Coaches vs Referees

[DJ]

We worked a regional championship boys game on Thursday. Great atmosphere, two top ten ranked teams, packed house. The only comment made be the two coaches during the entire game was at an early time out, "please watch the moving screens." I told the coach thanks and told him I would tell my partner. That was the only communication we had with either coach. One team had an early lead of about 16 points and got beat in the final 30 seconds of the game. The next day I got a call from both the head coach and the assistant coach of the losing team thanking us for the job that we had done and that there was not a single call that they thought was not called in a fair manner for both teams. Here is a coach whose team, fans and coaching staff are devestated after a very tough loss and he and his assistant coach show a tremendous amout of class and leadership for his school and community under difficult conditions. With all the negatives we read about in the papers and people talking about confrontation between coaches, fans, players and referrees there is another side to the game that many times is lost on the way to winning and losing. Thanks coach for making my day!

[blindzebra]

Well, it was two seasons ago now.1A boys regional final, these are the small schools in Arizona, close game start to finish. We are changing after the game and we hear a knock, and it is the losing coach.

Of course we are thinking the worst,but he says, "Thanks, that was the best officiated game we've had all season."

We thanked him and it made the ride home a lot better.