This issue came up in a recent thread. A poster indicated (in italics . . . I just can't find it) that he would locate a time out at the point in the action a coach called for it, even though there might be a little delay in blowing the whistle (time taken to identify that it is the head coach who is calling for the time out and to be certain the coach's team has player control).

I am concerned that 'stuff' could happen in that interval. I have had times when I was unwilling, because of what was going on right in front of me, to turn my head to be sure it was the coach making the time out request. A second, maybe two may elapse in these circumstances, in my experience.

I had a call tonight from an official reporting just this kind of problem. The coach wanted time put back on the clock because, in his opinion, the official did not respond instantly to his time out request. (He didn't attribute the 'delay' to the timer - who was his guy . . .). The officials just politely declined.

What do y'all think?

Jeff, there's no basis whatsoever to put time back on the clock in this situation. It's just something else a coach will try to talk you into if he can. If he's that concerned about time, he should teach his players how to request TO.

Amazing what happens when you talk...
 

...about it.

Tonight had a couple of undefeated girls varsity teams. Gym is packed and since the two towns are neighboring towns, the crowd is split about even.

Visiting team down three with about a minuite left. Visting player buries a long three and the visiting coach immediately asks me for a time out.

I blow my whistle LOUD, but I had no chance in the gym that had just erupted over the made three. The visiting team was down by quite a bit and this had tied the game.

I had see the time come off and had to put time back on the clock since the timer didn't hear the whistle either and I had to step in and stop play with a second blast of the whistle. MY partner thought I had granted a time out incorrectly cause even HE didn't hear my blast from my Fox 40. Both coaches did, though. Don't know why the timer didn't.

Game went OT and the visiting team pulled it out.

I was the infamous italicizing poster on that one, I believe. My point was only meant in regards to game situation (i.e., who had the ball). I would not add any time back onto the clock. While that may seem a little inconsistent, we never add time back onto the clock for any "lag time" between recognizing any violation or foul and blowing the whistle. To do so for time outs would open a can of worms that nobody wants to deal with. Nor is there any rule, case, or interp basis for such an action. I think the officials did exactly the right thing by politely declining.

I had a game last night where we used the Precision Timing System and we had to put time on the clock at the very end of the game after we blew our whistles to call a timeout. It was the second time in the game the clock did not stop when a whistle was blown. A shot was made with about 2 seconds on the clock and we put time 1 second on the clock after the home coach called a timeout. No one complained and the game ended without incident.

Peace

Re: Amazing what happens when you talk...
 

In my opinion, the timer should of anticipated the situation and went by your stop the clock signal.

Sounds like this system is not so "precise" afterall. :)