Barking Assistant

[luvernebbref]

Boy’s V game, early in the first half (play halves in MN).
Block-Charge situation, no-brainer, its a charge on A1.
Ball is inbounded and I pass by the bench and the team A assistant coach is barking “No Way, No Way!!!”
Shortly, I am the lead and covering off ball and A3 bats the ball away from dribbler B1 near half court and in front of A’s bench, away from the side line of my partner. B1 recovers the ball and the assistant starts barking that B1 was out of bounds (may have or have not been OOB, I had action in the lane, and partner could not tell). The assistant then looks at me and barks “That is the third thing you have missed already!”
I call a foul on A4, not in the bonus so the ball is OOB on the baseline. I tell my partner to hold for a minute. I approach the assistant and tell him “If you are going to bark at every situation tonight, this is going to be a long night for you, so I would suggest that you watch your mouth.”
It usually takes a lot to get under my skin, but I was really annoyed and felt I needed to say something, even if nothing he said warranted a T. He never said another word the rest of the night.

What do you think, should I have ignored him, or would you have said something to him?

[zebraman]

The first time I hear an assistant coach reffing or complaining, I just go to the head coach and say, "Coach, we'll be happy to answer questions you may have when we have time. Please control your assistants as that privilege does not extend to them." After that, whacko.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Originally Posted by luvernebbref

Boy’s V game, early in the first half (play halves in MN).
Block-Charge situation, no-brainer, its a charge on A1.
Ball is inbounded and I pass by the bench and the team A assistant coach is barking “No Way, No Way!!!”
Shortly, I am the lead and covering off ball and A3 bats the ball away from dribbler B1 near half court and in front of A’s bench, away from the side line of my partner. B1 recovers the ball and the assistant starts barking that B1 was out of bounds (may have or have not been OOB, I had action in the lane, and partner could not tell). The assistant then looks at me and barks “That is the third thing you have missed already!”
I call a foul on A4, not in the bonus so the ball is OOB on the baseline. I tell my partner to hold for a minute. I approach the assistant and tell him “If you are going to bark at every situation tonight, this is going to be a long night for you, so I would suggest that you watch your mouth.”
It usually takes a lot to get under my skin, but I was really annoyed and felt I needed to say something, even if nothing he said warranted a T. He never said another word the rest of the night.

What do you think, should I have ignored him, or would you have said something to him?

WHy tell him it's going to be a LONG night? I'd tell the HEAD Coach that it's going to be a very SHORT night, and let him take care of it from there, cause if I have to, then it's gonna hurt both the ASSistant and the head coach.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by luvernebbref

Boy’s V game, early in the first half (play halves in MN).
Block-Charge situation, no-brainer, its a charge on A1.
Ball is inbounded and I pass by the bench and the team A assistant coach is barking “No Way, No Way!!!” I let the HC know that his assistants need to keep their comments to themselves.

Shortly, I am the lead and covering off ball and A3 bats the ball away from dribbler B1 near half court and in front of A’s bench, away from the side line of my partner. B1 recovers the ball and the assistant starts barking that B1 was out of bounds (may have or have not been OOB, I had action in the lane, and partner could not tell). The assistant then looks at me and barks “That is the third thing you have missed already!” I tell the scorekeeper that I have a Technical on the assistant coach and an Indirect Technical on the HC.

I call a foul on A4, not in the bonus so the ball is OOB on the baseline. I tell my partner to hold for a minute. I approach the assistant and tell him “If you are going to bark at every situation tonight, this is going to be a long night for you, so I would suggest that you watch your mouth.” This conversation never happens b/c of the above actions.

It usually takes a lot to get under my skin, but I was really annoyed and felt I needed to say something, even if nothing he said warranted a T. He never said another word the rest of the night. What he said warranted a warning and a T.

What do you think, should I have ignored him, or would you have said something to him?neither of these options

See the blue.

[JRutledge]

I have a couple of tricks for this. I either go right to the head coach or tell the head coach he needs to control their bench or address the assistants with the head coach able to hear you. I never deal with the comments from assistant coaches directly but deal with the behavior. Even if their concern is a legitimate concern I will not take open disagreement from assistant coaches. I usually say something directly to the assistants that goes like this, "Guys, he has earned the right to talk to me (while pointing or referring directly to the head coach), you have not." They get the message or the head coach in many cases has told the assistants to "Shut up...." I have even had HCs apologize and insist they have taken care of the "problem" later in the game.

Peace

[truerookie]

Originally Posted by zebraman

The first time I hear an assistant coach reffing or complaining, I just go to the head coach and say, "Coach, we'll be happy to answer questions you may have when we have time. Please control your assistants as that privilege does not extend to them." After that, whacko.

I understand the approach. However, there is no latitude for an assistant(s). I hear it the HC hears it too. Penalize!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by zebraman

"Coach, we'll be happy to answer questions you may have when we have time. Please control your assistants as that privilege does not extend to them."

This may be the most professional comment I've seen on how to address the situation.

[TimTaylor]

I like to keep it short & to the point. At first comment from AC, a calm, respectful "Coach, you need to keep your bench under control" to the HC at first opportunity. Next comment from AC gets a T.

[SperlingPE]

Don't communicate with the assistants.
I had a similar situation about two weeks back.
First chance I had I told the HEAD coach that his assistant is about to lose the coach's box for you.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by luvernebbref

The assistant then looks at me and barks “That is the third thing you have missed already!”

"You're right, coach. And the first was the technical on you. But don't worry, I'll get that called right now."

If he asks what the second thing was, tell him it's his second technical.

[JRutledge]

I think the main lesson I get out of all these responses, is what you do might not work for someone else and vice versa. I also think a lot of what you say is based on your personal presence when you talk and the tone of voice and even the situations. There are situations where I am a hard *** when it comes to assistants and there are other situations where I hardly raise my voice. I think it just depends on what coach you are dealing with and the actions of the assistants. I think we can all pretty much agree that assistants are not to be getting out of hand and are mostly to be seen and not heard. Even that last statement does not always apply.

Peace

[Mountaineer]

That's one of those situations like my buddy had last year. He pepped the asst. and said that one's for you - immediately popped him again and said that one's for me!

Of course, as I said in another thread, I also LOVE the "Sorry Robin, I only talk to Batman".

I probably wouldn't have warned him - if he barked at me like that - I'd have popped him. No excuse for that crap. That's one area where I don't have much patience.

[mbyron]

The best place for those snappy lines is right here on the board. I'd never use one on the court. I like the line about the privilege of explanation not extending to assistants.

[Junker]

I agree. Tell the head coach to control your bench. Right before the break we went down to a little 1A school we hadn't worked before (we go back tomorrow). The assistant coach was from the same small town I am and has known me all my life, although I would imagine in his eyes I'm still a 10 year old kid (He is a little less than 10 years older). The first call I made, I rotate table side and he starts complaing. I look at him...then look at the head coach and say, "Coach, I just want to remind you that the head coach is the only person on the bench that will be addressing us this evening." When I turned back a minute later the assistant was laughing and I had to give him a grin. He just thought he could work me because he knew me I think.

[Junker]

Oh yeah, by the way, if an assistant continues to complain, you shouldn't remind them it will be a long night, it will be a short one for them.