My partner and I include this with our pregame with the coaches. We tell them to please tell us right away how long of a time out they want otherwise it will be a full automatically.

It's one of the few extra things we say in our 20 second meeting with them.

Good for you. There is always more than one way to handle a situation....I bet if we both tried it "our" way and then the "other" way, we would find that both ways work....(of course I believe that making a "mountain out of a mole hill" isn't worth the trouble that it may cause - just my humble opinion).

BTW, assuming that the coach is ignoring you when you ask a direct question (there are other possibilities) is just like the coach assuming that you knew it was supposed to be a :30 timeout.

Coach to official: "I actually have to tell you what type of timeout I want? You mean you couldn't read my mind and tell that I wanted a 30 second timeout?"

Coach, I can read the scorebook and know whether or not you have a choice. I can't see into your brain to know which you might be choosing.