"Jack-in-the-Box" Coaching

[Freddy]

Something I never thought I'd experience happened last night.
7th grade assistant coach, rising to object mildly to a judgement call, is warned to remain seated and reminded that, by rule, only the head coach may use the box. Head coach informs us, "We are following the rule! Only one of us ever gets up at one time, either him or me. We never both stand at the same time. We've been doing that for ten years and no one ever had the rule wrong like you do."
After this, neither of them stood the entire rest of the game. After the game the head coach said he was afraid to stand lest he get a technical.
Officiating = a never-ending learning opportunity. Always something new.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Something I never thought I'd experience happened last night.
7th grade assistant coach, rising to object mildly to a judgement call, is warned to remain seated and reminded that, by rule, only the head coach may use the box. Head coach informs us, "We are following the rule! Only one of us ever gets up at one time, either him or me. We never both stand at the same time. We've been doing that for ten years and no one ever had the rule wrong like you do."
After this, neither of them stood the entire rest of the game. After the game the head coach said he was afraid to stand lest he get a technical.
Officiating = a never-ending learning opportunity. Always something new.

Freddy,
I can already here nevadaref saying, "if those doggone 'Spirit of the Rules' guys would just enforce the rules, Freddy would never have such problems."

In this case, nevadaref would be right. Many of the lower level leagues have a somewhat lax view of the administrative parts of the rules. In such cases, they would be better suited stating that they are following NFHS rules EXCEPT for the listed rules. As long as the league is not a NFHS-sanctioned league (HS or MS following NFHS rules), this would be a better solution.

Without such published exceptions, we should be enforcing the NFHS rules.

[referee99]

... JV Boys game.

Teams come out after a 30 second time out and I can see that Team A has made substitutions without the substitutes reporting. We are pre-season, game wasn't competitive, just looking to remind coach of the rules...

"Coach, did your substitutes report to the table prior to the first horn?"
"No, it was a time out."
"Coach, subs need to report to the table prior to the first horn"
"Is this something new? I've been coaching 15 years and never heard of that."

[Mark Padgett]

For over 30 years, our local kids rec league has not recognized a coaching box. It's very explicit in our rules. Makes things a lot calmer when coaches have to remain seated. Oh yeah - only players on the floor can request timeouts.

[archangel]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Head coach informs us,..... " We've been doing that for ten years and no one ever had the rule wrong like you do."

I, like most everyone here, who hears this type of comment from a coach, no matter what sport, knows that its coachspeak for "I got caught doing wrong/being ignorant and I gotta say whatever in defense".

[Adam]

It looks like having the coach scared of your alleged "ignorance" was a good thing. It kept him on his a$$.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Freddy

"We are following the rule! Only one of us ever gets up at one time, either him or me. We never both stand at the same time. We've been doing that for ten years and no one ever had the rule wrong like you do."

Sounds like the Whack-A-Mole Game. So, whack 'em.

[Loudwhistle]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

For over 30 years, our local kids rec league has not recognized a coaching box. It's very explicit in our rules. Makes things a lot calmer when coaches have to remain seated. Oh yeah - only players on the floor can request timeouts.

Any houses for sale in your area? I may retire there someday.

[Ignats75]

"I'll talk to the Organ Grinder, but NOT the monkey." Assistant coaches are like kids. They should be seen and not hear.