NFHS. Time Out
 

Who legally can call a timeout during a boys high school basketball game?
I'm thinking head coach and players on the floor,is anyone else legally entitled to calling a timeout?

Who else could there be?

5-8-3

The mascot can on Friday's only. Tuesday's are reserved for parents in the front row that know how to ref.

In a girls game the rule is different. ;)

Nitpick:
Head Coaches and players can only request a time out.

Officials can grant a time out requested by the Head Coaches and/or players, provided that the appropriate conditions are met.

Really, what is the difference between calling a time-out and requesting a time-out? Either way you phrase it is the same to me, the time-out only comes into effect when the call or request for a time-out is granted.

Actually, anyone *can* request a time out. But, officials will only grant a t.o. requested by a player or the head coach of a team if a player on that coach's team has control of the ball.

In my experience this nit is neither helpful nor substantive.

Don't Rush, Take Your Time ...
 

Disagree, it emphasizes that it's a process that involves more than one step. Time out is requested. Official makes sure that all the conditions for the time out being granted are met. Time out is, or isn't, granted. Thus is especially important in training new officials. Many experienced veterans take this process for granted, making the entire process almost automatic.

No one is arguing the granted part. What we don't care about is whether it is called or requested, both are the same.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

It's semantics, nothing more. The common usage doesn't perpetuate any myths. There are even case plays or interps that use the terms interchangeably.

No one thinks that when a coach calls for a timeout it's automatically granted, there is no confusion on the process by anyone.

Exactly. When I saw the first post in this thread mentioning the "called" vs. "requested" canard, I could hear my eyes rolling in my head.

I Know, I'm A Bad Boy ...
 

Thank God nobody called timeout from the baseline.

https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.Mac...=0&w=300&h=300

I say "end line." It's become habit. I would never correct or think to correct anyone who says baseline. Funny enough, I was speaking at some thing a while back and someone came up and said, "I knew right away when you said 'end line' that you knew what you were talking about." Not really.

There are things that make my skin crawl..."reach", "over the back", "on the floor." I have partners that say these phrases and I've cringed silently and mentioned it once in a while to ones that I know would take it the right way.

But requesting and calling for a time out? Please.

My thoughts exactly....on every point.

Funny you mention it, today I actually had a parent try to call timeout for his kid when he went to the floor.. Gotta love rec league

If a head coach requests a timeout, but you know that he does not have any left, do you grant it anyways and then assess the technical foul , or do you just ignore the request and save the headache of the technical foul?

Grant it. Not your job.

Grant it, it is their job to know how many they have.

Peace

What headache?

And, maybe the coach wants the T because he'd rather have the clock stopped (after scoring to cut the deficit to 1, with less than 5 seconds left, for example).

Of all the technical fouls, this is the least likely to result in headaches.

Last night MTD, Jr., and I had players from the Home Team request a TO in the 4th QT without being instructed to make the request by their HC. Both times it was in a trap situation in the team's backcourt.

In the 34 years that I officiated women's college basketball it was not unusual for a player to make the request in the 1970s and early 1980s, but it seemed that once the NCAA took over the rules writing duties from NAGWS it became more and more a very rare occurrence. And I really cannot remember it happening in any game after the 1990s.

But at least a couple of times a year at the H.S. level a player will make the request without being told by his/her HC. So it was surprising to have it happen twice in one quarter last night by the same team and different players.

MTD, Sr.

Last I checked, the only ones who could make calls on the floor were us.

I think it matters because when a player or coach yells "time-out" they think that it must be granted the minute they make the request. They even get mad if you do not give the request the minute they form the words. So I know it is not a big deal to us, but it can be misinterpreted IMO what others think.

I had a kid the other day in a college game yell timeout when it was just me and him standing next to each other and the ball was on the other side of the court. I had absolutely no clean view of possession and the ball was less than 6 feet away from the official who eventually granted the timeout after a rebound.

I understand we are paying the semantics game on some level, but it is a pretty big semantic. I have almost as many "arguments" over a timeout and when they said made the request than I do over just about any other aspect of the game outside of fouls.

Peace

If we can only grant a timeout to a player in the game or head coach why do all the refs in my area ask the head coaches before the game if they are calling their own timeouts?

You Don't Say ...
 

Things Officials Should Probably Not Be Saying In A Game

Calvin Coolidge once said, "The things I did not say never hurt me." Of course, he was not talking about basketball, but many officials would be smart to heed his sage advice as they communicate with coaches, and players.

