"60 or 30, coach?"

[UNIgiantslayers]

That's why I keep coming back here. Thanks, guys.

[crosscountry55]

I also agree with BNR, BDR, and RICH (that's his actual name, not a set of initials).

To add to that, if you get guys who sit, and you therefore grant the 60, and then the coach says, "but I wanted a 30?!", I don't have any sympathy for the coach because he should know better. Of course I explain it more professionally, i.e. "Ok, coach, but your guys can only sit during a 60, so that told me that you wanted a 60."

Another thing I've learned is that you typically default to a 60 if reasonable efforts to quickly discern the desired length are ignored. Your mileage may vary, but that seems to be the majority opinion around the country.

I would say that a coach getting this upset about the length of a timeout is pretty rare. Most of the time, a coach might get just a little annoyed, but in the grand scheme of things it's small potatoes and he/she moves on very quickly (after all, you get five TOs, and most games not all TOs are used anyway).

[just another ref]

This is about the only thing in my pregame with coaches that I consider to be significant. I tell them "We're not going to chase you into the huddle begging for an answer. If you want a 30 make sure we see a signal, otherwise you WILL get a full."

It's never been a problem.

[Camron Rust]

I tell the coaches (in the pregame meeting) that we will echo their request to make sure we have the same thing. If we've not done so, then we don't have it. It closes the communication loop. This prevents having to interrupt them after they've "started" their timeout and it doesn't require any guessing or inferring.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by just another ref

This is about the only thing in my pregame with coaches that I consider to be significant. I tell them "We're not going to chase you into the huddle begging for an answer. If you want a 30 make sure we see a signal, otherwise you WILL get a full."

It's never been a problem.

My pregame meeting with both coaches at the same time (required here) consists of “Players legally equipped?” and “Let us know if you have any questions.” My meetings are very brief, perhaps out of spite for some of the guys I work with who like to recite the entire book.

That being said, I have no issue with saying what you say in your pregame and might even incorporate it into mine. While I’m at it, I’m going to start asking for the speaking captain, remind everyone we’re playing the blue line all the way around, and tell everyone “white talk to white, blue talk to blue.”

[UNIgiantslayers]

Originally Posted by SC Official

My pregame meeting with both coaches at the same time (required here) consists of “Players legally equipped?” and “Let us know if you have any questions.” My meetings are very brief, perhaps out of spite for some of the guys I work with who like to recite the entire book.

That being said, I have no issue with saying what you say in your pregame and might even incorporate it into mine. While I’m at it, I’m going to start asking for the speaking captain, remind everyone we’re playing the blue line all the way around, and tell everyone “white talk to white, blue talk to blue.”

Likewise

Don't forget to congratulate them on making varsity.

[RedAndWhiteRef]

This was discussed at my association meeting last night--it seems around here the "When in Rome" thing to do is if they don't give you an answer, default to a full.

No clue if this is proper procedure elsewhere.

[JRutledge]

Why do we need to say something in the pregame that coaches already know? They know they are supposed to tell you what kind of timeout they want. If they do not know that, they will figure it out when we go with the timeout they did not tell us about. I never tell coaches anything in the pre-game about timeout communication. It is often a waste of time and they tell us anyway. At least that is the case with the varsity coaches.

Peace