Intentional Foul

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Bob Martin

... intentional foul ... what were the circumstances?

Back when I was coaching middle school basketball in the late 1970's, if a coach was yelling, "Foul him", in late game, need to come from behind, clock running down, stop the clock situations, an intentional foul was pretty much automatic.

I was advised by a highly respected basketball official teacher-colleague to come up with a "code word" for such situations. My "code word" was, "Steal the ball", when my players heard that they knew to foul to stop the clock, and I taught them to just "reach in" and make arm contact rather than grabbing a jersey, pushing from behind, or bear hugging an opponent.

Of course that was ancient history and now the NFHS recognizes late game tactical fouls as a legitimate part of the game, and changed the rule to allow coaches to "coach".