Was I out of line?

[coachgrd]

I suppose if I am asking myself the question, I already know the answer...but I'll ask your opinions anyway.

JV girls game the other night. My player grabs the shirt of a girl on a break away and is called for an intentional foul. I have no problem with the call, rightly justified. The official reports the foul to the table as on "number 41" (it should have been on my #14.) Simple mistake, but one that I wasn't going to correct as #14 was my PG and the 'foul' on #41 would have been just her first.

Our opponent goes to the line and shoots the FT when I hear the horn blowing and the bookkeeper from our visiting opponents...a 16 year old girl...motioning for the officials to come to the table. She procedes to tell the official who the foul should have been on. At this point I asked the official to "please not let a 16 year old high school student dictate how you will call your game." He then came over to me and quietly stated she may be right but he is not sure and "who do you want the foul on?" I then said "if you are asking me, I'll take who you reported."

The game proceded with no problem with the exception that maybe I had done something perhaps a bit unethical. What do you think?

Regards,
Coachgrd

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by coachgrd


The game proceded with no problem with the exception that maybe I had done something perhaps a bit unethical. What do you think?

I think that I agree with you. Maybe you can add "unsporting" to the unethical too. On the plus side, it sounds like you regretted your actions after you thought about them, though.

[JugglingReferee]

The ref ask you, the coach, "who you want the foul on?"

That's unethical. You could have taken the high road and said that, "you want the foul on the person that committed the foul," or that you have no comment, or admitted that the other person was really the fouling player.

The official should never ask a coach. S/he could ask the other official or I would even ask the scoretable in some circumstances and be sure that they are 150% correct.

Ref messed up. You could have set an example for your kids with honesty and that in life honesty is extremely important. Who knows - your players might have grown alot from seeing that and then played like they've never played before.

[theboys]

You can't put "winning" ahead of doing the right thing. Not only did the scorekeeper know who the foul was on, but, my guess is, so did an assortment of players, fans, etc. Ultimately, a coach is a role model. Although what you did was minor, it still sullies your reputation. Next time, swallow hard, and support the scorekeeper.

[ChuckElias]

This actually happened to me in a relatively fast-paced girls game last week. B1 just can't stop her momentum and knocks down A1. A is in the bonus (so I file A1's number away, since she's my shooter) and go report the foul. After the FTs, there's a TO and Coach B says to me very professionally, "Chuck, I think you got the foul wrong on that last one. It should've been on #14."

I check my memory, and I can't remember! So I say, "Sorry, Coach, I honestly don't remember. We're gonna have to stick with what I reported." She says ok.

After I talk to her, I go to the table and both scorers and the timer tell me I reported the number of the shooter and that the foul was obviously on #14. So at the end of the TO, I got both coaches together, told 'em I screwed it up and that we're gonna fix it.

I told both books to switch the foul to #14 and that was it. I was glad that the table was unanimous, though. I wouldn't have changed it on the visiting scorer's word alone.