She dropped her clipboard?
 

GJV tonight. A1 goes up for a shot, well contested and no foul. I'm lead on the table side and hear what sounds like a clipboard fall. I look over after the rebounding scrum subsides and see a flabbergasted coach standing next to her clipboard lying on the floor.
I know she threw it down in disgust, but I didn't see it, so I couldn't call it. Frankly, I just ignored it and let her stew. Anyone would have done it different?

Mostly likely, as in 99.85%, no.

But I have T'd a coach up without seeing all the action they we doing. It was more of a game management call than anything.

Coach, maybe if you were sitting down you'd have better clipboard control.

Just kidding.

You did the right thing.

If I see it, automatic T.

If I hear it and the board is on the playing surface when I look over, I'm calling it then too.

I would never dream of giving a technical foul to a coach for merely dropping their clipboard.

Allowing it to hit the floor is a whole 'nother matter though.....;)

I don't think it's a good habit to get into calling things you don't see and it's certainly bad advice to tell officials to call a technical they didn't clearly see. The fact of the matter is, we only got 1 set of eyes, and depending on what we're watching at the time, it's possible we just didn't see it, therefore, I'm got no call, and I'm not losing any sleep over it either. Case in point, I'm the lead, watching moving screens in the lane, 4 players (2 offense 2 defense) are to my right on the court, but I'm watching activity in the lane, moving screens, etc. Two players (A1 - B1) Trail has because they got the ball. The other 2 players, closest to me, I assume A2 made a move toward the basket and then decided to quickly come back for the pass, well, all of a sudden, B2 guarding A2 hits the floor. Coach is yelling at me, he just pushed him down on the floor, come on...!!!! I was like coach, look at my eyes, I'm looking off-ball in the lane, I didn't see it, therefore, I got no call. B2 could have just fallen on his own, or he could have gotten push, I don't know.

Now the coach dropping the clipboard is now on a real short leash with me and I'm watching, and if there's no more problems. Chalk it up, move on. Now if you suspected it was done on purpose, couple things to check. Is she in the coaching box? If not, technical for that. Give her a long hard stare, inviting her to say something. She says the wrong thing, technical.

A lot of people would call this 'baiting' the coach. I think it's appropriate just to keep an eye on her from that point.

I think everyone would call it baiting, and we know most coaches will take hook, line, and sinker.

I agree, no call. However, give a stern look to the clipboard with the expression of "how did that get there?" I think you'll likely get the message across that she got away with it once, but won't again.

Had a coach a few weeks ago throw her hands up with clipboard and it kept going.

They are slick and YES make a lot of racket when they hit the floor.

In your case - If no ref saw it - I guess it was not a factor in any play.

Let it go.

You didn't SEE it, don't call it. JMO . . . but you are BEGGING for trouble with this one if you do call the "T". Sounds like you made a good no-call.

Definitely DO NOT do was Old School says. You do not want to get into a "stare down" with a coach. That IS baiting, and 90% or more of coaches WILL bite. You also don't want to "Look" for a reason to give a "T" either. If the coach and their behavior is going to be your focus, then who is focused on the game??

This happened in a Christmas Tournament game this year (well last year, but this basketball season ;)). It was the game after mine, and we stayed around for a little while and took advantage of the food!

Coach threw down his clip board on a call he didn't get, the officials were down on the other end of the floor and didn't see it. Then, there was a call that went against him... so he took a coin out of his pocket, threw it up, looked at the result, and shrugged his shoulders. Just when he thought he got away with it... the C (who was opposite table) came in with the call -- whack.

That's pretty close to a flagrant technical in my opinion.

I have a clipboard story. I'm working a freshman game 15 or so years ago at my alma mater. My 10th grade economics teacher is the coach. He gets so mad at his team, he slams the clipboard down and the metal clip goes flying off the clipboard onto the floor.

The coach is now an ACC football official.

Something similar happened to me some years ago: an object was dropped on the court; my partner and I didn't see who dropped it, but nevertheless we decided to eject the responsible.

Why? Well, the object was a chair and the person who used to sit on it was the analog of the game manager (more precisely the person responsible for the officials' needs).

Of course a clipboard is a bit different from a chair.;) If I don't see how it came to the floor, I would not T the coach, but probably keep an eye on the bench.

Ciao

My second year as an official, I had a coach slam his clipboard on his chair with both hands as I was walking to report a foul. Yep . . . see ya coach.

