I Stink At Handling coaches

[Chess Ref]

Really I do. I am VERY open to suggestions, comments,feedback and for our religious members you are more than welcome to throw a prayer my way.

I am a 2nd year ref. I do the frosh/jv levels. So the opporturnity to work on this skill set is very available.

So lets start with the chronic complaining from the coaching box. I mean in and of itself one comment is not intrusive but midway through the 2 qtr they haven't shut up once. Should i stop and address it once in awhile or should i just accept this as part of the noise of the game ?

Example. BJV tourny game. 1 qtr. and the coach is like ballistic over routine calls/ no calls. I am calling more fouls this year but i also understand the need of playing through some stuff. So how do i handle a coach who has lost it over routine calls not going his way. I tried talking to him but he really just wanted to complain about EVERY call in his life that didn't go his way. By halftime he had settled down. The game finished pretty clean.

Last night championship of a pretty big GJV tourney. Coach, very politetly had something to say about every call that didn't go her way. her complaints were the games too rough (we called 34 fouls) in the 2nd half alone. i told her i agreed the game was too rough and they should clean it up and her reply was her lil darlings had nothing too do with it. Sigh. So lets start with those two examples. and see what you lords of the hardcourt come up with.

Thanks . i know for lots of you this is old news but for me it is all brand new.

[zebraman]

Chess Ref,

Managing coaches is definitely an art and not a science and it does take most officials longer to learn that part of the game than the fouls and violations part.

Try a few things and see how they work for you. Here are four suggestions, but you'll probably find things that will work better for you. As I said, it's an art and not a science.

1) Notice what the coach is doing right off the bat. If he/she has been complaining for the entire first quarter and you didn't do anything to address it, you are already in a tough spot. If they start out complaining right from the get-go, find an opportunity to get over there by the bench at a dead ball and in a nice way say something like, "coach, I need you to coach and I need you to let us ref." Sometimes they get the picture.

2) If you make a call that they don't like and they are STILL complaining about the same call after a trip down and back say something like, "coach, that call is in the past. I disagree. We are moving on." If he/she still won't let it go, go ahead and give an early T. Unfortunately at the sub-varsity levels, many of those coaches haven't figured out the communication part of the game with officials yet either and an early whack is sometimes your best friend.

3) Start managing the coaches box right out of the gate. The first time they wander past the boundary, wave them back in or say, "please stay in the box coach" as you run past them. Sometimes they start watching their feet for the rest of the game which distracts them from whining so much.

4) Address it in the pregame with your partner(s). Managing coaches is a crew job and all of you should be working on it. "Protect your partner" is a good thing to talk about in your pregame routine. I give a quicker T for something said by a coach about a partner of mine than I do for something that is said directly to me by the coach. Teamwork.

I could go on, but those are just a few basic ideas. I'm sure some of the other vets will have some ideas that are better than those lame little tips I just gave.

Z

[truerookie]

I am also a 2nd year official. I tried this technique at a lower level game and it actually worked.

Coach: "thats reaching"; "traveling"; "3 seconds"; "over the back" whatever, they may complain about.

Official: walks over coach, pick your spot

Coach: what do you mean?

Official: walks away leaving coach to ponder

[Texas Aggie]

I let coaches talk and complain if they want to. Many of them are not necessarily doing it to be a jerk. They THINK one of two things: either they are sticking up for their players by being as vocal as the players are agressive, AND/OR, they believe they have to work you to get the calls to go both ways. At the frosh/JV levels, you are dealing with mostly inexperienced HS coaches, but also coaches that watch their varsity coaches, college coaches on TV, and have the experience from playing, that they can also think going balistic every now and then is the right thing to do.

Take care of business on the court first. If a coach asks a question, you can address it if during a dead ball. If not, I ignore them, unless they commit an infraction of the rules -- then I penalize it. But I also give them the impression that I am listening to them and understand what they are saying. "OK, coach" or "yes, sir/maam" works wonders in many situations and its underused by lesser experienced officials who are still taking criticism a little too personally.

I've been out of the game for a while and am getting back in this year. I've found that because I'm older, there's less of a confrontational tone by coaches. You may be younger in age, and in the process, be getting dealt with differently than the same coach would deal with me. Fair or not, I had to go through that as well, so just learn from it. But do your best not to engage coaches who aren't getting out of control. If they are getting out of control, by all means deal with it, but don't look for situations.

