Something I've never seen before...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by just another ref

A good testimonial to why we need clarification of when a timeout is granted.

Not the way I read the OP. No on one this board would advocate granting a timeout based on when the coach thought about it.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Not the way I read the OP. No on one this board would advocate granting a timeout based on when the coach thought about it.

Probably not. But if the rule read:

When a timeout request is properly made and recognized by the official, the timeout is granted and the ball is dead.

this would eliminate the need for "Do you still want it, Coach?"

[Adam]

Probably, but the OP, in which the coach just assumed he had it, would have still happened.

And for a situation that may happen once every three or four games at most, I'm not sure I want to make a change. I like being able to have a patient whistle on this and still be able to grant the TO. It sometimes takes me a second to recognize a timeout since I'm not tuned to the coach.