inadvertant shistle

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

The frist time the coach whistled to get his players attention I would put a stop to it right then and there. Why? Personal experience.

Four years ago, I am officiating a boys' H.S. varsity game in Michigan. We are in the second quarter of a close game. I am the T (table side) and A1 has the ball at the top of the key. Coach A whistle's very loudly (there was not that big of a crowd because it was a Christmas Holiday tournament with four small Christian schools playing). The whistle took me by suprise, but more importantly, the Team B players relaxed for a moment because they thought that my partner or I had sounded our whistle, and A1 blew past his defender for a lay-up. My partner looked at me with that "what the hell just happened" look and we stopped the game immediately. Thats when Coach A admitted that he always whistles to get his players attention, but my partner and I were not buying that excuse. We disallowed the layup and T'd up the coach for unsportsmanlike conduct.