last minute of game team A down by ten my partner calls a intensional foul on team A player for pulling down a player from team B by his shirt. team A player asked me why a intensional foul was called on the foul, as i start giving player A a brief explanation during the free throw attempts. team A coach yells at his player that im talking to not to listen to me and get away from him. i gave coach just a brief stare and moved on. a unsporting flagrant crossed my mine but i took it as just frustration by the coach who was clueless through out the game. this was a boys freshman game.

Whatever
 

No, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of a technical. If he wants to be an indignant ignoramus, and encourage his player to do the same, it's all good with me. I wouldn't even give him a stare to let him think it bugged me. I'd look over and just give him a great, big, wide smile! :D

Something I've learned in my brief tenure as a referee is its usually not your place to be making explanations about your parnter's call. In this case, it may seem harmless enough but it can only get you into trouble down the line I think. Even if the player is polite about it, you don't know exactly what your partner saw 95% of the time. Why was an intentional called? With a smile, Because my partner made the call.

Don't explain the call, but okay to explain the rule.

I don't know about a flagrant technical foul, but without being there we can't say if he deserved an unsportsmanlike T. At that point in the game I'd probably lean against it unless, but never forget to officiate right to the end!

If a situation in the future comes up exactly like that, what would you do differently (if anything)?

I disagree with this. If a player asks you a question appropriately, answer it. When this happens, I will say that I didn't see the entire play because it wasn't my area, but this is what I think happened. Explaining a rule is great as well. I'm guessing, though, that in most cases if your partner calls an intentional foul, you have a pretty good idea why it was called. If your not sure, you can always tell them to ask your partner when they get a chance.

"He made the call and he's over there, if you ask respectfully, he'll probably tell you what he saw."

Is it possible that the coach was afeared that his player may be saying something, or heading toward saying something, he shouldn't? Wasn't there; didn't see it; just a thought.

Something else to talk about in a pre-game for me, "don't explain anything, to anybody, if you 'think' you know why I made a call."

Don't over complicate the situation. Player asked a legitimate question and it's certainly okay to answer the question. Coach yelling at his player is probably not the best example of leadership/maturity but perhaps he's feeling left out or something.

Officials are expected to work together as a team. If you can't trust your partner to handle conversations without you being there then you're in trouble even before the game starts.

With an intentional foul, it's normal to feel defensive, somewhat, but if it's intentional, then blow the whistle and make the call and expect to get questioned on it. "Wondering what's being said" is the same situation the coach was in when he yelled at his player to get away - Okay for the ref to be defensive and not have any conversation without him but not okay for the coach to feel left out and not want the conversation to continue?? Trust your partner to handle the situation and not "sell you out" or think about getting a new partner.