Coach physically intimidating an opposing player
 

I'm a high school varsity boys coach and had a first today. The opposing coach called timeout with the ball right in front of his bench. His player picked up his dribble and my player that was guarding him put his hands up as if to deny a pass. The solo official was all the way across the floor and blew the whistle, but my player couldn't hear it because it was a loud gym. The opposing coach yelled again, "I called TIMEOUT!" and this time walked out on the floor and got right in the face of MY player--literally nose-to-nose and yelling again, "I SAID TIMEOUT!"

It was a bizarre scene and there was no justification for the behavior on any level, it was completely unprovoked. Is this a T, an automatic ejection, or something else in the rulebook? What would you do? Also, what would you recommend that I should have done? Obviously I want to protect my own player from this crazy lunatic, but depending on the officiating crew, I might find myself with a T or be ejected right with him if he became confrontational with me. I know fights are a pretty big gray area for rules interpretation, but generally speaking, if an adult is physically intimidating a kid that's not even on his team, how would you handle it? Thanks.

I would say that this would warrant a technical foul. Hard to call it flagrant without seeing it, but this is pushing the limit of what I consider unacceptable, abusive contact, which is part of the definition of a flagrant foul.

As for what you should do, you have to let the officials handle it, or risk dealing with consequences of your own.

What HS Varsity game would be played with only one official?

Any and all problems in this contest stem from that.

+1
I know it's summer ball, but the skill level really requires three, not one. That said, if I judge the coach to be doing what the thread title says, he's done.

+2...after I fixed it for ya......:)

You get what you pay for and you have to live with it. The action was definitely T-worthy but it's kinda hard to blame one official "all of the way across the floor" for missing it. A better course of action might be for you to lodge a complaint about the opposing coach's conduct with whomever is running the tournament.

To answer your other question, I would advise you to stay out of it unless your player were in physical danger.

I would be likely to ask the official, "So are you going to let me yell at his players, too?" Then let it go.

I think we get enough smart aleck questions from coaches withot encouraging them. Properly approaching the offifical with your concern and asking him to address it would be the way to go. If your player was in physical dange, then risking the T would be more than justified.

I think you should have run over to the other coach, got right in his face and yelled, "Coaches can't CALL timeout, you moron." Then you should have smacked him upside the head with a frying pan.

Just a thought.

A less sarcastic version, "Are you going to allow him to yell at my players like that?" It's really the same question, though, to which the answer is most likely going to be, "Coach, I couldn't hear it." The answer with more attitude would be, "Coach, I couldn't hear it. If I'd had a partner, he would have been in perfect position to hear it."

This was about it being summer ball as much as how many officials were on the game. The number of officials would not prevent you from seeing a player with the ball and someone in their face. And considering that this is summer ball and no one ever seems to assign three officials to these games, when that is what is assigned during the regular season (at least where I live) that is the problem. Also you have people working these games who are not likely to ever see these games outside of the summer.

Peace