30-second time-out: Teams/Players standing

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by tjones1

I may be making MTD Sr. to go dig in the vault; however, I don't think it's too far back...maybe not.

Anyways, I was wondering when they changed (if they did) 5-12-5.

In an interp from 2001-2002 it states the following:
SITUATION 11: Each team and the official scorer have been notified that Team A has called a 30-second timeout. Team A decides to sit down on its bench. RULING: Incorrect procedure. The official should first inform the coach that his/her team is to remain standing during a 30-second timeout. If the coach refuses to adhere to the officials’ request, an unsporting technical shall be assessed. (5-12-5)

Currently, 5-12-5 reads:
Players shall remain standing within the confines of the bench area during a 30-second time-out.

Therefore, could someone please tell me when they changed it from the team having to remain standing to just the players?

Let us go back in time to The Ancient Days when there were only full timeouts. There were head coaches that required the substitutes to stand while the players in the game sat during the timeout and there were head coaches that required everybody to stand during a timeout. That mentality still is applied to full timeouts today.

Thirty (30) second timeouts are a different animal. The idea (both the NFHS, especially the NFHS, and the NCAA) behind thirty second timeouts is that it is to be used as a short teaching timeout. Meaning that most head coaches are using the thirty second timeout to address the players on the court not neccessarily the substitutes. What is important to remember is that the players on the court must remain standing during a thirty second timeout and we do not care whether the substitutes sit or stand.

MTD, Sr.