Bobby Huggins Ejection

[Adam]

Originally Posted by DLH17

I don't think whacking a coach then walking away is letting your partner "take care of your bidness". Walking away often helps diffuse the situation at the very least. There's no reason to linger within earshot of the coach. That's almost baiting.

edit: maybe this isn't how officials are trained to handle out of control coaches in the college ranks, though.

You're taking a rule of thumb and turning it into a rule. Yeah, it's a good idea to call the T and move away, but I'm not going to the concession stand just so I can't hear the coach. And the first T is not a license to get stupid. Sometimes, the coaches just don't give you the option of doing everything the way it's recommended.

[DLH17]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

You're taking a rule of thumb and turning it into a rule. Yeah, it's a good idea to call the T and move away, but I'm not going to the concession stand just so I can't hear the coach. And the first T is not a license to get stupid. Sometimes, the coaches just don't give you the option of doing everything the way it's recommended.

I wouldn't move away so I can't hear him either. It's a good idea to move away in an effort to alleviate the situation if at all possible, though. However, it's not foolproof. If ridiculous behavior continues on the part of the coach, the officiating crew can handle it accordingly. There are six eyes and ears on the court...subjectivity and backup by your partners makes any actions against the coach even more locktight and legit.

edit: Good point about "rule of thumb". I agree.

[Rich]

I saw the sequence. The official actually walked to the table before calling the first technical foul -- in other words, Huggins had already earned it, but the official was getting out of there before whistling and signaling it.

After that Huggins went crazy and had to be restrained and screaming over his assistants. If I was that calling official and a coach did that, I would simply call the second one and get it over with. Why bother with a charade of making someone else come in and deal with it -- he's yelling at me, I'm going to make the call if it needs to be made.

Go Google "Huggins ejection" if you want to see this story at least once every season....it's nothing new and isn't really even a big story.

[chartrusepengui]

and now it's time for Huggin's to attend his annual anger management seminar

[Adam]

Originally Posted by chartrusepengui

and now it's time for Huggin's to attend his annual anger management seminar

If only he'd attend his retirement planning seminar....

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Why bother with a charade of making someone else come in and deal with it -- he's yelling at me, I'm going to make the call if it needs to be made.

I think this is a great opinion. Sometimes a coach is coming after one official. It the coach says something that earns him or her a T x2, why not have the official give them both?

DLH17, may I ask how many Ts you give in a normal season? Your opinion about the situation would lead me to believe a coach can get away with quite a bit.

[DLH17]

Originally Posted by tomegun

I think this is a great opinion. Sometimes a coach is coming after one official. It the coach says something that earns him or her a T x2, why not have the official give them both?

DLH17, may I ask how many Ts you give in a normal season? Your opinion about the situation would lead me to believe a coach can get away with quite a bit.

It's interesting you ask. I've probably issued a dozen or so techs over the past 5 years, so maybe two or three per. I've given two Ts this season that I can recall - one to a player and one to a coach. Different teams. Different games.

More to the essence of this thread, two years ago I whacked a 6th grade competitive league coach with two Ts back to back and sent him packing.

I have no problem utilizing that Tech Tool. But, in conversations with upper level peers and evaluators, the general message is "whack 'em and walk away (using professional, but stern body language).

[Adam]

Originally Posted by DLH17

It's interesting you ask. I've probably issued a dozen or so techs over the past 5 years, so maybe two or three per. I've given two Ts this season that I can recall - one to a player and one to a coach. Different teams. Different games.

More to the essence of this thread, two years ago I whacked a 6th grade competitive league coach with two Ts back to back and sent him packing.

I have no problem utilizing that Tech Tool. But, in conversations with upper level peers and evaluators, the general message is "whack 'em and walk away (using professional, but stern body language).

Yep, and the general message is also if you have players on the floor you need to call a foul; but we all know players get on the floor all the time without a foul. Again, rules of thumb work great as long as the coaches play nice.

