How not to enforce Bench Decorum

[TimTaylor]

A brief pregame meeting with the coaches is essential IMHO - that's the best place to address this kind of stuff. It's mandatory here as well.

Here we use a 15-11-8-3 protocol for HS games:
On the floor no later than 15 minutes pregame
R checks books at 11 minutes (gives them time to make corrections if needed)
Captains at 8 minutes
Coaches at 3 minutes

It works well for MS/JH games as well, but sometimes we have to squeeze it together a little to fit in the time they allot between games.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

Since my personal POE this year is dealing with coaches, I'm going to ask a rather pedantic question. What about this statement earned the coach the T? Was it his attitude? On it's face, the statement merely expresses the coach's unhappiness with the rule. Could your partner have gotten out of this by saying something like: "I don't make the rules, coach, but I do have to enforce them."?

I'd warned the HC several minutes before this, and he looked at me like I'd told him France was responsible for winning WWII. This was the assistant coach who told my partner it was stupid, and there was a bit of attitude involved as well. Also, she didn't so much as make a move to take her seat when she said it. All of that said, we should have addressed it at the first dead ball of the game. Better yet, it should have been touched on prior to the game. The sad part is, we'd just discussed this very thing at the association meeting the night before.

I just flat out didn't do what I knew I should do.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I just flat out didn't do what I knew I should do.

Sheez, Adam, don't go all mature on us, taking responsibility for your own actions. Pretty soon, everyone else will have to start doing that too!

[TimTaylor]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Why try to "get out" of calling any very well deserved technical foul? Dealing with coaches sureasheck doesn't mean that you're gonna let them crap all over you imo. Nip it! Nip it in the bud!

I agree JR. I think part of the problem is that these lower level games are often officiated by newer, less experienced officials that not only haven't yet developed their game management skills, but on top of that are real hesitant to call the dreaded "technical foul". Couple that with coaches that are in many cases parent volunteers that often have little or no real rules knowledge or formal training, so they emulate what they think coaching is...often what they've seen on TV. They get away with something once & figure it's OK.

A technical foul isn't anything special, it's just another kind of foul....and we need to calmly and dispassionately call them when they are deserved.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by TimTaylor

A technical foul isn't anything special, it's just another kind of foul....and we need to calmly and dispassionately call them when they are deserved.

Amen!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by TimTaylor

I agree JR. I think part of the problem is that these lower level games are often officiated by newer, less experienced officials that not only haven't yet developed their game management skills, but on top of that are real hesitant to call the dreaded "technical foul". Couple that with coaches that are in many cases parent volunteers that often have little or no real rules knowledge or formal training, so they emulate what they think coaching is...often what they've seen on TV. They get away with something once & figure it's OK.

A technical foul isn't anything special, it's just another kind of foul....and we need to calmly and dispassionately call them when they are deserved.

Part of the problem here is that we're at the end of the AAU season, and the coach looked at me like I was an idiot when I informed him of the rule. Apparently, it hadn't been enforced correctly all season.

BTW, we did hit them with the Ts (three of them). I think, however, that if we had dealt with it a little more quickly and decisively, we probably could have got by with just one. I'll never know for sure, though.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

Sheez, Adam, don't go all mature on us, taking responsibility for your own actions. Pretty soon, everyone else will have to start doing that too!

Sorry, I misspoke. What I meant to say was, "It wasn't my fault. I blame the parent-volunteer keeping the book."

Or should I blame Karl Rove?

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Sorry, I misspoke. What I meant to say was, "It wasn't my fault. I blame the parent-volunteer keeping the book."

Or should I blame Karl Rove?

You can blame either 90% of the time.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

Sheez, Adam, don't go all mature on us, taking responsibility for your own actions. Pretty soon, everyone else will have to start doing that too!

Gotta nip that in the bud!

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Well....maybe the fact that he just said "That's just stupid"?

That rule been in for a million years. Every coach in the world knows it that the assistant coaches can't stand. There's no way that any coach waited until this particular time in this particular game to say "Gee, I really don't like this rule".

Why try to "get out" of calling any very well deserved technical foul? Dealing with coaches sureasheck doesn't mean that you're gonna let them crap all over you imo. Nip it! Nip it in the bud!

Having read Adam's responses, and knowing now that it was near the end of the season, that he'd previously warned the head coach, and that the assistant said it with some attitude and clearly showed no signs of complying, yeah it was a righteous T.

But just for uttering the phrase "That's just stupid" without the rest of the context, well that would be a lot less clear. As always, HTBT