near end of third quarter, one on two fast break. A1 tries to step between B1 and B2 and gets her feet tangled and falls to the ground. I whistle for travel. After quarter is over coach asks me to come over to explain only he doesn't really want me to explain. He asks me if I saw her get tripped, I told him she wasn't tripped. He says, "Hang on I think I have something here you need.", and pulls glasses out of his pocket. Now first off I thought that this was funny, however he was blatently asking for a technical foul without actually asking. I honored his request and nothing was ever said to me about it from. Easiest I have ever given.

I'm learning more and more
 

that in this situation (unless everyone in the gym saw this) I would have turned my back and walked away.

I'm also not sure I would have put myself in your situation in the first place. I've done it before and it many times has the opportunity to backfire. I've definitely been "too nice" to coaches and tried to work with them and am moving toward creating more space between me and them.

You were there and understand the tone of the game so it's your call. I'm just telling you that I'm moving more toward creating distance between coaches and myself to avoid what happened here.

If you think it won't throw gas on a fire, you say, "Coach, they're not doing you any good, I can't see how they'd help me!" Otherwise, you can say, "What I saw was..." and then walk away. Or just laugh and say, "Good one, coach" and walk away. If they're asking for a T, and you can pull off a good calming down move, you gain a LOT of political points. At least, this is what I've seen in other refs. I'm not very good at it yet, myself.

I'm all for talking to coaches. We are all adults, though sometimes we (coaches and officials) don't act like it and should be able to hold an adult discussion. We are going to disagree often, part of bias and also because we as officials CAN'T get everything right. I, however, feel that talking to coaches lets them know that we understand, as best we can, where they are coming from and that we are doing the best job possible to make it a fair contest. I am looking forward to the NBA and NCAA method of rotating tableside after a foul is called. I believe that this will relieve some of the tensions between officials and coaches as they will be able to get an explanation immediately and will then know what to expect from us. I feel that going opposite is somewhat cowardly, like we are running and hiding from the coaches because we want to avoid anyone questioning our judgment. Our judgment is always under scrutiny and if on occasion we can explain our selves coaches will have a better understanding of what to expect. Don't get me wrong, going opposite has its benefits, I just feel going tablesides benefits outweigh going opposite.

If you felt comfortable enough, you could have put them on and walked out into your normal position...pretending that you were going to wear them the rest of the game!

Caution: Only try if you are confident it will make light of the situation!

Now that is good stuff....

w_soal,

you made the right call, after a stunt like that from the coach. I would be looking for any reason to give him the second T and send him on his way.

[Quote]originally posted by w_sohl
I told him she wasn't tripped.[Quote]

I'm with rainmaker, "What I saw was"... or many Veteran's tell the Coach "I didn't see her get tripped." If you think you have to, add "Maybe I missed that" or "I might have kicked that one"...but that's usually only if you think you did "kick it".

As far as the glasses routine...I don't know, there are a lot of variables. How has the Coach been acting through out the game? What is your rapport with the Coach? Did he do it to show you up? What is the level of play?

Now, if a player pulls the glasses out of her socks, like a Sharpie or a cell phone, then whack her! ;)

RD

I would have told him the doctor already told me glasses wouldn't help but that I am still able to see most color and some shapes.

I could have told that I didn't need them because I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Gotta keep the upper hand.

Humor or walk.

Coach's try to get your attention for their teams benefit.

Don't fall for it. Don't let your judgement get clouded pro or con. Remeber its about the kids in uniform - not the coach.

A T on a coach is never an isolated incident. NEVER! Theres usually so much more that leads up to it. Just for the glasses i'd prollly make some humor of it and tell the coach I'll work harder. Now if he's been ugly to me the whole game and did it to show me up i'd say no thank you sir and walk off.

If I tag a coach, I could give a crap whether he wanted it or not.

"Yeah, he wanted it, so I ignored him."

Yeah, right.

If he deserves it, he gets.

I don't try to figure him out.

I don't play those games.

I couldn't agree more BBR, there is more than enough to keep us busy without trying to decide what a coach is thinking....he either gets it or not, and it doesn't matter if he is "asking" for it or not...

It's like when a player slams the ball to the floor. It's not up to me to figure out if he's mad about a call I made or made at himself. If he slams and it comes back down, WHACK!

So what happens if he slams it and it gets stuck in the ceiling or between the rim and backboard? :-D hehehe couldnt resist

hehehehe I was just thinking the same thing! :D

When that happens, I'll let you know.

But so far, it's always come back down.

Everybody's different
 

I don't know, I think we have a lot of good suggestions from different officials, but everybody's got to officiate their own game. Maybe humor is your 'style,' maybe not. Maybe your a coach ignorer, maybe you like to talk to them and listen to them. Everybody has to decide what works for them, and stick with it. There isn't any definitive way to handle those situations. It took me a decade to become comfortable with myself and my style. Polite, firm, and right!

Re: Everybody's different
 

I think you're right, but for myself, it's been a matter of developing a range of styles rather than just one. Different coaches need different treatments, and I need to have several kinds of responses available to choose from. Padgett uses more humor than I can get away with, but there are coaches for whom he knows it won't help and he doesn't use humor then. I don't use it much at all (after trying a little too much!), but occasionally I get off a good one that helps a coach relax and keep some perspective. I have that in my bag to haul out when it seems like the best choice. I think the best refs are able to size up each coach, and do what needs to be done in that situation. That's what I'm working toward.

I would tell him I will wear them only if he gives glasses to his players who have missed either a lay up or a free throw!