Coaches & Officials Meeting

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Raymond

Well, in the case of the D3 supervisor, his asked the 12 HCs would they rather have an official who is a great communicator or an official who is a great play caller. By 11-1 the communicator won out.

We can poo-poo this all we want, but at the college level coaches do have influence with supervisors. If a veteran college supervisor (who is also used as a video observer for major conferences) feels it is important, I'm not going to act like I know better.

At the college level, I totally agree with you. At the high school level (at least in my area) I would disagree a little. High school coaches are a different animal. They tend to be less professional and often have less perspective on how to deal with officials. They tend to take things very personal or think that we have issues with them personally, instead of us just doing our job. College coaches have their jobs in the balance. They lose they lose their livelihood on many levels (or it has not changed totally). Not so much the case with high school coaches that if they lose their coaching position, they are still likely teachers. And in many cases here, you will not be hired as just a coach. You will have to work for the school district in order to coach.

Originally Posted by Raymond

And, as some of you like to do, it doesn't mean a great communicator can be a crappy play-caller. What it means is that a great play-caller is going to suffer if he is a crappy communicator. And a 100% of the time when I hear discussions about veteran big-time officials whom I think are not that good, I find out that official has a great reputation for communicating and running a game.

And even the big time officials just like everyone else has a coach or two that does not like them in a big way. You do have to be a good communicator, but you also have coaches that are held to a higher standard at the college level.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

At the college level, I totally agree with you. At the high school level (at least in my area) I would disagree a little. High school coaches are a different animal. They tend to be less professional and often have less perspective on how to deal with officials. They tend to take things very personal or think that we have issues with them personally, instead of us just doing our job. College coaches have their jobs in the balance. They lose they lose their livelihood on many levels (or it has not changed totally). Not so much the case with high school coaches that if they lose their coaching position, they are still likely teachers. And in many cases here, you will not be hired as just a coach. You will have to work for the school district in order to coach.



And even the big time officials just like everyone else has a coach or two that does not like them in a big way. You do have to be a good communicator, but you also have coaches that are held to a higher standard at the college level.

Peace

I definitely wouldn't put HS coaches in the same category as college coaches when it comes to professionalism, but I will be using HS coaches as Guinea pigs for self-improvement.

I am an official who falls into the "good play-caller" category, and I know I can be a hard-a$$ when provoked. What was interesting about the D1 coach was that he acknowledged that he can be a pain-in-the-a$$, but he said he has great respect for those officials who know how to diffuse those situations without turning them ugly. In fact, he said he would rather get a technical foul than have an official say something nasty or unprofessional to him. That hit home for me because I rarely T up coaches, but I often engage in combative conversations with knucklehead coaches.

Between what the D3 supervisor and D1 coach shared with us, I am personally dedicating myself to finding new techniques to communicate with hard-to-deal-with coaches.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Raymond

I definitely wouldn't put HS coaches in the same category as college coaches when it comes to professionalism, but I will be using HS coaches as Guinea pigs for self-improvement.

That is the main benefit I get working with high school coaches. I learn what not to say most of the time because saying something that is "real" often does not work. College coaches are easy to deal with compared to most high school coaches because college coaches would never dare do certain things as a norm and expect a different response.

Originally Posted by Raymond

I am an official who falls into the "good play-caller" category, and I know I can be a hard-a$$ when provoked. What was interesting about the D1 coach was that he acknowledged that he can be a pain-in-the-a$$, but he said he has great respect for those officials who know how to diffuse those situations without turning them ugly. In fact, he said he would rather get a technical foul than have an official say something nasty or unprofessional to him. That hit home for me because I rarely T up coaches, but I often engage in combative conversations with knucklehead coaches.

Between what the D3 supervisor and D1 coach shared with us, I am personally dedicating myself to finding new techniques to communicate with hard-to-deal-with coaches.

I am a great communicator IMO when I am dealing with thicker-skinned coaches or coaches that take things in stride. When I am dealing with guys that have a stick up their behind when you actually answer their question, I am not that good with them. Because I feel I am a grown ass man and I am going to talk to people as if they are adults. I am not going to lie to them or try to give them some line so they leave me alone. And I am going to speak when I have time to speak. Much of the time in a basketball game, I have not much time to speak. College coaches at least understand reasonableness when you are trying to give them information. At least that is the case in my experience. Rarely do I even have to come close to giving a T in a college game. I do not give many in high school games, but I have to think about it more often for sure.

Peace

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

At the college level, I totally agree with you. At the high school level (at least in my area) I would disagree a little. High school coaches are a different animal. They tend to be less professional and often have less perspective on how to deal with officials. They tend to take things very personal or think that we have issues with them personally, instead of us just doing our job. College coaches have their jobs in the balance. They lose they lose their livelihood on many levels (or it has not changed totally). Not so much the case with high school coaches that if they lose their coaching position, they are still likely teachers. And in many cases here, you will not be hired as just a coach. You will have to work for the school district in order to coach.



And even the big time officials just like everyone else has a coach or two that does not like them in a big way. You do have to be a good communicator, but you also have coaches that are held to a higher standard at the college level.

Peace

Jeff:

I could not agree with you more on the general differences between boys'/girls' H.S. basketball coaches and men's college basketball coaches.

Women's college basketball coaches is altogether different. Male coaches are like men's college coaches, and female coaches are like boys'/girls' coaches.

The thing that I would like all to remember is that what you and I agree on are generalizations. Not all H.S. and female women's college coaches are pains in the tuchus.

MTD, Sr.

[Pantherdreams]

I have been part of many of these meetings, where officials are invited or brought into coaches meetings. Pretty standard fair around these parts. IME

* Coaches at these meetings want info re POints of Emphasis and balls and strikes type stuff.
* HS coaches do not care and are often put off if we want to talk about protocol or fashion police type items. They want us in the room to find out or ask questions about how game will be called. They see the rest as officials issues or. Administrative stuff that is not their domain.
* Meetings go better when speaking officials gives 2-3 clear points and explanations and ask for questions re those points. Long sit and get type sessions or open forums can become problematic.