My husband came to watch one of my games over the weekend, and he saw this. I never did. Team A (GJV) was using a fast, high intensity run-and-gun offense that included at least a couple of cross-court passes per drive. They were pretty substantially ahead by the end of the first quarter, but they were making a lot of mistakes -- bad passes, fumbles, problems from lack of experience. Apparently, when the bad pass was headed out of bounds near Coach B, he would step up to the line, and stand just where it would make it impossible for the A player to save the ball back inbounds. My husband saw him do this three or four times. It just so happened that it was never in my area, as it was always when I was off-ball. At least, my very sweet and gentle husband claimed so. And like I said, I never saw it.

Okay, so, the question is, is this unsportsmanlike? Is it a T? or a toss?

Coaching box.
 

He cannot be out on the court. So it could be a T if you see it. But I would just have a word with him about staying off the court and out of the way, if he does it again, he has been warned. It does not have to be unsportsmanlike, it could just be coming out of the coaching box.

Peace

Julie: You should know better than to bring your husband to a game :)

It may not be fair and it reeks of bad sportsmanship but unless he steps out of the coaching box or on the court it cannot be a T. That said there are a few things that you can do if you see such a situation again.

Like Rut I would give him a little warning, “Coach, you are getting close to going on court.” That will let him know you are watching. Then if his foot comes within a inch of the line the hit him with a T.”

I take it that you are doing a 2-person game? Every now and then, swing wide when you are trail on the bench side and go OOB for “a better look” at the play. You are now invading his space and putting him ill at ease. This can work wonders in the second half.

If you are close to the play there is the old Fox 40 in the ear bit.

I bet he would never do his little stunt in a boys’ game. Girls in general do not like to make contact but a boy will take him out for the hell of it.

Again, what he is doing is legal, just not fair.

If the coach is still in the box and pulling this stunt I guess he is entitled to stand within the confines of the coaching box. If he's out of the coaching box it's an easy T. Personnally, I probably wouldn't go with the unsportsmanlike T or the toss because once I issue the T he won't do it again from where he's gonna be for the rest of the game. ;)

So if the T solves the problem, why NOT use it?

Jeff -- He never stepped onto the court, and always stayed in the coaching box. He was just making sure that a certain play that might take place in the air above the out-of-bounds area didn't happen.

Point taken. However my emphasis was that I would issue the T for being out of the coaching box not for the unsportsmanlike conduct.

If he stays in the box but moves in such a way as to interfere with a play, once I would suggest you ignore, twice I would suggest a warning (Coach, let the play finish, or Coach, stay out of the play), three times I would say T, and it would probably have to e for unsportsmanlike since he stayed in the box. I wouldn't recommend a T without a warning if the coach is in the box. But I also wouldn't want a coach interfering regularly with play, even if he was in the box, so you need to address if this is really a problem.

That said. . . even if there were a lot of bad passes, I can't honestly think of any game where I could have done this more than once or twice if I was of a mind to do this.

Agree. Although this has nothing to do with sportsmanship, well maybe it does. My wife has only watched me officiate 1 game. A couple of years ago I was doing a boys F/JV doubleheader at one of the county HS's (my wife works at the city HS). T'd the visiting coach late in the 4th quarter of the freshman game and my wife was going home and was waiting for me to come out of the dressing room to start the JV game and she told me the coach I had T'd worked in the same department as her. She was not aware that he coached at a different school. I guess they spoke to each other between games and he told her he was mad that "the tall a-hole had T'd him". My wife told him that she "would speak to the tall a-hole about it when she went to bed with him that night". She said the coach had the funniest look on his face when he realized she was my wife. I cracked up when she told me.

Not that I don't believe your husband, but are you telling us this coach moved himself such that he somehow was able to interfere with a player's valiant attempt to save the ball from going OOB? 3 or 4 tmes? And the player or her own coach didn't complain? Loudly?

Or are you saying that the coach just happened to be where the ball was going to go OOB. 3 or 4 times. And the player or her own coach didn't complain. Loudly.

The opposing coach spent most of his time after the first quarter with his head down writing something on a clipboard. And I don't think it was the same player each time, although I don't know why they would n't complain.

The part I don't understand is that my partner never saw it. And he tends to be a little confrontational, so I doubt he'd have let it go.

Okay, so maybe it didn't happen the way my husband saw it. The question is, what would it be if I saw it down the road sometime?

He likes to watch. What can I say?!?

He likes to watch!
 

I can't help you on this one Juulie. You've done it to yourself. :D