Partner goes down - coaches go brain dead

[lpneck]

Of course everyone has a first varsity game sooner or later. That is not what this is about.

The situations people are describing about having a lower level official step in in an emergency where there are NO officials is not the same situation as described in the original post. If NO officials (or one official), show up to the game, then it is better to throw a rookie into the fire than to NOT HAVE THE GAME AT ALL. Obviously that happens on occasion and people have to make the best of it and the coaches better adjust. Hopefully the rookie steps up and gets a huge break in their career.

However, in the ORIGINAL SITUATION DESCRIBED, I don't believe that having 3 officials, where one is not ready to work that level, is going to make the game better than having only two officials that are both qualified. Halftime of a varsity game is not the time to give someone a learning opportunity, and yes, in my area, high school basketball coaches get fired. Often.

Zebraman describes in the original post bringing out a JV official at halftime, and having both coaches on his case within two minutes. You want to tell me that there is no possibility that they had a point, and the guy was making inconsistent calls with what they are used to seeing? Especially if there were no problems with either of these coaches in the first half?