Not using it any more.
 

I know Tomegun will love this thread. :)

I am not using the stop sign anymore. It does not work. I hate using it. It does not stop coaches for doing anything. It does nothing but make them more upset. I am tried of doing it because it does not work. I have given more Ts this year as a result of that stupid sign and I refuse to use it anymore.

Now I feel better.

Peace

What Alternative?
 

What alternative have you adopted in lieu of?
Around here (across the lake from you) it seems to be universally accepted by coaches. Not that they particularly like it; but they seem to understand it.

If it is universal, it certainly is not working or the message is not being sent. I will go back to what has worked. I will say what I need to say and if they choose to act silly, I will just do what I have to do. Obviously public pronouncements have not worked for me. And for the record this was a coach from another state. I have given two coaches from other states that seem to not know what the "universal sign" means. In the past I have just gone to a coach quietly and said what I needed to say. No one knows what I am saying to them. No one knows that I have told them to knock it off. It is very quite and if I had to T them I wait for an outburst that crosses the line. That has worked much more for me than any stop sign. And people live by it but I see more Ts from it than not.

Peace

Had pretty good seats behind the Wisconsin bench for NU/Wisc game last week and as Ted Valentine is running past Bo Ryan, the stop sign AND zip it with hand to mouth came up. Don't mess with Ted.

I'm with you, the stop sign never works for me, and I'm not comfortable with it, I'd rather verbally tell 'em

Hey, bumped into your partner MV from last week.

JRut, can I ask what prompted you to start using it this year? My experience with it is pretty limited but unsuccessful.

It works if; 1) it's followed up with a T if not heeded, 2) the coach has seen it in action before (and the consequences).

Friday we had a coach complaining about us, and not how his team seemingly couldn't play defense without doing arm extensions on rebounds.

He chirped at one partner, who gave the "I hear you" wave as we moved into the front court. (The wave is the step before the sign.)

We then have an inbounds, I'm T in front of him. HC chirps off again. Stop sign goes up. *Tweet* to each partner: "Coach has been warned."
He calmed down after that. I

For us, it worked.

It works pretty good here.

We give the stop sign, then have the scorer record it in the book, the same way college officials can record a coaching box warning in the book.

Since we began doing this two seasons ago, I've found it very effective. I would say 9 out of 10 times, we finish the game without a T.

This seems to be the most effective tool in my arsenal. But make sure you actually warn them, AND, more importantly, make sure you follow things up as needed.

I pregame this as the R. The first thing we talk about in pregame is SHTF situations on behavior and any T's that result. As far as starting out, something along the lines of:

1) If you can handle it, handle it as you see fit. I.E., say whatever you need to say to calm them down, for example. But let everyone know next dead ball.
2) If 1 doesn't seem to be working, during a dead ball, tell the coach something to the effect of, "I've heard you and that needs to be the last word on that..." At THAT point, do the commented part above. Remember, this is after 1 has failed.
3) At that point we all know where we are at. We CAN go back to one if an official feels that will work, but we do not go back to 1 AND 2. The second version of "2", if you will, will be a T.

After 3, we get into how we handle the T if one is called, but we can save that outline for a different post.

Does this work perfectly every time as drawn up? No. Do we sometimes go back to "1" too many times, thinking we can resolve the issue ourselves? Yes. But this is just a framework for dealing with the coaches.

For the most part it only incites the recipient of the stop sign. It can be the equivalent of "not another word" and it can actually back you into corner.

I have found that saying "it's time to move on" works in most cases for me.

I just did not decide to do it this year, I have been told to do it by many in the past. I have almost always not been an advocate of it, but many claim it works. So I have decided recently to try it in a few situations after much deliberation. It is clear it does not work for me. It has actually lead to a couple of Ts when I used them.

Peace

I have found it to work very well. The verbage that goes along with it varies per the situation and/or my relationship with the coach. I never use the words "Not another word" when using the Stop Sign, because another word always follows. Usually "We are not going to talk about this anymore coach" is enough. I may follow with a "I heard you. Let's go", and I move on. If he continues, I give him the consequence.

I agree, I think it puts us in a box. Then when they continue to act up or talk, then you have to do something. I would rather ignore a coach than make this an issue by showing everyone I have heard enough.

Peace

I totally disagree with this protocol. It seems that instead of having a T in 9 out of 10 times, you have some warning which doesn't exist and isn't part of the rules recorded in the scorebook. In my opinion this procedure screws the team which does not receive such a warning during the game. If the opponent was behaving in an unsporting manner, then it should be penalized as called for in the rules. But if your entire association agrees to do otherwise...

I may be repeating what others are saying, but after reading your post I wanted to immediately respond.

The stop sign is a good sign, whether it works on coaches or not. Everyone will see it, including your partner(s). ESPECIALLY your partner(s). This tells your partner(s) "this coach has been given a warning to shut up, next time he/she get's the big T". I use it all the time and will make eye contact with my partner(s) so he/she/they know that the coach has been given a warning and next time it is the big "T". That way there's no second warnings if one of your partner(s) has a problem with the same coach.

The stop sign is a good signal. Everyone will see it and will know that next time the coach will probably get a deserved "T". That's all I have to say.