Unanswered Timeout question

[BillyMac]

From Jurassic Referee: "This is one of the worst rules ever. This is the most common problem with it. You've got a press going in the last minute with the ball right in front of you. The defenders are all over the dribbler. You're standing right in front of the offensive team's bench with your back to it. The crowd is noisy as hell. You think that you hear "timeout" behind you. Now you're supposed to turn, make sure that it's the head coach requesting the TO and also make sure that he really wants a TO. Don't think so. I ain't taking my eyes off the play. But the common sense associated with doing that sureasheck doesn't make no nevermind to the head coach. You're still gonna get the coach whining at you because he didn't immediately get the TO that he wanted. Or, as is being posted here, he'll say that he didn't want that TO and wasn't calling one, even though his team benefited from the whistle. Again, terrible rule."

Jurassic Referee: Great post. Maybe one of your best, certainly one of your top one-hundred. We're both veteran officials, so we both remember a time when only players, while controlling the ball, were allowed to call, and be granted, a timeout. Since we were always facing the players, we knew which team had control of the ball, and could easily see which team was requesting a timeout. I hated this rule change from the first season it was introduced. I have discussed changing this rule back to the previous rule with my local board interpreter. He, and our state board interpreter, agree with me, but he claims the rule will never be changed back, because coaches love the rule and coaches are better represented than officials when it comes to the NFHS making rule changes.