Tolerance for Coach's Comment - Help!

[Sven]

Boys’ middle school game last night. Visitor blowing out the home team. Partner is trail, ball side. Just before the end of the 2nd quarter, he passes on a bump of dribbler A1 by the defense. I see it peripherally. Dribbler plays through the bump.

After the buzzer sounds to end the first half, I check the switch of the arrow and turn to see that my partner has been sought out by an animated team A coach, who’s questioning the recent no call on the bump.

By now both teams have left the floor; my partner has some experience and (I think) should be able to extricate himself gracefully from the situation, but coach is still wanting to know why he didn’t get that call. I walk over and listen briefly. Then I calmly say, “Coach, your team needs you in the locker room.” My thinking was to help out my partner by ending the conversation.

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. Coach locks on to me with a glare and seems to be thinking of a retort he can get by with, but he does begin moving away. As he does so, I hear him mutter under his breath something about “getting homered at home.”

At that precise moment, starting the second half with a T did cross my mind. At the same time, I remembered what so many have said on this forum about using the technical to make the game better. So, I decided to try having the last word instead (I know I should know better...) and said to his now retreating backside, “Coach, that’s enough of that kind of talk.” More muttering; this time unintelligible.

Partner and I talked about putting Coach A on a very short verbal leash for the remainder of the game.

Second half went surprisingly well from an officiating point of view. Coach A had little to say and nothing volatile, so I think the decision not to T him for the “homer” remark was the right one, but I’m still not sure. I do know that a T would have made ME feel as though I had put the coach in his place, as in “I'm not gonna let you get by with that ...”

In the end, I guess I chalked up his comment to a coach looking for someone other than himself or his team (or a superior opponent) to blame for the lopsided score.

Would you have issued a T?

Sven