Good communication skills are important tools to have on any official’s tool belt. Good communication with a partner, with a player, or with a coach, can go a long way to maintaining control of the game, having good game management, and having a smooth game. Sometimes this communication takes place in oral form, talking to players, or coaches, in some cases to explain a ruling, or in other cases to prevent a violation, or a foul. However, probably for reasons of tradition, there have been things that officials often, or sometimes, say during a game that do not have any basis in the rules, and should probably not be said in a game. This article will cover some of those “best left unsaid” statements.

"Coach, you have one timeout left", is a courtesy often extended by officials to coaches, when, by rule, officials should only be notifying head coaches when their team has been granted its final allowable timeout. If there is any miscommunication, or mistake, involving the table crew reporting remaining timeouts, then the officials, by rule, need to stay out of the conversation. Let the coaches, and table crew, communicate about remaining timeouts, other than when a team has been granted its final allowable timeout, which by rule, is required to be reported to the coach by the officials.

Finally, a thought by Will Rogers, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”

Timeout Signal ???
 

Players never request timeouts around here. I had a player request a timeout last week. When I went to report the timeout to the table couldn't remember whether, or not, to single the player's number to the scorekeeper. I decided to just verbalize the number with no hand signal, so as to not confuse the scorekeeper into adding a foul to the player's total. Around here we signal a coach's request with our fingers in the shape of a "C". Do we have to signal a player's number?

Why would you ask the coach such a question?

It sounds rather unique to your area. The rule is clear who can and who cannot make a request.

Peace

We've All Heard It ...
 

Same reason they state that it's the black line all the way around, ask for a speaking captain, ask the number of the speaking captain, ask if the speaking captain is starting, etc.

NFHS Mechanics ???
 

I just checked. Yes, if it's IAABO mechanics. How about NFHS mechanics?

Last night I had a game where a player was somewhat trapped on the sideline in front of his own bench, and right as the coach yelled for a timeout, the defender made a dumb play and hacked the kid's arm. So the yelling of "Timeout!" and the whistle for the foul came one after another. Well the bench players from that team heard the timeout request, heard the whistle, and reasonably thought a timeout had been called and granted, and all 8 or so of them started clapping and walking onto the court ready to high 5 their teammates as they came back to the bench for the timeout that as it turns out wasn't actually granted. The opposing coach started clamoring for a technical, but we passed and explained the confusion.

I think we handled it just fine, as the players walking out on the court in no way interfered with game play, though I think there are some out there who might have thrown a technical their way anyways. Thoughts?

If there is reasonable confusion, I would not call anything on the bench. If there was unsporting behavior, that is another issue.

But I would have a word with them to allow the play to clearly end and know for sure that a timeout has been granted.

Peace

Billy:

I was the official to which the request was made both times. I relayed the player's number to Junior and he asked the HC as to whether he wanted a 30 second or full TO, and then reported the TO to the Scorer and Timer along with the player's number.

MTD, Sr.

Bump ...
 

In my little corner of Connecticut, we call this "bumping the timeout", and it's strictly verboten. Here, the official that grants the timeout must report the timeout, even if he has to make a long journey to the reporting area to do so, and take the same long journey back to his spot after all the particulars are reported. The urban myth is that, many moons ago, the information somehow got relayed in error between the officials, and the timeout was charged to the wrong team.

IAABO mechanics are a little fuzzy on this. It doesn't say "bumping" is correct, but it doesn't say "bumping" is incorrect. It just states that the "administering" official reports the timeout.

What do NFHS mechanics say about "bumping"?

How does that work, exactly?

Color Me Embarrassed ...
 

Here (you all know where I'm from), we've been instructed to refer to timeouts only as thirty, or sixty, never full. I've been working on this the past couple of seasons. A few weeks ago I asked a head coach is he wanted "a full, or a sixty". Old habits are hard to break. Old dog, new tricks, yada yada.

Billy:

"Bumping" or "rubber banding" has always been verboten by both NFHS (I am 100% sure) and IAABO (I am pretty sure). But, horrors of horrors, :eek:, I have been "bumping" almost my entire career.

When I had my first "player requested" TO last night, the player was trapped in the corner of the court farthest from the Table. I stopped play, stepped clear of the players and announced: White, TO! And then let Mark know that White #5 had made the TO request. I went, with the Ball, to the Throw-in Spot while Junior took care of business at the Table.

By terminology, I do believe that 30 second and 60 second is correct but if I were evaluating someone I wouldn't loose any sleep over it if an official said full in place of 60 seconds. But I like using "full" because I only have to say one syllable, while six-ty sec-onds requires me to have to say FOUR syllables, :p.



MTD, Sr.