Coach On The Court Alert ...

[BillyMac]

Boys varsity. A1 falls, in the lane, while attempting to get a rebound. A1 doesn't get up, and is on the ground, face down. I wait a second, or two, to identify a team in control, make sure that there is not a scoring play imminent, blow my whistle to stop the game, and move over to the fallen player, who is still on the floor, and ask, "Do you want your coach?". A1 immediately states, "No, I'm alright.", and starts to get up. When he says this I signal a "stop sign" to the bench to let them know that the player is alright, and not to bother coming out to attend to the player. I now note that the head coach has moved out of his coaching box, onto the court, has crossed the division line, is now almost to the three point line, sees my stop sign, and immediately retreats back to his bench. A1 stays in the game. No substitutions. I make eye contact with my partner, sound my whistle, and put the ball in play.

An evaluator emailed his evaluation of that game to me. Most of his evaluation was very positive, he mentioned a few things that I can work on, and also mentioned that I should have asked the head coach to either substitute for the fallen player, or take a timeout to keep the player in the game.

I've been around the block many times, so I knew to just email him back and thank him for his constructive criticism. Newbies take note here. Never answer an evaluator by saying, "Yes, but ...".

But I know that I can say, "Yes, but ...", to Forum members. So, did I handle this situation correctly, or not. Keep in mind that I gave a "stop sign" to the bench. Also, around these parts, when there is a fight, or an injured player, coaches are always considered to be beckoned if they come onto the court to offer assistance. Inquiring minds want to know.

[bob jenkins]

If the coach is that far out, replace the player (or request TO).

If it's only a step or two, you can use your judgment.

[grunewar]

Since the coach came so far on the court, I'd make the player come out of the game too, unless the TO is requested. What's the big deal? If he's really ok, he goes to the bench, gets a drink and comes back into the game at the next whistle......which could be in 10 seconds anyhow.

My $.02

[Adam]

Enforcing this will make the coach think twice before coming out next time; that's a good thing.

[jeffpea]

imho, you can't get in trouble for correctly enforcing the rules....you only open yourself up to criticism and problems when you do not enforce or administer properly.

[Adam]

Seriously, it's almost as if all the weird stuff we've ever talked about came up last night (except the post game T stuff). In two games, we must have had 5 injury timeouts last night.

On one, player fell on his backside and his head hit the floor. I killed the clock (just as the defensive team stole the ball, BTW). Checked on the kid and he was ok. I looked up at his coach, who was about 2 or 3 steps out of the coaching box, and gave him the stop sign (this is the only time I ever use it) and he turned around and went back.