Never had this happen?

[Texas Aggie]

It's not a threat or a lecture; its reality. I don't have any ability to fire someone, so how could it be a threat? I guess I can see how someone would see it as a lecture, but even if it is, they certainly deserve it. If they take it as a threat or lecture and stay on the court, everybody wins.

If they truly are stupid enough to try and come back at me for suggesting I've done something wrong after they've walked off the court -- something at least in Texas that will get them in serious trouble -- I say bring it on. My point in suggesting this to a coach is to try and make one last attempt to their logical side (which you may think is a waste of time, and a point with which I may agree), and I have had very good success in various events in my life in making profound, emphatic statements that "encouraged" people to act appropriately (statements that I may not have fully been able to back up) -- or to not act inappropriately. If their better judgment actually does come into play and they stay on the court, we play on and forget the whole thing. If they do leave, I have done what I can and could never imagine getting into trouble for saying something like what I've quoted. I will simply explain that I was illustrating that their behavior would have very serious negative consequences and to get them to behave appropriately is always justified. I wasn't doing or saying anything wrong or illegal. A football coach/AD told me several years ago that any coach of his that left the court or field with their team would be fired. They would have breached their contract.

If you want to handle it differently, fine. I don't disagree with what you said about it not being our job to do this. But I feel that in certain cases (I probably wouldn't do it in a HS varsity game and would never do it in a college game) it would be worthwhile.