Hey guys,

So a couple of weeks ago i had a round-robin, JV Girls Tournament game on a saturday morning. Just before the game as we were introducing ourselves to the coaches, One of teh coaches of the team started telling us how they did not score untill the 4th quarter in last nights game, and that his girls were very low on moral, So he proceeded by telling us that if we could call an early foul on teh other team early in the game so his gurls would score and have some "hope".

I was very shocked by the request and i didn't know what exactly to say. I told him we would call what we see, but I felt like he was over the line and that I should have somehow punished him.

I was wondering what you guys would have said/done in that situation?


P.S. He did end up gettin a call early on which tehy scored, but it was a good fould by the other team that caused it. BUT he ended up thanking us after the quarter. He defenitly didnt get the call caus ehe asked for it earlier.

I would have asked him if he wanted to trade places. If he would let me decide who would go in the game, then he could decide when I should call fouls.

This is a little too smart-@$$ for my personality. I would've said pretty much what Tweet said. "Coach, we're gonna call what's in front of us. Good luck."

If I wanted to make the point more forcefully, I might've said, "Coach, we wouldn't cheat for the other team, so we can't cheat for you either."

What Chuck said.

Z

Actually, I would have done in a way that it would have been a joke. I have a great relationship with the coaches in our area, so they would have known I was joking.

Was the other coach there when he said it? I assume not.

I like the approach that says, both coaches should agree on any rule modifications. Tell this guy, "I'm very willing to follow the rules of this tournament. You and the other coach get together and agree on any changes from Fed, and I'll do it that way." It's a little bit smart-***, but if you do it completely straight, he'll get the message.

Similar Situation
 

Had a coach ask me last year after the coach's meeting to "help us out" I simply looked at him as straight faced as possible and said, "I'm not that good." He got the point and afterwards apologized for putting me/us in that situation.

Me too. Make a joke out of it. Stick out your hand and tell him the pregame fee is $20 per call, it will only go up as he falls behind. Laugh as you say it. Make sure he knows you think he was joking too. He'll get the idea, and you won't come off like you have a 8' length of rebar up your...well, you get the idea.

Alen?

And if you are who I think you are, you forgot to mention what happened after the game, when we called a foul, but the time expired. (A 3 pt shooting foul) and the coach argued with us when we wouldn't shoot the free throws. (As they couldn't have impacted the game)

Some of us can't pull off the joking thing. It's better not to try. The rebar thing isn't necessarily good, but at least it's better than looking like a jack$$$, if those are the only two choices. I try to steer somewhere down the middle. "No, I'm not going to cheat for you, but I'm also not going to hold it against you for suggesting it."

Where do coaches find the audacity to ask questions like that? I've never had a coach ask me some of the questions that coaches have posed to you guys.....

Well...maybe you're just not an approachable kind of guy.

As far as the Coach's stupid question...I'm with Dan...if some coach says something like that...I would just laugh it off. If that same JV coach says, "No, I'm serious"... I would probably tell him something like, "Coach, do you really think we would do that?"...and instead of laughing with him, I would be laughing at him.
If he wanted to continue his silliness...I would tell him something like, "Coach, go to your bench...you're starting to bother me".

Hi ref 18,

yes its Alen, I guess ur Julian ;) my partner from the game.

AND yes I did totally forget about the 3point foul. END of the game buzzer shot, his girl gets fouled, I blew the whistle, horn sounds, no point of us shooting the fouls( his team is behind like 100 points) i say dats game, coach starts yellin at us for not shooting the 3-points, his point being that even if it doesnt matter to the game, it matters to the girl that she hasnt scored all year and here is her chance. We ended up giving the girl the 3 shots, she made one, everybody applauded and all.

I mean I am not a cold hearted guy buy the coach should understand teh game is the game, an dI as a ref shouldn't and don't want to worry bout the moral of his team unless it affects the "rules" part of the game.

The closest I've come to a smart reply was a coach comes over to us before the game and said "Hey, watch their post player. He gets a little rough." I said,"Wow, what a coincidence, coach. Their coach just said the same thing about your post player."

Am I missing something here? Your statements above seem to be contradicting each other.

It kinda seems to me that you really didn't understand either that "the game is the game". You're saying that a ref shouldn't worry about the moral of any team unless it affects the "rules" part of the game. Then you completely ignore the "rules" part of the game because <b>you're</b> worrying about the moral of his team.

You can't have it both ways.

Now, I've also seen some high school leagues that settle final standings by points for and against rather than playing an extra game for ties at the end of their schedule. If your decision to be "Mr. Nice Guy", even though you were completely wrong to do so- rules wise-, caused a team to gain a spot in the final standings, and a complaint was put in because of that, how would your association then handle that complaint?

Just some food for thought.

oh yea i know it is contradicting, the reason i gave it to him was because i didn't wanna deal with him eventhough i know i would be right rules wise not to shoot the FT's

and it didn't matter at all anymore cause they were out of the tournament.

but i get ur point, thanx for comment ;)

I don't wanna belabor the point and I certainly don't wanna give the impression that I'm picking on this....but....we get paid to deal with coaches. You can't run away from confrontations- you hang in and do what you have to do without taking the easy way out. Granted- in a meaningless tournament it might not be a biggie, but that doesn't make it true for all games.

Also, I think it's a good idea not to place yourself in that position in the first place. At the end of the game, all you should really be doing is getting off the floor immediately while waving at the scorer on the way out. There's no need to look at the book, see if someone is gonna compliment you on the great job that you just did, etc. Just get outa Dodge! That keeps you out of the goofball situations like the one that you found yourself caught in.

Again, just food for thought.

Welcome to the Forum btw.

I make myself very available to the coaches before the game. If I'm the R especially. When I get them to sign the book, I specifically ask "you guys got any questions?"

I dunno. Maybe I am not as approachable as i thought. Shoot, most coaches thank me for being so open. Especially during the game. Not during actual play but if theres nothing going on and I can watch the players and answer a coach I'll ohld my wisthle in my hand and do tilt my head his way to listen and offer as short as a response as I can.