Well I had some new ones tonight that may be tough to top any time soon. Apparently anyone can be a freshman coach....

After I called a shooting foul on a kid who got sent to the floor while he was still in the air...

"Whats an Airborne Shooter"

After I called a push on a player on offense (not PC)

" How can that be an offensive foul? He didn't have the ball."

After calling a push during rebounding....

" It is perfectly legal to push your opponent when you boxing out. Thats what boxing out is."

While attempting to inbound the ball on the sideline after a foul near mid court

"Any non shooting foul has to be inbounded under the basket"


I wish I had some comebacks for these but I was so dumbfounded that I could only shake my head. I would have given him a T but I felt sorry for him.

Coach, it's my job to know these rules. If you'd like to ask me what rules I refer to, I'd be glad to answer your questions. But I"ve heard enough opinions.

Maybe it's time to publish the "Dave For Dummies" book. Then the coaches could read it for themselves - if they can learn to read first, that is.

That's my favorite from coaches/players. My usual response is that "boxing out" does not involve pushing your opponent 6 or more feet.

On the boxing out.... I had a coach talk to me at halftime over this and I asked him if he thought the contact was incedental.... and he was dumbfounded. I told him that his players were hitting the other ones when boxing out so hard that it was definately a foul.

just a little defense for the new coach - I'm only three years out of college and have a friend that was given freshman coaching duties in his first week at his first teaching job. (this was football - but you get the idea)He's now a third year teacher and is head track, jv football, and assistant baseball coaching. When there isn't any body lining up for jobs it can fall to the some pretty fresh faced individuals, and they're likely working for a pretty small pile of nickels.

If they are so "new/ fresh faces", why would they want to spend so much time contesting the officials? Seems that this time would be better spent learning their new trade and coaching their kids.

It's because they are not mentored. Coaches receive very little direction from above and they might not have very good role models in that school district. And you can bet that they don't sit coaches down and go over the rules with them. In our state the head coach must take the Fed rules test (don't have to pass it) but the assistants don't have to take it. I wish they all did and had to have a passing score. I find assistant coaches to be a bigger problem in many cases than the head coach. I think athletic directors and principals need to address this area of coach behavior. I figure that the coach who spends more time officiating than teaching/coaching is cheating his kids out of quality time spent on the game.

The emphasis on winning vs. teaching , particularly at the lower levels, is a concern. (See my thread on calling the game.)

I think I had this coach last week....and the week before that...and the week before that....

"boxing out"
 

Try saying: "She can box out, but she can't displace her opponent." Watch the coach's eyes blitz around like slot machines at the word "displace."

There are different aspects to coaching. It seems to me that game-time coaching is an additional skill and may take some time to develop in newer coaches. In the mean time, they watch the ball, hear Billy Packer in their heads and yell at the TV during the game. Only now, the TV talks back.

And this is the referee's problem, why?

I love this sentence!! Gets my vote for post of the week.

Happened this week
 

We had a JV coach yell "call it both ways" after the first foul on the game's first possession. Now I am morally against calling a foul for the first two minutes, but my partner felt the need to insert himself into the game really early. Apparently so did the coach.

If you see a foul in the first 2 minutes you don't want to call it?