How Far is Too Far?

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by Spence

Scenario: Team A calls a TO and I know that the HC is upset over some callsw. He or his assistants leaves the huddle and wants to have a conversation with me.

Do I leave my position or do I just ignore the request?

My take: it depends on a lot of things.

If to that point in the game the coach has been fairly proper and there has been good communication, then I'm definitely acknowledging him and probably going over to talk with him. If he's been on my case some, I'm still going to try to communicate with him, but maybe from a bit of a distance and with clear, short terms, and then getting back to my spot.

If he's been warned already, I'm probably letting him know that we've already said we're done talking, and if he persists then he's probably going to early himself a technical foul.

Oh, and two points - even if I "go over" to him when he wants to talk, I'm still keeping the convo short, just answering his question(s) with specific rules-related answers, and getting back to my spot fairly quickly.

Secondly, I say "probably" a lot because IMO there's never an "always do it this way" approach.