There's only two of us!)

I am also a football official and there are things I will not tolerate from a coach no matter the level. I do not care what the sport is, there are things that you say to me that will be addressed and in both football and basketball you get one most of the time to correct your behavior.

Peace

My officiating experience is fast pitch heavy. I've done it for 11 years now. I would NEVER put up with chirping in softball the way we do in basketball. It's a different monster bc in basketball it is almost expected, it seems, of coaches to be jabbering all the time. Softball and baseball around here, coaches just don't do that. And again, it's a different type of action in that it's not constant like basketball. So to me, basketball is much worse than softball.

It's just because of the constant activity. Coaches have five guys on the floor apiece all moving around and doing something so they're naturally going to be louder and more active. In baseball/softball, usually it's just one or two players a side doing anything at a given moment and there are way fewer moving parts, ergo, less for a coach to have to talk about.

And very low tolerance for argument about the most common judgment call: balls and strikes

As for your partners not taking care of business... curious how post season assignments are handled in your state? Do coaches vote? I've worked in a few states and it seems the states where coaches vote on post season officials have many who simply won't penalize unsporting behavior for fear of losing a vote.

In the SCHSL, postseason is determined entirely by a rating formula. Coaches votes do not factor into it, but peer ratings account for 25%. You can imagine the types of issues this causes.

However, officials only rate their peers for varsity games, so this game wouldn't have any effect.