Pass hits coach, who is standing in his coaching box

[Smitty]

This is a scenario I had last night - I will try and explain it as best I can - hopefully you can visualize it. I want to confirm I handled it properly. First half, A1 is in their backcourt, dribbling toward their front court along the sideline table-side. I am trail alongside the dribbler. As we get to about halfcourt, there is defensive pressure and A1 throws a pass to A2, who is standing near the same sideline at the far end of Team B's bench, but the pass is moving from the inbounds side of the court to the out of bounds side of the court in the air, where A2 will have to reach over the sideline to catch the ball. While the pass is in the air, B's coach, who is standing out of bounds in his coaching box, is not paying attention to the pass - he is coaching his players defensively and is pointing to a spot on the court. His pointing arm is extended, maybe part of his forearm is over the inbounds side of the court. He is just coaching - again oblivious to the pass being thrown his way. The pass ends up hitting the coach on the arm - I'd say directly above the sideline. I blow the play dead and award the ball to Team B - as it touched the coach, who was standing out of bounds.

A's coach thinks this is a technical foul on B's coach for touching the ball, but my explanation was that if he interfered with the play intentionally, that might be a T, but he was just standing in his coaching box not even paying attention to the play when the ball hit him. To me it's no different than if I was in a similar position as the coach and the ball hit me.

Agree or disagree? I don't have my books with me, so if you disagree, please include a citation from the rule book.

[JRutledge]

A person or object that is out of bounds is considered to have touched a ball is out of bounds.

Without seeing it, I would not consider a T at all just for normal interaction and the ball touched the coach.

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Coach was coaching in his coaching box. He didn't reach for the ball (which could be considered unsportsmanlike).

I have nothing but an OOB violation as you called it.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

I've got nothing different than what was already stated.

[UNIgiantslayers]

Originally Posted by Smitty

This is a scenario I had last night - I will try and explain it as best I can - hopefully you can visualize it. I want to confirm I handled it properly. First half, A1 is in their backcourt, dribbling toward their front court along the sideline table-side. I am trail alongside the dribbler. As we get to about halfcourt, there is defensive pressure and A1 throws a pass to A2, who is standing near the same sideline at the far end of Team B's bench, but the pass is moving from the inbounds side of the court to the out of bounds side of the court in the air, where A2 will have to reach over the sideline to catch the ball. While the pass is in the air, B's coach, who is standing out of bounds in his coaching box, is not paying attention to the pass - he is coaching his players defensively and is pointing to a spot on the court. His pointing arm is extended, maybe part of his forearm is over the inbounds side of the court. He is just coaching - again oblivious to the pass being thrown his way. The pass ends up hitting the coach on the arm - I'd say directly above the sideline. I blow the play dead and award the ball to Team B - as it touched the coach, who was standing out of bounds.

A's coach thinks this is a technical foul on B's coach for touching the ball, but my explanation was that if he interfered with the play intentionally, that might be a T, but he was just standing in his coaching box not even paying attention to the play when the ball hit him. To me it's no different than if I was in a similar position as the coach and the ball hit me.

Agree or disagree? I don't have my books with me, so if you disagree, please include a citation from the rule book.

This is a tough one. Did A have a reasonable chance at catching the pass if B's coach wouldn't have touched it? That really sucks for A if so, but I can't think of a rule that would support giving the ball to A if they passed it and it hit an object (in this case, a person) out of bounds, even if his body part was in bounds.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by UNIgiantslayers

it hit an object (in this case, a person) .

An "object" and a "person" are different things. It doesn't matter in this case, since the ball is OOB if it hits either a person who is OOB or an object that is OOB.

It would matter if a player touched a person (the player is not OOB) or an object (the player is OOB).

[Smitty]

I appreciate the responses so far. I feel satisfied that I got it right. To answer the question that was asked, A2 probably could have caught the pass if it had continued, but it was a poor pass in general and it would have been caught outside the sideline plane, not that it matters.

[Adam]

Don't penalize the coach for a poor pass made by the other team. Coach A was stretching hard.

[Smitty]

Now that I've had some time to step back and think about it and hear other people's take on it, it seems really obvious. But in that split second when something unexpected like this happens and you have to process and make a call immediately, I second guessed myself because I seemed to be the only one in the gym who thought I did the right thing. It looked "funny" because it was an odd play.

When I posted in my association's FB page, all but one person agreed with what people are saying here. He thought I should have given the ball back to Team A. When I asked why, given the pretty clear rule on the matter, he replied "Understanding the rule, protect the integrity of the game." Head scratcher...

[Mregor]

Originally Posted by Smitty

A's coach thinks this is a technical foul on B's coach for touching the ball,

That should be the first clue.

He can "think" all he wants but he'll till be wrong.