How to talk to a referee

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by hooper
Question: Other than asking the referees to call the game closer for safety reason (which I did, but seemed to have no effect), what's the best course of action here?

Asking me as an official to call the game a certain way is not going to change anything. It will not make a difference if the officials know what the hell they are doing in the first place. So you need to get that out of your head right now.

Secondly it is your job as a coach to adjust to the way the game is being called, not the other way around. I have been in games where we do nothing but call fouls and the coaches complain. I do not tell players how to play offense or defense. I do not tell players how to dribble or to not dribble through players that are just standing still. I do not tell players how to defend a shot. The amount of fouls an official calls is not going to change the safety level of the game. As a matter of fact if players are not taught well they will get hurt either way.

Peace