Coach Running Up the Score

[Rich]

Originally posted by GarthB

They certainly do. Some are right, some are wrong.

Some of my old math students always felt they had a 50-50 chance of getting a problem right since there were only two answers -- the right one and the wrong one. Of course, those weren't the brightest students.

[SMEngmann]

My two cents are that we are the game officials, not the coaches, and we should not tell a coach how to do his job. Just as we don't want coaches questioning our judgement on the calls that we make, we should grant them the same courtesy by just doing our job. That's not to say that we should be unaware of the 30+ point lead teams that press, on the contrary, as Clark said, we should be more aware of a potential situation when tempers start to flare. Coaches all have reasons for doing what they do, and they need to face their fellow coaches at coaches meetings, so if one coach has a problem, that's the forum that it should be dealt with in. We need to be aware and recognize, but it shouldn't impact how we call the game.

On another similar note, some of the youth leagues that I've worked in employ "no press" rules after a certain lead has been reached. Personally, I think these rules need to be either re-vamped or done away with, because they allow the trailing team to keep pressing, while prohibiting the winning team from doing so, creating an unfair advantage. At the grammer/middle school level, depending on ability, I'd like to see pressure either done away with, or have some sort of a mercy rule in which the losing coach "throws in the towel" and neither team would then be allowed to press for the remainder of the game.

As for sportsmanship, we need to enforce the rules on the court, and not extend personal feelings to the coaches, and also not allow our judgements of a coach's strategy from impacting the game in a negative way. I think changing calls and being overly punitive to a team based on their strategy is wrong. I also think I would take a strong look at whether the losing coach is making a mockery of the game by instructing his players to hand the ball to the other team on throw ins against the press. I think it's a means to an end, but it's unsportmanlike in its own right and could cause the game to greatly deteriorate as both sides get more steamed.

[canuckrefguy]

I used to be one of those officials who really resented coaches who "ran up the score". Doing all the little things that have been discussed here never did any good, it just made life hell for me and my partner. Call the game, call the obvious, let the clock run, and get the hell out.

Having said that, if a team is running up the score AND being a bunch of jerks, we are fully within our authority to deal with it.

(insert "whack" sound here)

[williebfree]

Originally posted by Mregor
If I don't let them tell me how to ref, I can't tell them how to coach. You may not like it, but that is up to the league.

Mregor

I agree with Mregor's attitude!

Several years back I worked with a "veteran" partner who vehemently commented
during halftime about the blowout and unsporting action of the home team to
keep pressing. He managed to keep reasonably level-headed throughout the 2nd half.

Unfortunately, after the game in the officials’ dressing room, he made a brief
comment of disgust and then decided to leave and let the home team coach know
how he felt his choice to press on the entire game. The final score was 99-14.
The visiting team was a cross-town parochial school.

I did attempt to dissuade him from going back at the coach, but he was
hell-bent on making his point. To the best of my knowledge, that
“veteran” official has not seen another contract in our area.