Preventative Officiating

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think it was a little early in the morning for you. You really are reading waaaaaaaaaaaay too much into the statement.

Yeah, it is a little too early for you.

I did not use the term “ticky tack,” you did. A "cheap" foul in my terminology is a foul committed by a player that should not have taken place on the player's part. In other words the player committed a foul that was basically dumb and unnecessary. I hear a lot of coaches use this term and it is not a criticism about the officials rather than a criticism of the player for doing something they should not do.

It is not always about the NF. I do not work for the NF, but I do work for people that want certain things called and other things avoided. I think calling a double foul is more of a cop out because one of the players did something first. Work hard to get the first action or talk players out of behavior that might get a foul called on them. Also in my opinion we let the offensive player do just about anything and we do not call a thing on them. If you call a foul on an offensive player that pushed and held to keep the defender in a certain place, that sends a bigger message from my point of view.

Peace

Curious: what else does the NFHS say we should know that you have decided warrants little to no enforcement?

If all your years of officiating (and I know you referee a lot), you have never had a situation where a double foul was the right thing to do? Do you have these hawk eyes that can tell that one foul happened so little before another?

I think it's a cop out to not call a double when it's time for one. Learn when to use it, then use it. The players will adapt - both of them!