[DLH17]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Yep, and the general message is also if you have players on the floor you need to call a foul; but we all know players get on the floor all the time without a foul. Again, rules of thumb work great as long as the coaches play nice.

That's a new one on me. It's not a general rule of thumb I've ever discussed. Players can end up on the floor for many reasons unrelated to a foul.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by DLH17

That's a new one on me. It's not a general rule of thumb I've ever discussed. Players can end up on the floor for many reasons unrelated to a foul.

It's particularly discussed with crashes. I've even had a partner in a JV game tell me that his evaluators told him he should have had a call on a particular play. He stuck around for the 1st half of the varsity game and watched them no-call the exact play.

At half time:
"So, what happened in that first play of the game?"

"The same damn thing that happened in your game."

[Rufus]

Interestingly Jay Bilas was saying that the calling official was baiting Huggins by going to him during a timeout. If the official hadn't gone to talk with Huggins I'm sure Bilas would have gotten on him for not communicating enough.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Rufus

Interestingly Jay Bilas was saying that the calling official was baiting Huggins by going to him during a timeout. If the official hadn't gone to talk with Huggins I'm sure Bilas would have gotten on him for not communicating enough.

Well come on now, a coach can't be responsible for his own actions. It is the official that has to have messed up.

[Drizzle]

Originally Posted by Rufus

Interestingly Jay Bilas was saying that the calling official was baiting Huggins by going to him during a timeout. If the official hadn't gone to talk with Huggins I'm sure Bilas would have gotten on him for not communicating enough.

Sean McDonough (the ESPN PBP guy) sort of called Bilas out for his constant blasting of the officiating... it's becoming a tired act from him (not that this is anything new from a TV analyst). I mean, you know it's bad when Bobby Knight is offering a more restrained commentary on officials than you are!

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by DLH17

It's interesting you ask. I've probably issued a dozen or so techs over the past 5 years, so maybe two or three per. I've given two Ts this season that I can recall - one to a player and one to a coach. Different teams. Different games.

More to the essence of this thread, two years ago I whacked a 6th grade competitive league coach with two Ts back to back and sent him packing.

I have no problem utilizing that Tech Tool. But, in conversations with upper level peers and evaluators, the general message is "whack 'em and walk away (using professional, but stern body language).

You either work in the most courteous place in the world or you aren't handling your business. Now, this is just my opinion, but in the various places I've officiated coaches and players earn more than three Ts per year.

I have also heard a final four official say, "I can help someone stop calling Ts, but I can't get them to start." He went on to say something along the lines of officials have to have the courage to call a technical when it is warranted. BNR has worked for this official/assigner too.

[DLH17]

Originally Posted by tomegun

You either work in the most courteous place in the world or you aren't handling your business. Now, this is just my opinion, but in the various places I've officiated coaches and players earn more than three Ts per year.

I have also heard a final four official say, "I can help someone stop calling Ts, but I can't get them to start." He went on to say something along the lines of officials have to have the courage to call a technical when it is warranted. BNR has worked for this official/assigner too.

This gives me an excuse to brag a little - I do have the luxury of working in an area whose officials are scheduled by longtime assignors that have had decades of experience both as officials and assignors. My primary assignor is heavy heavy heavy on pre-season, in-season and off-season communication with his officials about how to conduct themselves professionally on (and off) the court. I'm not sure if this is or isn't the case in other metro areas across the nation, but where I am located, it's all engrained in us from the moment we start our careers.

As a result, we as officials definitely know how and when to administer a technical foul. On the flip side, we also have area league organizers and coaches that know exactly what is expected of them and their players during the season because of the relationship with the assignors and his officials. League administrators often attend annual assignor's meetings to review any number of issues.

In saying all of that, it would be fair to say that I do work in a "courteous" area. I'll also say that when there has been poor behavior, it has been a little nasty. We def don't live in some type of utopian basketball world.

For me, part of the fun managing a game is to see how calmly and evenly tempered I can be in the heat of any moment....keeping the heart rate as low as possible. Making good decisions. Sometimes I suck. Most times, I succeed.