This occured in a varsity boys game over Christmas break. I was working with my regular partner with the defense trailing late in the game. I was lead on the bench side and my partner was trail with a trap in front of him. The defense was trailing and trying to foul. The team with the ball coach was on my side and calling time out in order to avoid a 5 second call. I blow my whistle to grant a time out but my parnter also blows his to call a foul on the defense. We talk things over and go with the foul on the defense. The coach of the defensive team was trailing and trying to foul so he did not complain. My question is should we have granted the time out and passed on the foul? Are there any other ways that we could have handled this situation? We did not have any problems from either coach on this situation but what if we did? Any comments or suggestions?

If I know I hear "Timeout" before my partner blows his whistle, I would have been inclined to grant the TO stating that the TO was being called AND happened before the foul.

It may take us a second or two to be sure the coach is calling a TO...during that period that we are getting confirmation, a foul may or may not occur. I will always try to grant the TO stating that the request came before the foul.

You and your partner just need to figure out which came first. Like indy said, the TO probably was requested before the foul, so I would be inclined to give the TO rather than the foul.

The best way is to just use common sense, and make sure you're both on the same page.

Tongue in cheek ... if the offense wasn't yelling about the foul, they must have called timeout first!

Just another example why the NF never should have changed the rule to allow a head coach to request a timeout from the bench.

Our association actually told us to look to the bench if we think there is a probability the coach may want one at any point in a game, like when the other team just went on a "run". Now we have to be psychic and divert our attention from floor action just to check from time to time. About 3 weeks ago, my partner did just that after a basket and missed a shove in the back (no, not against him - against a player). "Fortunately", I was turned around the wrong way and saw it.

This rule stinks. Is that plain enough?

Most of the time, I have a better feel for calling a time out than many coaches. I think it comes from watching thousands of games since I was 10 years old! :)

I agree with those who have posted. If I heard the coach yelling for time before the foul, I would be inclined to give him the TO. If a player jumps, grabs a ball that is going OOB, requests TO, and then land OOB, are you going to give him the TO or are you going to deny it because you didn't grant the request before he landed OOB? Of course you're going to grant the TO. No different than this play.

I was given some advice some time back from someone on this board regarding a similar situation...if you grant the TO, pass on the foul and get "static" about it... use the terminology "recognize" i.e., "Coach, the request for the timeout was RECOGNIZED prior to the contact, so it (the contact) is inmaterial". Just like stated above. The player landing OOB with the ball after having requested a timeout while airborne...you RECOGNIZED his/her request while he/she legally had the ball so the landing OOB is inmaterial.