Finally, there are some coaches that just have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to officials. Do your stuff as best you can with them and don't worry about it. Usually, these are the 50+ year old JV coaches who aren't going anywhere or have been somewhere, failed, and blame us for their failures. You aren't going to win any battles with them, so don't try. Work hard, enforce the bench rules, keep the game under control, and I promise you that in the vast majority of situations, other things will take care of themselves.

[blindzebra]

You have to fit advice that fits your personality.

A cute/funny line that one official can get away with, won't work for another.

A stern warning or look may work for some, while another may get laughed at for doing it.

There is no blanket to throw over this one.

My advice:

The box, first time by, "Coach where are you at?" Second time, if that does not fix it, "Coach I need you in your box."

If they are out blasting me or my partner, well, I won't be worrying about them being out of their box, because they won't have one after the T.

I don't feel the need to address statements, unless it is with a warning or a T. Questions in a respectful manner get answered, as briefly and professionally as possible.

The coach that is yapping, but not crossing the line, pretty much gets ignored, unless their actions trickle down to the players or they become a distraction.

At that point I simply give a visual stop sign and calmly say, "Coach I've heard enough."

Once that warning is given, you don't give another.

If one coach is a problem and you do nothing to correct it, you have given permission for the other coach to act up.

Set the standard of conduct, enforce it consistently and sternly. Be calm and professional, don't lower yourself to their level, and never say anything that does not need to be said.

Try different things now in these games, find tactics that fit your personality, don't be fake, don't BS, and always be polite and professional.

[JRutledge]

I have come to the conclusion that no matter what you do or say, coaches will be coaches. I approach games the same way no matter who the coaches are. Just this year alone I have had coaches that were very confrontational and coaches that I could not even tell were in the gym. To be honest with you I really did not do anything different with each coach. Some coaches are just going to have a bug up their behinds no matter what you say or do. Some coaches will listen to what you have to say, other coaches will act as if you shot their first born when you talk to them. The main thing I try to do is to be short and sweet and firm with my comments when I respond. Obviously if a coach asks a question in a really nice way, that is how your response it. If they ask you a question in a hard way, you need to let it be known that you are not there to just hear them *****. You never should have to threaten a coach, just take care of business. Either way this is not an exact science and you will find that one technique will work one night and that same technique will not work at all another time.

Deal with coaches within your personality and learn from every situation. That is all you can do. I have had games where I feel witty and smart and games like I had last night I can do nothing right. Welcome to the up and down life of a sports official.

Peace

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by Chess Ref

Example. BJV tourny game. 1 qtr. and the coach is like ballistic over routine calls/ no calls. I am calling more fouls this year but i also understand the need of playing through some stuff. So how do i handle a coach who has lost it over routine calls not going his way. I tried talking to him but he really just wanted to complain about EVERY call in his life that didn't go his way. By halftime he had settled down. The game finished pretty clean.

IMO this guy needed a quick warning followed by a quick T. Maybe skip the warning. Going ballistic is BS. Take care of buisiness & shut him up. If he doesn't shut up get him out of the gym.

Last night championship of a pretty big GJV tourney. Coach, very politetly had something to say about every call that didn't go her way. her complaints were the games too rough (we called 34 fouls) in the 2nd half alone. i told her i agreed the game was too rough and they should clean it up and her reply was her lil darlings had nothing too do with it. Sigh. So lets start with those two examples. and see what you lords of the hardcourt come up with.

This type of coach I can work with - if she's polite I'll talk to her the entire game. Never tell a coach the game is too rough. Tell him there's a lot of contact on both sides.

All coaches are different, how you handle them depends on how they are working you.

[tomegun]

I think you should be yourself and handle it any way you would handle a situation off the court, diplomatically (sp?).

That was me being diplomatic, although it is how I feel. If you don't want to worry about how to "handle" a coach the best thing for you to do is get better. If you handle your business the right way, a deserving coach will stick out like a sore thumb and you can just T him/her up. I've been meaning to ask some of my buddies if they talk more of less at the higher level. So far this year, I seem to talk less because "it is what it is" and the coaches know it, so they don't say as much about it. When needed, I still let them vent in a way where they know I'm listening. Do not go through a game with a problem coach. Take care of the situation, however you choose, and press on. An assigner in the south always says to answer a coach and then show him/her your backside.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Chess Ref, you've been given some good advise already about speaking/responding to coaches. Here's another thought if you're consistantly getting it from them......they might not see your confidence. Maybe your whistle is soft, your mechanics are indecisive and you carry the fouls to the table almost like you question them yourself. Possibly I'm way way off here but it's something to consider.

