NFHS 2017-18 Rules Changes

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by amusedofficial

I agree completely, and I think it's yet anothertrickle-down from college. Coaches are the most important personalities in college basketball because their year-to-year presence provides the continuity needed by the big dollar TV contracts. Players turn over in one to three years so coaching personality is the only consistent factor in the college game and is the major way in which the game ismarketed. (sure, there are exceptions, such as the tournament Cinderella teams that emerge every late March)

Yes, coaches in all sports provide direction, but in no other sport do we see coaches hollering instructions virtually every second of every game. Extending the coaching box is more than a policing issue, it shows an unfortunate NFHS buy-in to the marketing of coaches and the continued diminution of what should be its core goal of letting the kids play. We don't allow coaches to stand at second base, or on the blue line, or next to to the umpire during a goal-line stand, why is it OK for them to wander all the way down the court.

The excuse given, that smaller box serves to "limit the level of communication between coach and players" shows this rule change to be a solution in search of a problem.

Baseball has coaches at 1st and 3rd base. The manager/HC can actually come out to the mound and talk to the pitcher. Football coaches are allowed to go 20 yards on either sided of the 50 yard line.

Basketball coaches are not even allowed to half court, nor are they allowed to even come out on to the court during time-outs. They don't get to go out to the free throw line and settle down a player.

Your comparisons are not making much sense in this context.