Going opposite...
 

My observation...

Going opposite is nice for the calling official, but not for the poor guy left table side.

At least before the calling official had to sink or swim himself.

I know the whole purpose is to cut down on the conversations, but the coach is still going to want to talk, now it's going to be a guy who may have no idea what the calling official saw.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Yeah.

After training myself to keep on walking to table side after reporting now I've got to re-learn how to do it the old way. And re-learn where to go as non-calling official.

Who gives a rat's @ss what the coach wants to do. Just because he wants to yap doesn't mean I have to play.

I must admit I'm in the dark on this one.

So the calling official now goes opposite table for Fed?

No. Evidently, he's talking about NCAA.

We went opposite in HS forever until a couple of years ago. It's really no big deal for the new T staying tableside. If the coach is pissed, he's usually more enabled to be a calming influence than the guy who made the call.

If not, stick the coach in the azz and be done with it.

No big deal.

Whew... thanks, Tony. Thought I really missed something!

We discussed this recently in our association. (Girls HS - NCAA rules)
The calling official stays tableside and doesn't go opposite.

Yup, big PITA.

Yup, yup.

The #1 reason that the NCAA is reverting to the calling official going opposite is that the committee believed that the C was not involved in the game and that the L and T were simply flip-flopping on most of the foul calls.

I heard from several people that the change was made because coaches were taking advantage of having the calling official in front of them and complaining way too much. I have heard that from several people including a couple college assignors. Thus the change and also the emphasis on coaches staying in the box this year. Who did you hear that from Nevadaref?

I worked my first men's CC game of the year on Friday night. I almost went tableside twice but corrected it both times. The only time I totally went tableside was a backcourt foul when we were in bonus. Habit outweighed my concentration level on that one. It's going to be interesting to see how I do once the HS season starts and I am going back and forth between 3-person tableside and 3-person opposite regularly.

Be just like two years ago, only the exact opposite. :D

This is the same thing I've heard too.

BTW, there is no reason (I can think of) for the non-calling official to even think about calming a coach down. I have no control over what the coach, a grown man, is going to do or say. They will be responsible for their actions when I'm on table side.

That's NCAA-Men only I believe...aren't the NCAA-W still going tableside?

I didn't say he would "think about calming a coach down". I said he would be a "calming inlfuence" meaning:

1- He wouldn't be defensive because he didn't make the call
2- He wouldn't be able to answer questions because he didn't make the call
3- It would be short discussion because he didn't make the call

His presence in that position as opposed to the calling official is going to change the dynamics of the situation in most instances.

Whether that's why or not, it's true. You can get locked in the opposite slot for a long time. :p

I posted the following back on July 17 on the NFHS forum shortly after returning from a camp with several D1 officials:

It is true that the NCAA is returning to the mechanic of the calling official going opposite the table this coming season.

There were two reasons given for this.
1. The coaches were engaging the officials in too many conversations and it was detracting from the flow and speed of the game.
2. The calling official was mostly becoming the Trail and then the Lead on the subsequent trip, so this official was in the most probable location to make another call. (You have to accept that the Lead official makes most of the calls in the 3-person system for this argument to hold water. That assumption may or may not be true.) It was concluded or perceived that the Center official was not participating very much in the game while the other two officials were making the majority of the calls and simply swapping back and forth. There had to be an off-ball call by the Center to get him into the mix and then the new Center was left out for a while. Right or wrong that is the explanation I was given by the top D-1 guys.


(It was also made clear that the change resulted more from point #2 than point #1.)

Yup.

Worked a scrimmage yesterday where all 3 guys on the court kept wanting to stay table side after reporting. By the end of the game, they had figured it out.

The problem of C being left out could be solved if they went to the NBA style of switching. The calling official goes trail and the other 2 officials move to a different spot. This ensures that 1 official does not get "stuck" in C.

I was at a camp that implemented this and I liked it. I'm sure that some day it will filter down to college and high school. The hardest part was when you called a foul in trail opposite table and the throw-in spot was opposite table. You are supposed to stay where you are but habit wanted me to go table side.

Does anyone see a reason not to use this method of switching?

I agree with Zebraman that it will be "interesting" for Men's College and High School officials to switch gears from game to game. Your level of concentration has to be one notch higher. I already have to report with 2 hands for high school (state implemented mechanic) and 1 hand for college. Why can't we all just get along Hank...Mary...Ronnie? :)

Yep, NCAA-W are still going tableside.

Table side mechanics was put in place so that coaches could ***** about call, it is that simple. Hank Nichols this weekend said that the change was to take that opportunity away from the coaches and get them back to coaching. Nichols also said that you still can explain something, but it will not allow for these elongated conversations that would usually take place.

I had a scrimmage yesterday and it worked out perfectly. I know the game was not for real, but it did not allow for a long conversation on much of anything.

Peace

I thought the NCAA had done all kinds of stats that showed that the C made more calls than the L?

In either case, I like working the C. So I can't imagine complaining that I had gotten "stuck" there. Quite the opposite.

But if being C for too long is really an issue for somebody, then going tableside makes it easy to solve, just find a foul and call it. With going opposite, now you're there until one of your partner calls a foul.

Why are we assuming that going opposite will always make you the C? That will be true on shooting fouls, but are all the fouls you call shooting fouls? You're not going to be "stuck at C" any more than going tableside kept you "stuck at" T or L...add to that the fact that your crew should be rotating frequently anyway, and the whole concept of "being stuck" somewhere just doesn't fly.

"We" are assuming it because people assume too much.

Life is simpler that way.

I, for one, never heard anything at all about this being even a minor consideration when it was decided to go opposite table. The only reason is coaches got too used to being talked to, and that was because the officials were too willing to talk. I know I've been guilty a few times my self.

The simple fact is they changed it because the officials were not taking care of business and the coaches were abusing having the calling official there.

A few more, "I've heard enough," and whacks and they'd still be going table side.

This is also the way it was presented to me, for whatever that's worth.

This is what Hank Nichols basically said on Saturday.

Peace