Coaches Behavior

[The_Rookie]

Is it me or has the behavior of coaches and players deteriorated this year. Here on the Left Coast, More Ts and ejections issued than the recent past.

Talking with some officials and they observed that some coaches behave better on a home game than the road because their bosses are in the stands and don't always travel with the team.

[JRutledge]

I think at the high school level, it is getting worse for some time. I think part of it is because we have a generation of kids that are not held accountable for a lot of things and the adults seem to be dealing with that generation blaming us/officials for things we would have never been even thought to be accused of before. When I was a player I could not even address the officials about anything. That is what the coach was for. But instead we have coaches that allow their players to say all kinds of things to us and if we as adults address them directly, we get "Well he is the captain" or "You should be able to talk to him" BS. And I think part of that is we have adults afraid to address their kids in a certain way because then they might have to deal with parents that feel their kids can do no wrong, so it often comes to their behavior as the coach to not address things they once would do without question. Often times the issues that I see are issues with players and their behavior. Coaches never seem to suggest their player did something wrong and it must be something about us that made us call the foul or penalize their players.

Peace

[griblets]

I have had the exact opposite experience this year. I've never had a season with coaches as calm as this year. Coaches have been cordial in every game I've worked this year, even in the tightly contested games. Maybe it's because I work in a small association and see the coaches on a regular basis.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by The_Rookie

Is it me or has the behavior of coaches and players deteriorated this year. Here on the Left Coast, More Ts and ejections issued than the recent past.

Talking with some officials and they observed that some coaches behave better on a home game than the road because their bosses are in the stands and don't always travel with the team.

Where on the "left coast" are you? In Washington, an ejection of a coach means suspension, and a second means the coach is done for the season. I believe the same applies for players...I have not heard of a single coach ejection in this area this season.

[Freddy]

Statistically, the new 4-48 "Written Warning in the Book" has worked according to design in about 75% of the cases it has been justifiably employed thus far this season.
The number of
instances where it needs to be used is consistent with previous years here.

[CJP]

I think behavior is getting worse. The fix is to call more T's.

[SC Official]

People see the NBA guys whining on every call then spouting off in the media about how they're "done" with the officials, and then they think they get to start acting up.

I've whacked more coaches this year than I have in quite a few seasons. Part of that is because I've stopped worrying about all the baggage that comes with a technical foul at the HS level and I just penalize the behavior. I'm not letting coaches coach me and I make that very clear to them. If they choose not to comply, they can suffer the consequences. All of my T's except one (where the coach ran on the court yelling and gesturing) were preceded by the official warning–the coaches didn't believe I had the guts to follow through, and they learned the hard way. All of my T's made my games better and quieter, even though some partners didn't necessarily care for them or tried to pin the blame on me by saying I need to be more "approachable." My response is normally along the lines of "you need to stop putting up with unsporting behavior that needs to be penalized."

I've long believed that not enough T's are called at the high school level and that behavior would get better if officials (and assigners) would stop stigmatizing them with an "avoid at all costs" mentality. One unique thing about South Carolina is that all varsity assignments come from the state office, so I don't have to answer to an assigner when I whack a coach (thankfully, no reports here for a single T). Not that that would necessarily change my trigger, but it is nice knowing I'm unlikely to get a phone call.

Ejections at the HS level are rare from what I can see. In SC it's a $300 fine and a 1-game suspension for a coach to get dumped, and the coaches are well aware of this. Of course, so are the officials who in some cases refuse to eject a coach because they'd "feel bad" if he had to pay $300 and sit out a game.

[OrStBballRef]

It's been a pretty calm season for me. Coaches, for the most part, have been on par with prior seasons. Gave one T to a coach for yelling at me...during a preseason jamboree. It was an easy one to call.

Had the same coach last night and he's been known to be emotional in a game. Last night his team blew a 14 point halftime lead and lost by 8. Never heard a word from him, even when I could tell the frustration was mounting for him, but any frustration stayed with his team and not the crew.

I would expect the behavior to somewhat worsen as the season goes along and closer it gets to playoffs, but I'll deal with it then. Like a prior poster I take a tougher line with conduct than some most, but seldom has a coach approached or crossed that line this year.

[ODog]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think at the high school level, it is getting worse for some time. I think part of it is because we have a generation of kids that are not held accountable for a lot of things and ...

... those kids are gradually becoming coaches. Each season, as the old guard retires/moves on, they are being replaced by many in their late 20s/early 30s who were at least partially raised in the climate of which you speak.

I am (relatively) young in the scheme of things, and I'm starting to notice that I'm older and more experienced than many of the head coaches in our area; whereas when I started, there were many more longstanding (and generally, older) coaches who are dropping by the wayside just by natural attrition.

So yes, it has gotten worse and will continue.

[SC Official]

The younger (20s/30s) coaches in my area are the ones that seem to act up the most.

[Multiple Sports]

I'm not sure if the coaches are getting better ( or worse ) at the high school level. I also work HS softball and soccer and I do notice that the non teachers seem to be more of a problem. We have a lot of non teachers especially in softball and they seem to want to argue everything and have very poor rule knowledge....

It's been more fan behavior for me. I've thrown out several fans this year, 2 in HS contests. In all cases they were making direct, personal comments to me and the ref crew. And somehow refs I talk to still think I shouldn't have done it cuz they didn't use profanity, they only made comments like "you're terrible", "you're cheating our girls", and "you should be ashamed of yourself". Sorry fan, I don't get paid enough to listen to that. In both cases I threw out the worst offender and no one said a word after that. Yet somehow I'm the bad guy.

[Smitty]

Originally Posted by AremRed

It's been more fan behavior for me. I've thrown out several fans this year, 2 in HS contests. In all cases they were making direct, personal comments to me and the ref crew. And somehow refs I talk to still think I shouldn't have done it cuz they didn't use profanity, they only made comments like "you're terrible", "you're cheating our girls", and "you should be ashamed of yourself". Sorry fan, I don't get paid enough to listen to that. In both cases I threw out the worst offender and no one said a word after that. Yet somehow I'm the bad guy.

You had fans thrown out for that??? Wow. You wouldn't last very long here if you can't ignore that...

[Paintguru]

It's funny, this is my first year as a HS b-ball referee, but I've been doing soccer (HS & club) for 20 years. I honestly can't believe how much better coaches and especially players are in b-ball games vs. soccer when it comes to dissent. Granted, I'm only doing JV/Freshman games, so perhaps Varsity is different. Sure, there are coaches that whine and complain, but it is nothing compared to soccer.

Fans are another story though; they're all bad.

[Terrapins Fan]

So far, I have called 5 technical fouls. 2 on players at the jv level. 2 on assistant coaches and 1 on a varsity HC.

Last season I called 3 and worked more games. I am only half way through my season.

The technical foul on the head coach was the most surprising one, he just laid into me 3 consecutive times down the floor and I got tired of listening to him. His last comment was "blow your whistle and call the foul", and I did exactly what he asked me to do.

His frustration came because his team was shooting about 20% from the floor and being out rebounded 3 to 1, that's not my fault.