Ejection ...
 

I have a very long fuse when it comes to coaches. Maybe a couple of technical fouls each season, only one ejection that I can recall in twenty-nine years. I've been to the rodeo a few times, the coaches know me, and seem to respect me. Maybe my gray hair makes me seem wiser than my years.

Last night. Nutmeg Games. Our Connecticut "Olympic-style" summer sports festival. High school age game. First game was in the secondary gym, ended on time. Walked up to the primary gym for our second game to see that they were fifteen minutes behind schedule. My partner and I watched in horror as the game before ours went into two overtimes.

Finally start our 8:00 p.m. game at around 9:00 p.m. Nice game. The Red Team is a step faster, and an inch taller, than the White Team. The Red Team moves out to a comfortable lead early in the game. Neither coach is complaining about calls. The Red coach is standing and coaching in his coaching box the entire game. The White coach is just sitting on his bench sending subs in and out of the game. Kids are reacting well to our calls and noncalls. No problems with game management until there's only forty-five seconds left in the game.

Foul on White 11. I report it to the table. Table informs me that it is 11's fifth foul. I inform White coach that 11 has five fouls. White Coach informs me that he already knows and has a sub available at the table and adds that we should have called a foul on Red previous to 11's foul. I simply state "That's enough coach", while giving a non-threatening "stop sign". In twenty-nine years this technique has worked for me 99.5% of the time.

Not this time. He continues that my partner and I have been doing a lousy job all night. Keep in mind that up until this point he hasn't said a single word to me or my partner. He's down 30 points with 45 seconds to go in the game. I guess he didn't understand what "enough" meant, so I charge him with a technical foul, figuring that it will shut him up.

I figured wrong. He continues to complain about the officiating in general, and the technical foul specifically. Will not shut up. So I charge him with his second technical foul, at which point he sits down, unaware that the second technical is an automatic ejection. I ask him to leave the gym, which he does so begrudgingly. Now he can't coach his kids in the next game.

45 seconds left. 30 point game. 100% easy game up until that point. What got into this guy's head? On the way home, at 10:30 p.m., I'm thinking about my ejection report that I have to phone into my assistant assigner. At that point I realize that this coach never swore, at me, or my partner, and, in fact, never even called either of us a name.

Has anyone ever had a game get so bad, so quick? As anybody ever ejected a coach who simply kept complaining after being asked to stop.

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to spend the $24.00 that I took home from this game. I better not spend it all in one place. I've got three more games on Thursday night, and two games on Saturday night. Then, maybe, I'll have enough money to buy that Corvette?

I think the ejection was warranted. If he was down 30 pts with 45 seconds to go and he wouldn't shut up, he may have wanted to be tossed. Unless he was some kind of rookie coach or just an a$$ in general (which judging from what you told us about his previous behavior, he didn't act like one) he knew what he was doing. I don't have a problem with you giving both t's either, but I do wonder where your partner was. Did you two pre-game what would happen in a situation like this?

I have no problem with the T's. I think after the first one I - personally - would have gotten as far away from the guy as possible, but that's just me. From your description, this was a Coach who "wanted" the T's but didn't know the rules enough to realize he would get ejected on the second one. Betcha that $24 you earned that he thought it took three to get tossed. What a maroon.:rolleyes:

Maybe he really didn't want to coach the next game.
I have been tempted before. :)

With only 0:45 left, I wouldn't have said anything to the coach. If he continued on, then yes. But if he really thought you and your P sucked, he should have said something earlier. He's just upset that he team was stapled.

He'll Eventually Learn ...
 

Good point. Rookie official. Did a nice job in both games, but to be honest with you, if he had come over to offer assistance, I would have gladly backed off to administer the free throws for the first technical foul. Maybe there would not have been a second technical charged, or at least, I wouldn't have had to charge both. Plus, it all happened so fast. It was all so surreal.

This is something that I have definitely been working on over the summer. I had a similar situation where I issued a T and definitely felt justified at the time and afterward. However, I still reflected on it as: what could I have responded to the coach with differently that could have diffused the situation?

For your play, I think the T and ejection seem warranted based on his reactions, but they just occurred at an awkward time in the game. Not that that matters, but game situation plays a role in how we respond to the initial comment by a coach. Obviously he vented after your initial response, more that he should have and got what he deserved. But was your initial response the best response you could have given, given that situation? I think we all try to avoid giving both T's in an ejection, especially back to back, but we cannot avoid everything. I certainly would think that a more experienced partner would come in and get you out of the situation, and have you be done with it after the first T. Most importantly though, I think with any game situation, we need to constantly be reflective and think if we handled that situation the best we could have.

I asked where he was for that reason. It's best to not have the same official give both technicals, but sometimes it cannot be helped like in your situation. Good job handling it.

So chances are, he's probably not a HS or regular season coach who has a feel for where the line is or even understands that the stop sign is there for his benefit. That's what I run into with AAU or other non Fed summer coaches. Probably a player's father who agreed to coach the local HS team because the regular coach is on vacation.

Don't beat yourself up over it. You've probably analyzed the whole exchange more than he has. He's likely bragging to his buddies that he got tossed at the Nutmeg Games.

Think of it as a teaching experience for him. If his team is still around in two days, he'll know better next time.

p.s. I have an old Vette. The money I make from summer ball almost pays for the gas in it :)

I totally disagree with your "with only :45 left" philosophy. If a coach wants a technical foul give him one, and it seems by all accounts he wanted one. You told him enough and gave him the stop sign and he ran right through it. Then he didn't stop after the first technical foul so the second one was warranted. I am not going to let a coach "own" the last minute of a game just because I don't want to do some paperwork or make the game last an extra 5 minutes. You launch him, he sits next game and hopefully this knucklehead gets a clue.

We have veteran officials that don't know how to manage a game or the coaches why would we expect this out of a rookie official...it might have gotten worse if he would have helped you out.

Not A Clue ...
 

Bingo. We have a winner. In Connecticut, high school coaches aren't allowed to coach their players during the off-season.

We have veteran officials that brag that they haven't called a technical foul in 25 years. I can only imagine the nonsense that they put up with.

Correct...if they didn't want us to call technical fouls they wouldn't have put them in the rulebook!

Or make them so fun to give out.

OK I don't normally think that but... ;)

Billy, sounds like the coach was more frustrated with his team than anything and he just took it out on the stand-by boogiemen.