Wacked by coach

[Texas Aggie]

Its easy for me to come on here and say "I would have..." when I wasn't there. I know, I know -- we (including me) do that all the time on here.

However, I understand the hesitation. Would I have stuck him? Given the great description by the OP (it clearly gave me a picture to put myself into), I have to give a firm...I don't know. Probably, but then again, maybe not. I hate to sound wishy washy, but I'm just being honest. Not that it matters if you are doing the right thing, but the biggest problem you have in issuing a technical here is not so much deciding the game but giving him an excuse to blame you. Again, we don't run from the right thing, at least not hopefully, but we aren't computers; we make decisions where there is no one right answer. On the other hand, intentional physical contact is totally unacceptable. He needs to be severely reprimanded regardless of what your actions were after it happened. If he's not, then we've got a huge problem.

One of the things to learn from this is that you need to pregame late game situations. I talk about the official opposite the table (3 man) ALWAYS looking toward the bench areas after ANY made basket in the last minute to pick up a called timeout. If the C is table-side, he or she is now laser focused on the players while the T watches the benches.

Report his ***, discuss the play with other officials and learn from it.