Angry Coach at Halftime Revisit

[OHBBREF]

I said I would get some official opinions from rules interpreters regarding this situation of what you hear in the locker room, and how to deal with it.


Federation interpretation from Ohio Rules Interpreter - e-mail
This is one of those HTBT situations (had to be there). In these situations, common sense usually is the best mechanic to rely on.

If he's addressing me, or one of my partners through the wall, then I'm advising him upon our return to the court that his comments have earned him a technical foul and the subsequent loss of his coaching box.

If he's doing what's described in the origianl situation, then I'm inclined to chalk it up to the guy being a jerk, noting the diatribe, and possibly advising an assistant that we 'heard" and took note of his comments. If he has any brains, he'll know what we mean. That assistant could possibly be your best friend in the sense that he may act as a buffer or a voice of reason on the bench.

Then again, he may be cut from the same cloth as the Head Coach.

If the latter is true, then I suspect you will be shooting foul shots at some point in the second half anyway....

To sum it up, we do have jurisdiction over what happens in the locker rooms, however, I'd advise not going looking for trouble.


From Ed Billik Rules editor NCAA men
Paraphrased from a conversation via Phone
Note that this is not something that would most likely occur in an NCAA situation.
While we are given the authority to deal with fouls and violations inside and outside the boundry lines.
You must offer the privacy of the locker room to the team, the basis would be the expectation of privacy. If the door is open that would be something else it would no longer be private. In general Stay out of it, if you over hear it report it to your assigner and let the assigner deal with it, hopefully the assigner will deal with the athletic director, the league etc.
Most likely you will have oportunity to met out the T in the second half without much effort if the coach is like this.

To issue a technical foul in this situation from a closed locker room, or something you heard through a wall, would be opening up a Pandora's box.

Similar to a team huddle, do not go into the huddle, however if you are standing outside the huddle and the unsporting act - in this case disrespectfully addressing an official occurs it is no longer private.