Incredible - coach tossed at scrimmage!

[Mark Padgett]

Went to a ref clinic this afternoon for the group that works a highly competitive MS organization. One of the things we did was "mirror" some newer officials at a bunch of scrimmages, mostly 8th grade boys. This was at a local HS, so the facilities were pretty good. I was watching one of the scrimmages when all of a sudden, one of the experienced guys who was helping a younger official instructed him to toss a coach. The coach couldn't believe it and refused to leave. One of the other guys who was watching went and got the ref coordinator (who was in another gym at the time) to intervene. I just watched what was going on and saw him speak with the coach, who then went over to the two officials and apparently apologized. He then finished coaching for the few minutes that the scrimmage still had left. After it was over, I found out the coach had directed an F-bomb twice at the young referee. That's why the older guy directed him to toss the coach. I guess since it was just a scrimmage, the decision was made to let him stay, although he was told that if this happened in a league game, not only would he have been tossed, but also suspended.

Ya' know, I've done a lot of things in my career, but I can't say I've ever tossed a coach at a scrimmage. It looked like it would have been a lot of fun.