It is very important to communicate with your partner if anything of significance happens during the game that you see as a developing problem. If you have to give a warning to a coach or a player make sure you tell your partner as soon as you get the opportunity. Another post talks about putting the ball down after a timeout and if you have told the coach that this will happen it is imperative that you have communicated to your partner that the coach has in fact been warned. You cannot be a total team package without communication! "If I have to tell you one more time I will.......!" Don't forget to tell your partner!

Any specific reason for this post??

Yeah, I like this. "Hey partner, I gave such and such an ultimatum." Back me up. Nothing personal DJ, we like to stay away from ultimatums. But I like the crux of your message on communicating.

Kids!
 

I do not like ultimatums either unless I am talking to my own children but if my partner sees something that needs to be watched I want him to tell me so that I can be aware of and stay on top of any problems that he may see developing. I don't want him to keep it to himself and I end up giving a warning for the same thing that he has already given a warning for. If my partner has a problem with a player or coach I want to know the what and why so
I can help him out in anyway possible.

sure, I like communication.

Big fan of communciation here. Definitly agree on ultimatim part. Had a partner warn a coach with the ever popular "next time you say something" speech and told me he warned the coach and asked me to back him up. Well me and the coach had been getting along just peachy for the entire game, hadn't done or said anything remotely Teeable to me (there were times it appeared he had gone over the line while talking to my partner just not to me). Anyway, coach makes it through the rest of the game doesn't upset my P anymore, but does chatter at me a little (nothing offensive or overboard) and I let it go. Post game my P was livid that I didn't T him "for all the talking" that coach was doing, especially after he told me about the warning. I told P it was just talking nothing more and definitly didn't deserve a T. It was like he expected me to do the dirty work by giving a warning and expecting me to take exactly the same position.

I will disagree with the Ultimatum. A simple stop sign and "thats enough coach".

Peachy
 

BoomerSooner, when you said you and the coach were just peachy is it because you did a better job of officiating or because your partner had to make the calls or tough calls that the coach did not like? If my partner needs me I will be there in anyway that is necessary if the situation warrants. We are not individuals we are a team. I am a team player and will be there if you need me.

Re: Peachy
 

DJ, while I agree with the general idea of what you're saying, I disagree that you should call a T that you feel is unwarranted just because your partner issued a warning. It's true that as officials we are a team and we should stick by each other, but we're not any bigger than the game and calling a T that you see as unjustified simply to back up your partner is putting the officials before the game in my book. I'm sure we've all been in situations where a coach has gotten on one official and the other has basically been left alone. It is up to the "good cop" at that time to manage the coach and his partner and ensure that the game moves along smoothly. From the sound of the original situation though, it does sound like the angry official was gun-shy about calling a warrented T, but I wasn't there.

My partner for the game in question is pretty stand offish. We discussed our game management prior to the game, in particular how tight we would call it. I think we were on par with each other in that regards. He just doesn't manage coaches very well. I don't work often with him, because he has a reputation of getting coaches fired up so to speak and leaving his partner hanging as far as finishing the job with a T. Great ref outside of that though. Was making great calls, IMO, and I told the coach exactly that. Coach actually agreed w/ me. Its not like the coach was dropping F-bombs or anything. Just trying to influence the game like so many coaches do with little things like "you can't call that" etc. Never did anything to show the ref up. I don't even think anybody except me, my partner, and that coach knew anything was even being said until the warnings started flying around.

That being said, I think communcation is still great and this is situation is probably avoided if discussed in during pregame which I'll take the fault for since I conducted it, or at least led the discussion (conducted sounds to authoritarian).

When I warn a coach I expect my partner to T him if s/he deems it necessary. When we warn a player or coach and let our partner(s) know is so they won't warn them too. That way they don't get warned multiple times. Just my opinion.

"peachy" communication!
 

Here again the words "coach and I were just peachy" lead me to believe that you were willing to "leave your partner to hang" and I think it is my job as a partner to back him up or to help smooth the situation over but it is tough to do if I don't know what is going on because he did not communicate with me so back to the communication issue. If your partner lets you know what is going on you can determine a good plan of action!

If my partner asks me to shorten the leash, I'll do it. However, if the coach's comments were that bad to deserve such a warning, the partner should have issued the firs T. If he can't justify a T, then he can't justify a new game management philosophy in mid-game. As I said, I'll shorten the leash, but I'm not going to go to zero-tolerance for any reason.

I think I agree with this. I think a warning, i.e. stop sign, is telling me the leash has been shortend.

Lesson Learned...
 

This topic has generated a lot of good responses. What it has shown me is that for one reason or another officials will invariably handle the same situation differently. This is not to say that one official is right and the other is wrong...

Preventive officiating: Partner remaining near huddle, issuing a delay of game warning, and blowing your whistle at the end of the timeout are tools, that you can use in the future.

Game management techniques: I ask coaches during pre-game introductions to have teams ready to play when the 2nd horn sounds, inform coach the 1st time that he delays in bringing his team onto the court that the next time it happens you will put the ball in play as soon as the 2nd horn sounds.

Word of advice, "Don't add fuel to the fire." The coach is already upset about being down 25 pts. Putting the ball in play is just going to make matters worse.