[ronny mulkey]

Chess,

Personally, some nights I can take more comments from a coach than on other nights. My gauge is that when what they are saying begins to bother me, I put a stop to it. Don't miss a call on the other end of the court because of some comment he made to you continues to naw at you. Also, don't let someone else set this threshhold for you and it doesn't necessarily have to be the same every night. On those nights I simply say "Coach, I've had enough" - stop sign for him and my partners. Then, on the next comment, call your T just like any other foul call. Do not go home stewing that you wished you had taken care of business. Do it before it starts to grind at you. Your games, your calls will get a lot better.

Coaches are not stupid - they will begin to understand when you have reached your threshhold if you are consistent with the T after you have given your stop sign.

Try it.

Mulk

[ace]

Boys Varsity Tournament this weekend... some teams pulled out right before so we had some JV teams playing...

and just fyi: a coach should not get warned more than once.... like an official I worked with this weekend
"a coach isn't going to get 3 warnings , 1 from each. if you warn him, let us know"

Wrong way to handle a vocal sub-varsity coach:
"This is a varsity game coach, you'r not going to get that call."


Here's what I did with a similar coach.. let him talk. let him count 3 seconds... let him call travel, just ignore him... if something warrants attention, give it ot him , listen more than you speak. you can't quote silence.. "yes sir, i'll be looking" I'm not gunna lie - pop his team with something he's companing about and he'll shut up. I don't do that practice but i've seen some officails do it. But when he starts asking why he can't get a call, just ask him "coach, what exactly are you asking me?"

and if he crosses the line or won't let something go?
"Coach thats enough, this is your warning"

make it as stern as you need to.

I learned this a little too late in my early years - wait to whack a coach... make sure he gets loud enough or stupid enough so that when you do T him everyone and there momma in the gym knows why. If your partner is having a hard time with a caoch and your waiting to inbound - hit the whistle real quick to get your partners attention that your gunna put the ball in so that you can get the coach off his ***...

[NICK]

One of the things I tell our young referees is not to warn a coach that you will be giving him/her a Technical, cause once you do you are committed, and if you do not give that technical, your credibility is gone and they will keep on riding you. Be consistent. For all your games set your standards. Draw an imaginary line on the floor, and when they cross that line, surprise them!!

[blindzebra]

Originally posted by NICK
One of the things I tell our young referees is not to warn a coach that you will be giving him/her a Technical, cause once you do you are committed, and if you do not give that technical, your credibility is gone and they will keep on riding you. Be consistent. For all your games set your standards. Draw an imaginary line on the floor, and when they cross that line, surprise them!!

Wouldn't that be better advice to just tell them to make that line known with a warning and then back it up?

Technicals flying out of no where, this is a perceived place, looks worse than a clear cut stop sign that everyone sees getting run by the coach.

[NICK]

I consider the technical foul to be just another call, like a travel call or a team control foul, etc. therefore my statement. We all believe in how we are to handle situations and we all do differently, and have philosopies on how we are to referee the game which is why we all love the game. This is how I teach my philosopies. We will all have something to say that will help the young ones and my advise to my trainees is listen, take it all in and use the best that will suit their personality as we are all individuals and handle certain situations in different ways.

[blindzebra]

Originally posted by NICK
I consider the technical foul to be just another call, like a travel call or a team control foul, etc. therefore my statement. We all believe in how we are to handle situations and we all do differently, and have philosopies on how we are to referee the game which is why we all love the game. This is how I teach my philosopies. We will all have something to say that will help the young ones and my advise to my trainees is listen, take it all in and use the best that will suit their personality as we are all individuals and handle certain situations in different ways.

3 seconds is just another call, but do you tell a player to get out, or do you just surprise them?

Hands?

Post players banging?

Telling a coach you have heard enough is just preventive officiating. If a T is just another call, then why not work to prevent it, like we do other calls?