And One Technical Foul ...
 

And One ...
 

Hear "And one" from the fans in the cheap seats all the time and totally ignore.

Hear it from the bench and tell them to "Knock it off". Hear it for the head coach and tell him "Let's not do that tonight coach". Hear it for a player on the court and warn it's "Not appropriate". Most times they're doing it out of habit (sometimes it's said when the ball doesn't even go in the basket, and when I do call the foul I often ask "So, do you only want one free throw?"), aren't directing it toward just one official, are just getting "psyched up", and aren't really trying to influence, or complain. I'm not going to ignore, but I'm not automatically going to the "nuclear option".

I don't recall charging a technical foul for such, but if it was loud enough, and in an angry tone, and definitely directed at me, or my partner, I would definitely consider a technical foul.

As to the video (without commenting on the call by the NBA official, I don't know enough about NBA officiating), I like to think that I would have done the same thing (technical foul) had this exact situation occurred in my high school game.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.D...=0&w=300&h=300

The NBA has very specific "Respect the Game" rules outlining what is and is not allowed, and what results in an immediate technical foul vs. a warning. I'm pretty confident that shouting "And one!" while clearly directing it at an official would result in at least a warning and I would not be surprised if Harrell had been previously told he needed to stop complaining.

I really hate that phrase and how it has caught on and become a "norm" even when there is space between the defender and the offense as the bench hollers AND ONE.

This year actually told one kid "Not at me again".

It is an interesting topic. There are players that will literally say this everytime they shoot the ball. It gets old quickly and I have talked to players but never T'd any of them.

I find it it similar to the "Ball don't lie." Basically they are picking different wordings for I got fouled and you didn't call it or I didn't foul them and you did call it.

Norm ...
 

In our high school games, are we to blame? If we're not part of the solution, aren't we part of the problem?

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Holy Cow
 

I had this idea in 2017
https://forum.officiating.com/basket...-new-rule.html

Green Onions (Booker T. And The M.G.'s, 1962) ...
 

Thanks Zoochy. Nice four-year old blast from the past.

JRutledge: I just say back to them, "And none." Usually gives me a laugh and we move on.

Funny.

RedAndWhiteRef: Toward an opponent ... in an unsportsmanlike manner.

Never really considered this aspect. Peels away another layer of the onion.

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The fact that a technical foul is considered a "nuclear option" is part of the problem. We get hung up on warning them first. The first technical IS the warning.

And in the NBA, this should be even more of the norm. 1 FT and POI. Not even possible loss of a possession.

The NBA philosophy on technical fouls is the way it should be at the lower levels.

Hear, hear. I personally use the Respect for the Game guidelines as a starting point in deciding when and how to penalize bad behavior. If it meets at least 2 of the 3 criteria (demonstrative, disrespectful, prolonged), I call the technical foul.

The video in the OP shows Harrell being demonstrative (yelling loudly, raising his hands in disbelief) and disrespectful to the ruling official by screaming "and one" (I.e. that was a foul, why don't I get a free throw?). By the Respect for the Game guidelines, that is a totally appropriate technical foul.

Nuclear Option ...
 

Something like this must be taken in context. Volume. Tone. Direction. Frequency. Situation.

If I were to charge a technical foul for every, "And one" I heard from a player, coach, or bench personnel, this would be my assigner:

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.H...=0&w=300&h=300

I don't disagree. But, to call a TF the "nuclear option" makes it sound like it's something that should only be done in extreme situations. A TF is a tool, one of many in our bag. It hardly blows up the game to call a TF when one is warranted.

Extreme Situations ...
 

Regarding the specific situation of "And one", I do believe that technical fouls should only be used in extreme "And one" situations rather than the usual "And ones"s one usually hears being tossed around like penny candy, especially here in my little corner of Connecticut.

In many other situations technical fouls aren't a nuclear option, they are the only option, just one of the many tools we have in our gold tool belts.

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.-...=0&w=197&h=166

That 'And 1' was yelled to show displeasure with an official, so I could see myself calling a T here depending on previous interactions and behavior.

Agree that labeling a T as a " nuclear option" is problematic.

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I have no problems calling player technicals. I had 4 in 42 games this winter.

But the And One crap would have to be really in my face or repeated or super loud for me to care in any way, shape, or form.


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And then people wonder why sportsmanship is getting worse. Too many high school officials preach nonsense about avoiding technical fouls like your life depends on it.