My point here is I don't know how that clipboard got on the floor, but if it was right after a call that didn't go their way, I can put 2 an 2 together. Maybe the coach has something he/she wants to say. Now, I'm going to give them a chance to say it, especially since they just insulted me (officials are human) with that C/B. I might even give them a little extra time to make sure I let them express themselves, that way they don't have to throw the C/B again. Don't be afraid to take care of business here.

Right now the ball is dead, my partners can watch the players. Plus the players are not the problem right now. We might have an out of control coach, which either way can be bad for your game. I consider this a problem spot in my game and I'm going to address it right now. Left unaddress, could cause major problems for the rest of the game. Coach got nothing to say, I might say, if that C/B hits the floor again, somebody going to be headed to the locker room.

This is so completely different from what you first wrote that it's laughable.

No, the ball wasn't dead; there was a rebound and no whistle because there was no foul. Read the whole post. :(
She was no where near out of control, and if I'd given her a chance to "express herself" at that moment, she'd have earned a T. Game management was served by ignoring what I didn't see in this case.

And then if the coach doesn't say anything while I stare at her, you're going to blow a little oxygen on the flames? Genius, absolutely genius.

THIS IS BAITING, and putting yourself in a tough spot. Besides, the original post said they did NOT call a foul, so the ball was still LIVE. In addition, it is the responsibility of every official on the floor to be focused on the action that is in front of them, not worrying about a coach that MIGHT have thrown a clipboard.

For instance, I used to coach, for several years before becoming an official. I never threw a clipboard, but I did drop mine once. It WAS an ACCIDENT, and I did not do it to show up anyone. I was turning to talk to one of my players and just accidentally let it go. The official didn't respond at all. Using your logic, 2 + 2 = T for me because . . .

I didn't have anything to say. What about the coach that just tosses their clipboard to floor in front of their chair? I see this at least 1-2 times EVERY week. Do I assume then that I am being "shown up"? As has been stated by many others . . . "If you don't see it, you don't have any business calling it."

Let me add this; I'm L table side, so my partner was T opposite table and should have had a good view of the coach, who was actually standing on the baseline side of the coaching box. Partner is a 45 year vet who, when we first worked together the week before, informed me that he's a game management type who's only given a handfull of Ts to coaches in 45 years. I'm sure he saw it, and I'm sure he passed for game management reasons.

You tossed him? That rises to the level of a flagrant T in your mind? Everyone has their own threshold I guess. I guess I'm a little too lenient as I would only T this. If I'm giving a coach a Flagrant T and a shower it's going to be for more than abusing inanimate objects. F-bombs and other abusive language directed at me or my partner is where my Flagrant T is coming out. To each his/her own I guess.

Don't forget, the same OS who said he'd T the coach for the clipboard said that foul language like that only deserves a WARNING.:rolleyes:

In my explanation, I was considering this to be a dead ball after a whistle. If no whistle, yea you keep playing and you got no call, but I'm not quite sure I could ignore it. Me and coach is going to have some words when the ball does become dead. Accidentally dropping a C/B you're not going to hear that hit the floor. However, if this accident occurs right at the time of a call/no-call that didn't go your way. Guess what coach, you're in hot water with me. From a coaching prospective, probably best not to have C/B in hand while ball is live, that way, nothing stupid like this can get you in trouble with the officials.

Case in point, coach has towel in hands and gets frustrated with player and throws towel onto court after a play. My official immedately whacks him. Coach comes to me and says, I was not trying to show up official, I was mad at my player. I told coach as observer of the game, how was the official to know that? That towel made it onto the playing court. Best to not have that in your hand while ball is live and you can't accidentally throw it and get in trouble. This really gets under my skin when coaches want us to read their mind and bypass the rules when the conditions warrant. That is completely out of line whether you did it intentionally or not.

No, I'm going to make damn sure that that doesn't happen again. That's crossing the line and good officials know it. This is just me, because my skin is not as thin as yours. A coach could verbally curse me out on a call before I would let him throw his C/B, kick a chair, or throw a towel on the floor. Again, that's just me.

:D
This is a judgment you're not qualified to make; and it certainly doesn't follow logically from what you've written in this thread alone.

:D <i></i>

Watching a BV 3-4 years ago.

Coach had a beef with a no call on his end of court. As ball and players went opposite side of court, he turned toward end of bench mumbling. Then quickly turned 180 degrees and started stomping towards his seat. In the same motion of sitting down, he slams the clipboard to the floor. The marker flys off the board and goes spinning like a helicopter across the floor.

You couldn't have walked out and placed it on the floor any better. It stopped 1 foot directly in front of the trail.

(Who then signalled the "T")

That is something I would love to have seen . . .