Aw, geeze. NO you can't. You can hand out a <b>team</b> technical foul for the action of it's fans. The team technical is not charged directly or indirectly to the coach.

I appreciate everyone's feedback so far. First thing this morning I sent basically the same as my original post to my Association Commissioner, filling in more of the details. He just replied that he forwarded my email to the AD at the visiting school. Then he said forget about it and move on. I took that as a pat on the back and he knows I will do better next time. I also responded to him asking if it would have been appropriate to have the coach removed from the gym, and if not, what is his threshold for abuse from fans before having then removed. I also asked the same of the evaluator. It will be interesting to see if their responses differ.

Commish just responded to ignore it all, but if it's a coach he wants to know about it. That works for me. He has lots of clout and can certainly make more of an impact than I can myself.

Okay, so disregard my email except for the gossip part. You did good. And you won't be at that school again for a while. That's how Howard does things.

I'm Sorry a Team Technical.

Improvement Card?
 

We have improvement cards that we can be filled out where I work for issues that need to be addressed that are outside of the rule book and this may be one of them. I would imagine that this is typical chronic behavior from this coach and I would think that his school would want to address this issue but we all know that again, a lot of administrations chose to use the "head in the sand" approach when it comes to these issues. This guy acts like a jerk and so he needs to be treated like a jerk. Sad to say that jerks usually could care less what perceptions others have of them. If the administration cares it will be addressed but if they are apathetic his behavior will continue which is probably the case in this situation. You could go talk to him at half time or during a time out and ask him in so many words to tone it down but again a jerk probably will have something real "jerky" to say in response. When it comes to sportmanship issues most officials and others in charge who have the authority to actually do something about it usually just chose to look the other way and this just adds to what has become a plague on athletic competition at all levels. Difficult situation but at least you did something!!!

This might work or backfire but here it is.
Tell the current coach to ask the V coach to come down to the bench for a question or that you want to tell him something. Do this during a lull in the game. As soon as he gets there, he is now part of the team/bench, T him and throw him out.

In reality Smitty you had a tough row to hoe. I don't know how I would have handled it, but I won't condemn you for how you handled it.

[Edited by SamIAm on Dec 8th, 2004 at 02:18 PM]

Sheesh Dave,

Sounds like you had a fun evening - at least it sounds like a slightly better game than the foul fest Rick & I had ahead of you.

I agree with the others - best bet is to tune the fans out completely, but if one gets too far off the reservation have game management tell them to either cool it or be shown the door. H.M.'s advice to let it go & move on is right on.....

My first eval of the season will probably be either tonight at Gladstone or Friday at HillHi...gotta make sure I wear them shiny new shoes.... :)

Evaluator...
 

I forgot about the evaluator? What kind of luck did he have with this coach? You said he worked the next game with "Mr. Vocal" as the head coach?

Unfortunately I had to leave right away so I didn't get to stick around and heckle the coach from the stands - that would have been fun. Imagine me yelling "What kind of crap play was that?" and "Way to waste a timeout, moron!". I'm kidding of course. But it's fun to imagine. I did email the evaluator and am waiting for his reply. He's a fairly senior member in the association, so I don't expect he would have had the same problems I had. I'm guessing the V coach would have shown more restraint sitting at the team bench, but I really won't know until I hear back from the evaluator.

And Tim, aside from that moment in time where I lost my head, we had a pretty uneventful, but not very well played, game. I'm not sure which one of us got the better deal in the end. Good luck with your shiny shoes. Interestingly enough, my evaluation made no mention of other things I know I didn't do "by the book". I guess my "shut up" comment rose to the top of the pile...

No, what would have been funny was if you were filling in on the JV game and you were staying to do HIS game.:D

In Arizona schools must follow the state's Pursuing Victory with Honor program. The varsity coaches display was unacceptable under our sportsmanship code. The school's AD and the varsity officials watching would file a report here in AZ, if something like that happened.

We also have a Walk Worthy in the Uniform program, so your reaction would also enter into the discussion.

Remember, nothing good comes from reacting to the stands. You look bad, and it is pouring gas on the fire because now they know they can get to you. Ignore it, or stop the game and let game management take care of it.

If this guy is supposed to be a coach and member of that school district, shouldn't he be modeling sportsmanship for everyone else? I'd have gone to game management and had him removed for sure. If you are absolutely sure it was the varsity coach, your state association may be interested that he was removed from a game as a fan. Depending on the state, that might be gounds for a suspension. Just my opinion of course.

I believe I would have asked him nicely if he wanted to stay for his game. Then if he said anything else or smarted back towards that comment. Wham, I would of tossed him without thinking twice about it. However I would of went to game management and told him that this guy has to go --and that's the way it is, period. I agree with Junker, this is just unreal. No sportsmanship at all, very sad. I believe I would submit a letter to your State and let them handle it. I also agree it would of been great if you were subing in the JV game and had the V game. Cause the VERY FIRST thing he said towards me I would of waited until his team had the ball and I would have whacked him. Hang in there!

T Jones

Got a reply to my email from the evaluator/varsity ref. Although he agreed that the comments the coach made were disparaging and I would have been justified in having him tossed from the gym, he wouldn't recommend it. He recommended instead to ignore it and bring it to the attention of our commissioner and possibly the state. He also said that during the varsity game the coach was, in his words, "a pussycat". He mentioned that over the years he's earned the coach's respect, so I guess I have a few years to go, eh? It's done and I think I'll get it right the next time. I hope there's not a next time...

My only comment is that you shouldn't have to <b>earn</b> a coach's respect to make them stop treating you like sh*t. It's a two-way street. Coaches have to earn our respect too, and they'll never do that by dumping on us. We're <b>expected</b> to deal with people in a fair, polite and sporting manner. We should also <b>expect</b> to be treated the same way.

Takes Dan_ref's advice. Get game administration to put his a$$ in the parking lot next time. See if that will get you some respect. If not, maybe the jerk will think about it a little bit anyway.

I would suggest never mouthing/saying/indicating/etc. "shut up" or something similar to a fan - even if you know it's the head coach for the varsity team. If something's needed, just give him a stern look before the next inbounds pass or just stare him down during the next timeout (if the setup of the gym allows, and if you have the personality to do this).

I think the best solution (other than perhaps speaking to your assignor after the game) is to mention something to the JV coach (if you're comfortable with it), but more importantly to go out for the rest of the game, to not let his comments rattle you, and to prove that you don't belong at the JV level - you should be working his varsity games. (With my apologies for the run-on sentence.)