Bench Decorum problem?
 

Had a problem with the bench one night. The assistants were a little mouthy, but not bad enough that me or any of my partners had to say anything to them. Well we get down into the last minutes of the 3rd qtr. or the early min. of the 4th and my partner at T makes a call while I am at Lead. My partner has his back to the bench when he makes the call and about 4 players jump up and the 2 assistant coaches as well. So I leave my spot at L to go tell my partner to tell them to settle down. Well what do you know with less than 2 min. left in the game I am at T in front of that bench and there is a play to the hoop right down the middle of the floor. My C and L both have nothing and the coaches think he got hit (they always do) and start saying things so I told them right there to their faces that I don't want to hear it anymore. So a trip later that team Scores and presses and I am all the way down the floor at lead with the 2 post players. Something happens that the 2 assistants start yelling and jumping up and down (no whistle at this time) then a kid ends up on the ground and my partner blows a whistle, and up to this point every foul in the backcourt on the press has been a block or a trip, and so before my partner has a call (besides the fist he has in the air), both assistants have jumped out of their seats again and waived my partner off like he had a horrible call. What do you think?

P.S. oh yeah by the way this is with 48 seconds left in the game?:eek:

Since you asked. :)

You let them get out of control. When the assistants start getting mouthy, you should ask the head coach to help you out by controling his bench. This can serve as the warning if you feel you need one.

Then, when half the team jumps up to protest the call, you can pick an assistant and issue the T. After that, if an assistant complains about a call even from the seated position, you're justified.

Not that I've never let the bench get out of control, but I'd like to think I learned my lesson. :)

At our state meeting, the head of officials said in front of the coaches as well as officials that assistants are there to coach players and that is all. The first time you hear from them tell the coach to control his bench before you have to, and if you hear from them again, start using the whistle. It sounds from your situation that you should have thrown the T earlier in the game. With 48 seconds left it makes it a little more difficult to take care of.

Sometimes I've given a friendly reminder to the asst that only the head coach has a voice or can be standing. It usually works. If not a T always has. Not to be redundant, but a previous poster was right. You let this one get away from you. I bet you'll handle it better next time.

1) The assistants were mouthy and you let them get away with it?

There should have been a warning on the <font color = red>red</font>, followed by a "T" on the <font color = green>green</font>.

I think that you let them get completely out of control.

To quote our illustrious commissioner/SRI "assistant coaches have no rights".

I never talk directly to an AC. If they get mouthy, at the first opportunity I'll quietly tell the HC "you need to get your bench under control". Next time an AC crosses the line it's an immediate T.

Bench decorum continues to be a problem, and while there are a number of contributing factors, one of them is that we as officials let far too much go before we call a halt to the BS.

Well said.

I think the biggest problem is that HS coaches watch a lot of college bball, and think that they can do the same things they see the asst. coaches in college doing. I sat just behind the local college bench one season, and in my coaching, halfway through the season I realized that I was carping about a lot more calls than I had previously, and I think my problem was the example I saw in the college games.