Technical Fouls ...
 

Forty years ago, when I first started out, I gave out a lot of technical fouls. Part of the reason was because I could (hypnotized by this new power that I held). Another reason was that back then my high school assigner also assigned a few mens recreation leagues, games that were mostly assigned to inexperienced officials and we all know about the crap that occurs in those games (especially with an inexperienced official making some rookie bad calls).

As I progressed to subvarsity high school games, I noticed that my subvarsity partners and the varsity officials that I observed seemed to less frequently charge technical fouls.

One reason, and not a good one, was that (here in Connecticut) coaches "vote" officials into the state tournament. I never subscribed to this idea. I guess that these lenient officials didn't realize that while one voting coach may appreciate the "free pass", the opposing voting coach may not, believing that officials should "take care of business".

Another reason was that many veteran varsity officials prided themselves on their game management skills, using their superior communication and "people" skills to manage coaches "on the cusp".

For me, now in my fortieth year, I do pride myself on my game management, communication, and "people" skills, but also know the value of using technical fouls as one of the many tools that I have at my disposal to manage the game.

You are right.

I had a game yesterday that was a conference tournament (we will have no IHSA Post Season this year). So during the first game, I have a player T after the player was warned. Well when the team lost, we had them again (same crew) right after the first game.

Well during this next game the coach for that team got a T from me, carrying over something from the first game (big no-no for me). Then I had to T up one of his players for throwing the ball at the head of the opponent, after that player that got hit was fouled. My partner called the foul, but I saw the kid throwing the ball at the opponent. It was clear as day.

So immediately after the game because we are in the COVID issue and would not allow us to use the locker room continuously and store our things in that locker room, our bags were right off the court. When the game was over after an overtime session, the coach approaches me and threatens that he was going to call the assignor and called me a disgrace. Well, I was literally on the basketball court and not even near the locker room, I ejected him with a quickness and told the table he had been ejected from the game. Then the coach standing next to me tried to tell the table, "The game is over, you cannot do anything the game is over."

So I went to my car and filed what is called a "Special Report" which is used for all ejections in all states (except for soccer for some reason). I have wifi so I filled out the report and happen to have my computer in the car because I was leaving to go out of town. So without hesitation, I filled out the report. While driving to my destination (3 hours away) the assignor asked me not to file the report, even know I was following the rules. I was pissed beyond belief, but it was too damn late. I had already submitted the report and cannot take it back. And I am a very experienced official that had to deal with this, what about the guy that just started or has 5 years in?

The schools helped create this situation. Normally I would have not been anywhere near the court and on our way to the locker room. Secondly, they think because they can do whatever they wish without consequences. But a T is the same as any other foul, but it is not. IJS.

Peace

Charade ...
 

One of our COVID protocols here in Connecticut (locker rooms aren't available to officials) is that we've been advised to immediately leave the visual confines of the court after the game as we would in any other year, but to then come back onto the court to change our shoes and get our coats.

It seemed rather silly when I first heard it, but now I see the need for this Connecticut charade after what happened to JRutledge.

For this same situation, no technical foul here in Connecticut (jurisdiction ended after the charade of leaving the court) but I would still contact my assigner (wants to know when anything "odd" happens), who would most likely contact the school's athletic director and/or principal.

Takin' Care of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive, 1973) ...
 

Nice job taking care of business. Inexcusable that your assigner wouldn't back you.

I assign for 24 schools and I could never imagine asking an official to do something like this. It's not ethical, for one....


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IT was shocking coming from the person it came from (that is all I will say). But if the coach of the other team saw this happen as well as other participants, I am the one getting in trouble, not the assignor. I have known it to happen to officials that did not file the report when they ejected a player.

In Indiana alone (and this incident was in Illinois BTW) you have to report every technical foul given and the reasoning. It affects their being able to host or properly get certain privileges if they get so many of these actions. You have to fill out those reports. And I would have never thought to even eject the coach if he did not approach me. He should have known better. I am actually very disappointed to be asked to not report something that clearly happened in front of others.

Peace

Accountability ...
 

It's not just paperwork, it's all about accountability.

Here in Connecticut all ejections are to be reported to the CIAC (state interscholastic sports governing body) via our assigner (first to assigner who forwards it to the state, never directly from official to state). CIAC then contacts the school principal who (with the athletic director) is responsible to make sure that the ejected coach or player doesn't participate in any basketball game at any level until the player or coach sits out one game of the level in which the player or coach was ejected.

