And the coach will look at you like you're a moron.

You have no rules support to ask if an assistant accompanied him to the locker room. Leave any of that to the coach. Players leave the bench to go to the bathroom/locker room all the time. As far as I'm concerned, that's an authorized reason. The intent of the rule is to penalize team members who leave the bench to demonstrate disgust or otherwise show unsportsmanlike behavior. Nothing more.

Here, if a team member leaves the bench and goes to the locker room, he must be accompanied by a coach, assistant coach, or and administrator. Otherwise they must remain on the bench. The reasoning we have been given is for player safety.

OP doesn't say he gave the T to the player, just that he called the T . . .

Where does it say what the purpose for the rule is?

Is that a rule for officials or a rule for coaches / teams?

I seem to recall that an official can't SEND the team member to the lockerroom unaccompanied; but I don't know that it's up to us to monitor what happens after we send the player to the bench.

Actually, the intent of the rule is to assess a "T" even in that situation. You have to go all the way back to when the NFHS issued it's interps regarding the rule ... 2005 season.

SITUATION 5: A1 is directed to leave the game with a blood-saturated jersey. While at the team bench area, he/she removes the jersey and changes into a clean, spare jersey. RULING: A1 is assessed a technical foul. Team B is awarded two free throws and the ball for a division line throw-in. COMMENT: The uniform rule is intended to be applied in all situations. It is not unreasonable to expect team members to leave the playing area to change uniforms. (3-4-15; 10-4-1h)

Nowhere as far as I know, which is unfortunate.

Cool! Unfortunately I don't think that interp is present in the current rules book. As some might know I am hesitant to apply rules based on interpretations from many years ago (eg. the technical foul for teams running around the opposing players warming up).

If I can't open my current rule book and point to it, why should I be applying it?

Correct as for us as an official. I'm not monitoring what happens when/if an ejected or disqualified player leaves the bench and goes to the lockerroom. Only if I send him will I ensure that he doesn't go alone. If I remember correctly the schools were also sent the same email and they were responsible for attending to the player.

Because the rule is quite clear without the interpretation. It's one thing when the rule is ambiguous, or even says the opposite of the existing interpretations, but this isn't one of those cases.

I'm not touching this one. If the coach sends his player to the locker room.

1. I'm considering that authorized.
2. I'm assuming there's someone there to watch him.

This is not something we should be involved with, IMO, unless the kid is disrupting play or making unsporting comments or gestures.

For you and the sake of your future partners... please don't do this.

If you want to die on that hill, go ahead. You're not incorrect in your assessment. But I'll pick my battles and leave well-enough alone on this one. I've always heard guys say "don't go searching for T's, they'll find you." I think in this case, you're hunting for one.

I agree. Sort of. However, if I know a player has blood on his shirt and needs to change, I'm miraculously paying no attention to anyone but the players on the court. In other words, it's not something I'm meticulously watching for.

Why not simply give the coach a quiet reminder before the kid takes off the shirt?