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?

There's voting now? I don't see a poll. :)

BTW, I agree with Juulie.

My first weekend getting games after moving to Colorado, I've got 14 and under girls AAU. Maybe it was 15 and under, ah, it doesn't matter. Never mind that part.

25 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, A1 takes a shot from about 17 feet.
While the shot is in the air, B1 "boxes" A2 out, nearly planting her on the bench in the process. It was so obvious and she pushed her so far (at least 10 feet), my whistle blew before I realized it wasn't my area (I was L, and the foul was from the opposite elbow, and she landed right in front of the T). He had it , too, my whistle just blew on its own. :)

On the ensuing free throws, I missed a similar foul on the front end of the one-and-one. The shot was made, and I think I was just a bit surprised that she'd do it again. Sure enough, my chance at redemption came on the next free throw, when she did it again. Amazing.

Now we're in double bonus. After the shooting team gets the rebound off the missed 2nd free throw, A3 takes a three pointer (I'm T now) right in front of me. B1 does it again, this time before the shooter lands, and injuring the shooter in the process.

A coach comes out, and so does another adult (don't know if it was Mom or a "trainer") who tells me "that girl has to go." B coach was subbing her out, and B1 was sobbing, so I didn't bother saying a word. He'd already tried twice to let her know what she'd done wrong. She just didn't understand the concept.

All this in about 7 seconds of game time.