In addition, here in my little comer of Connecticut, all unsporting technical fouls (player and/or coaches) are to be reported to our assigner. He may contact the athletic director and/or principal depending on the severity of the unsporting technical foul, or the cumulative number of unsporting technical fouls during the season.

We have a "loss of coaching box" report. So player technicals get no report, but bench technicals do.


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Credibility ...
 

It's bad enough to be thrown under the bus in for something that happened in front of a few people, it's far worse to be thrown under the bus for something that happened in front of partners, coaches, players, athletic director, site director, trainers, police officer in the corner, principal, fans, parents, and the press.

What happens to an official's credibility when something like this (report quenched) happens? Everybody (officials, coaches, etc.) knows everybody in the world of local/state high school basketball, and word spreads quickly.

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To be fair, I was not thrown under the bus. I was asked not to file a report based on a ruling I made. I still filed the report and it was too late to not file the report. If not confronted in the doorway I would not have done it so fast.

I did not mention that part of the story in my comments here because it should have been enough to get throw out, but when you confront me and act like "We should talk" that was too much for me. I even said to the coach when he tried to talk to me in the doorway, "So you want to talk so you can lie about what I said and misrepresent the conversation....not me." If that had never happened, I might have waited. But I contacted the assignor before I left the building and he got back to me while I was in the car and asked, "Could you have walked away." I said no with a few sentences and started writing my report.

I do not say any of this in order to call out the supervisor, I am saying this because I think we are the last people they think of when these games are going on and only consider that they do not want to give us any support when the participants act badly. They think we just walk in and do games and do not realize all the preparation that we do before getting to a game and sometimes the conversations afterward.

Peace

Quenched Report ...
 

Only because the report was already on its way. I'm not giving your assigner a pass on this. His request alone was inexcusable.

Had your assigner successfully quenched the report by asking that you not send it, and if you had complied, that would leave bus tire tracks all over you.

It would be as if the technical foul you called, and the unsporting behavior that spawned it, never occurred, but everybody in the gym would know otherwise, that both the unsporting behavior and the technical foul really did occur, all within your official jurisdiction.

You actually did your assigner (and yourself) a favor by sending your report to the state so quickly, unable to even consider pulling it back.

Cover ups are often worse than what's being covered up.

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This is truly shocking IMO and pretty poor support from the assigner. In all honesty if an assigner told me that I would tell him that I had no interest in working for him if that was the type of atmosphere he was going to provide for his officials.

Our state association has said these are the specific types of intractions that they want to be reported, because if they don't get a report there is basically nothing they can do.

High school assigners asking officials to ignore unsporting behavior or not file ejection reports with the state does not surprise me one inkling. These are the same assigners who won't try to get their officials a nominal pay increase because "the schools have no money" and they are scared to death of losing their gigs.

It is funny, I always hear how "college officials" let coaches get away with so much because "It's a coaches' game," and while that latter part is a fact, I have caught FAR more flack for handling business in high school games than college games over my career.

At the high school level I have had partners try to get me to overturn my T's and ejections, I have had partners kiss the coach's rear end the entire game clearly undermining me, I have had assigners question my T's to the nth degree, I have worked with partners who won't handle business because "I don't want to do paperwork" and "These fans didn't come to see us." And yet, I continuously hear preaching about how high school sports are an "extension of the classroom" and we have such an important role to play. It is a bunch of hypocrisy, is all I have to say.

At the college level, while there is plenty of emphasis on being a good communicator (just because you call T's does not mean you are a bad communicator - it is a rule in the book) and making sure your T's show up on film, the reality is that if you are unwilling to handle business, you will have problems in your games and you will not last very long with that reputation. I know of officials who have allowed coaches to carry on the entire game - then the usually well-behaved coach on the other bench starts acting up and calls the assigner after the game asking why the crew allowed the other coach to get away with murder during the game. There was a college game in my area that had a bench-clearing brawl earlier this year - the crew came out of it with one technical foul and no ejections. How do you think this went over for them after the game? I have caught more flack at the college level for letting coaches and players get away with too much than for having a quick trigger. Meanwhile I am just as, if not more tolerant, at the high school level and it seems every T I call has to be taken personally and made into a big charade.

