NCAA Indirect Technical vs. Bench Technical Foul
 

What is the difference between an Indirect Technical Foul and a Bench Technical Foul? I know that a Bench Technical Foul counts towards a player's total of 5, and goes down as a team foul, but what actual situations warrant the calling of an indirect technical vs. a bench technical and vice versa?

If you are talking men’s, you won’t find “bench technical” or “indirect technical” in the rules. Those are NFHS terms and NCAA women’s terms. I’ll address NCAA-M first and then the other two.

In NCAA-M, from a broad perspective every technical foul fits into one of three categories: administrative, Class A, or Class B. Class A technical fouls include your garden-variety unsporting fouls. Whenever bench personnel is assessed a Class A technical, the head coach is assessed a Class B (ejected whenever he receives two Class A’s or any combination of three A/B). Only Class A technicals count towards the team foul count. It is possible (and very common) to receive a Class B on its own in this ruleset, unlike an indirect T in the other rulesets as you’ll see below.

For the other two rulesets, which I believe are identical on this issue, first of all understand that an indirect technical foul is never assessed on its own; it is assessed to the head coach in conjunction with a bench T. “Bench technical foul” is just a rule book term for a T that is given to someone under the head coach’s responsibility, i.e. bench personnel. You wouldn’t even need to report “bench technical foul” to the scorer because the only thing that matters is who the offender is. The indirect T that is assessed to the head coach does not result in any free throws and does not count towards the team foul count, but the head coach is ejected upon receiving any combination of three technical fouls (directs and indirects, 2 directs is obviously an EJ). In NFHS, the head coach loses the box for the game upon receiving an indirect, as well.

So just remember that any time bench personnel receives a Class A (NCAA-M) or bench (NFHS/NCAA-W) technical foul, the head coach is always charged with a Class B/indirect T.

Very well stated.

MTD, Sr.

SC,

Yes I was referring to NCAA-W with my question. Thanks for the great reply. That's exactly what I wanted to know.