If its a 2 man game, I agree with others that the other official should stay with the players. In 3, I'd certainly head over and try to calm things down if my partner was nose to nose with a coach. It sounds to me like both coaches should have been whacked for being out of the box and sat down. The official, however should not have been "nose to nose" with a coach. Whack and go report. Once you start arguing you have lost a battle.

I doubt very seriously that a stop sign would have done much good in this game.

the stop sign will cure it all -- however the only thing to trump the stop sign is the dreaded sTare(tm) -- so if you throw the stop sign you better hope the coach doesnt throw the sTare(tm) or else you lose. Its like the adult version of rock, paper scissors.

Funny you should bring up the stare. One of my usual partners got told last Friday night NOT to give coaches the stare. Sound advice.

Yeah, but the WHACK! trumps them all.

Not the cross and toss!

I laughed out loud at that one Junker. Good thing I'm leaving this place of employment in a couple of weeks.:D

I had a situation where a guy was heckling my partner and I. It was my first year so I didnt have a regular partner, it was just a guy they put me with.We had talked about it at half, decided no big deal. I personally wasn't very concerned, you can't officiate and not get heckled. Anyway, partner makes a call, this guy yells, there is a timeout on the floor, and my partner goes up in the stands after this guy. I stood and "watched the show" because I didn't want to take a whipping. My partner was a big guy, so I knew who the guy in the stands was going to go after.

I hope that was your partner's final game.

I have no clue if it was or not, I know it was with me.

Stop signs won't help in this situation. We're not talking ABS, but an emotional play that took place. Sounds like, from the description that everything was too rushed, the signal, the official going to the table an both coaches arguing. Coach A is still arguing the slap, that's how fast this was. If this was a major elbow, the calling official needs to stay on the spot and make sure everything dies down, and decisively come up with a ruling. Sounds to me like he saw (or thought he saw) contact with the arm of the dribbler on the defender which was not flagrant, so he called the PC foul. Even if there was a bit of a slap first, the elbow is the more obvious call and the one that needs to be called.

Once the scene is cleared, if the official is under control, he can better deal with the coaches wanting an explanation. In my experience it's easier to more deliberately go to the table to report than it is to go immediately after a play (as I've learned and continue to learn from past experience). If a coach is irate right off the bat, as it sounds coach B was, he should be T'd right away, and nose to nose earns him an early exit. One T, in my opinion is not enough for nose to nose confrontation. If a partner saw the play, it would be a good idea to intercept the calling official on his way to the table to verify what the calling official, who's clearly emotional, was calling, and help out with the proper rule. From what I read, the crew failed and the coach should not have remained in the game.