Also, every time I have called a technical foul on a college coach and he calls the assigner to complain about it/me after the game, the assigner asks him for the film. And either the coach doesn't send it in (I wonder why?) or the film very clearly shows that it was justified. I have had high school assigners, on the other hand, automatically jump to the conclusion that something must have been handled improperly by me without even looking at the tape.

All that to say - none of what JRut experienced with the idiot coach and his spineless assigner shocks me one bit.

These stupid reports are part of the problem. Too many high school officials just don't want to do paperwork and would rather ignore the behavior.

Many just don't complete the report.

As an assigner I want to know when a coach gets whacked. I'd better hear from the official and not just the school.


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I completely understand that you want a phone call after the game but for some reason the thought of writing a report that will be on record with the state causes so many high school officials to just ignore unsporting behavior. Or perhaps that is just the convenient excuse they use and they really just don't have the stones to handle business.

I think part of the problem is that too many officials are under the impression that being a good communicator and issuing technical fouls are mutually exclusive. Because they have been brainwashed by coaches who think that way and announcers on TV.

In my experience college coaches almost always quickly move on after getting a T and go back to coaching for the rest of the game. I cannot say the same about more than one high school coach I have experienced who takes it personally and threatens to "scratch" me.

Again, the NBA philosophy is the way it should be at the lower levels. Especially in HS where we are preached to about how the games are an extension of the classroom.

I've found that the written warning the NFHS put in place has stopped coaches - and I don't hesitate to go to it.

Working a regional championship this season, the home coach was unhappy we didn't call a travel and did a dance to demonstrate. It was a bit over the top and I immediately hit the whistle and put a warning in the book. No discussion. And that was that.

Once warned, no more warnings, though.


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I've been having good success with the written warning this season. No HC has been assessed a technical foul for any subsequent behavior in the same game where a warning was recorded.

Some of my peer group have also started to issue more warnings than they have in previous seasons.

To me this is like the stop sign, it leads to other shit. I stopped using it a year ago. And some things do not need a warning, they need action. Maybe I will change my mind, but I doubt it.

Peace

I worked a college game this season where my partner did the whole "Head coach warning, put it in the book" thing. The assigner was watching online and was not a fan - he basically said if you are going to stop the game to let everyone know the coach has been warned, you might as well just stick him and be done with it. This is more akin to the NBA philosophy - the first technical foul is their warning that they are going to be ejected if they continue. And I personally agree with that philosophy.

And that is notwithstanding the fact that in NCAA-M you are not supposed to put a warning in the book unless it is a coaching box warning (this coach was not out of the box). The assigner did not even mention that aspect.

I have stopped using the "official warning" in NFHS games, as well, for the most part.

Different Strokes For Different Folks (Sly And The Family Stone, 1968) ...
 

What works for one might not work for all, and vice versa. Just another tool that some choose to use, and others choose not to use.

In borderline situations, I've used both, sometimes (written) warning, sometimes going directly to the technical foul. Depends on a lot of factors in borderline situations; what's been said, tone, frequency, volume, gestures, box issues, my patience (or lack of), my mood (pissed off), etc.

In many situations where I would, in the past, ignore, or possibly give a vocal warning, and then "take care of business" later, the written warning is a nice substitute for ignoring, or a nice substitute for a vocal warning, before "taking care of business", but is not a substitute for something that requires an official to immediately "take care of business".

There is only a coach's box warning on the NCAA Men's side. And this year with the Covid restrictions, it has rarely if ever been an issue. Everyone is so far back and off the court, coaches do not feel the need to come onto the court. I did improperly a few years ago use a "bench warning" in a college game but immediately after I did that, the coach got a T from my partner (code creep).

Peace

I am well aware and even stated in my post you quoted that there is only a coaching box warning in NCAA-M. However I can tell you that plenty of assigners and officials do not know this, and some assigners who do know this still want “conduct warnings” documented in the book since it apparently makes their lives easier if the coach calls them after the game. The assigner of the game I referred to in my previous post was not one of them. I do know JD Collins noted within the past couple years in some communication that the rules do not allow for “official warnings” unless it is for the coach being out of the box.

The behavior ends or I whack the coach. I'm doing the coach a favor by not going right to the T.

I'm done with any verbal warnings, too. If I need to get a coach to knock it off, the written warning is my warning. Period.


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I was making that statement based on the story I told about what I did incorrectly. I know what you stated, but I did something admittedly incorrect for that level. I did it to try to make a point but it did not work.

Peace