Partner goes down - coaches go brain dead

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by lpneck

1) Is it appropriate for someone to be having a "learning and teaching experience" at a level where the coach may be fired based on the team's win-loss record at the end of the year?

If I work HS varsity and D3 college games, and I am in attendance at a Big 10 game and one of the officials goes down, do you think Tom Izzo and Steve Alford are going to mind if I come down and help finish the game, or do you think they would rather have Ed Hightower and Steve Welmer finish it themselves? It would clearly be an incredible learning experience for my career.

1) In high school ball, most definitely so imo. How else are we ever going to develop officials if we don't throw them into higher level games? And contrary to some peoples opinions, a high school basketball game really doesn't rank up there in importance with getting the troops out of Iraq. It's a high school basketball game, is all. Period. Coaches don't get fired because an official might blow a call. Are you really trying to say that a coach's win/loss record depends on the quality of the officials he gets? Sorry, I can't agree with that one.

2) Apples and oranges. You can't equate the average high school game with an upper level D1 game.