Technical Foul
 

Is it a technical foul for the coach to yell out "foul "during the final seconds of the game to stop the clock?

No, it is a fairly acceptable practice. Ths issue comes down to whether the foul is deemed "intentional" by the official where the penalty is stiffer.

A better practice for the coach is to yell, "steal the ball!"

Most coaches in our area tend to shout "give it" instead of using the single word foul.

I don't have my casebook with me right now, but there is a play in there that describes this exact situation. It says the official must determine whether the actual action of the foul is worthy of an intentional foul, and that a coach telling his team to foul alone is not sufficient to access an intentional foul, or access the coach with a technical foul.

Here ya go.....
 

4.19.3 SITUATION D: Late in the fourth quarter Team B is trailing by six points. Team B's head coach begins to yell to his or her players to "foul, foul, foul!" B1 responds by (a) grabbing A1 from behind, or (b) reaching for the ball but illegally contacting A1 on the arm. RULING: In (a), an intentional foul shall be called. In (b), a common foul shall be called as B1 was making a legitimate attempt to "play the ball." COMMENT: Fouling near the end of a game is an acceptable coaching and playing strategy. Officials must determine if a foul is intentional by judging the fouling act itself, not whether or not the coach instructed a player to perform the act.

A coach in our league yells "Rambo!" as his code for "foul" in the final moments of a game. Makes me smile every time!

What's crazy is the expression on a coach's face when he hears "intentional foul" after his kid runs up behind the dribbler and throws his arms around him in a bear hug not even pretending to make a play for the ball. :)

I think a lot of coaches developed a code word a few years ago when the NFHS issued a misguided and short-lived interp that stated it was an automatic intentional if a team fouled after their coach told them to.

My favorite so far is when I called that near the end of overtime. "You can't make that call at this point in the game."

Coach, I should have made it sooner and we wouldn't be at this point in the game.

I remember hearing something like that. When I was in high school "red" meant foul him.

Of course, all fouls by the trailing team in this situation are intentional, but we have to determine, are they intentional

Calling an intentional foul before they actually happen...I like the way you think. ;)

Lots of good comments.

To touch on this issue a little more from the officials' perspective, I feel it's an important part of game management for the officials to recognize when teams may deliberately foul in an end game situation and be prepared for it.

To me, one of the most important things the officials need to do when this occurs, is to be right on top of it and call the foul right away. This is not the time for a patient whistle. Delaying the call even momentarily only encourages the players to get more physical and the potential of a deliberate foul becoming an intentional foul increases.

Far too often I've seen officials take the "no blood, no foul" approach in these situations, forcing the defender to almost mug the opponent to get a whistle.

I agree with this to a point; my rule of thumb is if the offense is just standing there letting themselves get fouled, I'll have a quick trigger. However, if they're trying to avoid the foul, I'm not going to reward the defense by calling something a foul when it really isn't.

Translation: You can't make any call against me at this point in the game.

Oooh, I can see you're fluent in Coachese. ;)