"This is my livelihood..."

[Texas Aggie]

I'd say in the last 2-3 years, we are hearing the topic comment, and those very similar to it, more and more from coaches. I say "we," since not only have I heard it more, have talked with officials who have heard it more, its now getting discussed in clinics from supervisors, schedulers, etc. -- those who are hearing from coaches and may be attending coaches clinics.

My guess -- and I have nothing really to back this up with -- is that this topic is being discussed heavily at coaching clinics. I'm not sure if its being offered up as a complaint to give officials when a call is made they don't like, perhaps with the theory being its a neutral comment and should not make the coach subject to a penalty (from whatever sport).

What are your experiences with this type of comment from coaches? How did you handle it? Given that, what do you think are good and bad ways to handle the comment?

[Scrapper1]

I have never heard that from a high school coach, since high school head coaching jobs around here are generally not full-time. If a high school (or lower) coach said that to me, I would simply ignore it.

At the college level (below D1), it's not much of a living, but the head coach is generally a full-time job. If a college coach said that to me, I would probably respond with something to try to assure him/her that we're trying to call it fair for both coaches.

I don't think I would consider penalizing such a comment as unsportsmanlike.

[JRutledge]

I cannot penalize something that I do not understand the context. And why would I penalize a coach just for making this statement.

Coaches at the varsity level are not full-time coaches in my area, but they usually have a full-time job with that school or school district. It is possible that if they lose their coaching job they can and will lose their job teaching or lose enough money where working at that school is going to not be enough income. Many coaches making that comment would be accurate or nothing offensive. I would probably agree with them or ignore them, but I cannot think of a reason to penalize a coach just for saying that. Not unless it was coupled with another comment that was personal about me.

Peace

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

I have never heard that from a high school coach, since high school head coaching jobs around here are generally not full-time. If a high school (or lower) coach said that to me, I would simply ignore it.

At the college level (below D1), it's not much of a living, but the head coach is generally a full-time job. If a college coach said that to me, I would probably respond with something to try to assure him/her that we're trying to call it fair for both coaches.

I don't think I would consider penalizing such a comment as unsportsmanlike.

+1...but with a question....

What if the coach keeps repeating the comment?

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

What if the coach keeps repeating the comment?

I would suspect an intent to annoy, and a stop sign would be commonplace. From here, it would be handled like any other repeated objection.

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by bainsey

...and a stop sign would be commonplace...

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Anyway, I have not yet heard this directly from a coach. I have heard it in the context of camps, and clinicians mentioning it in terms of officials needing to do our best when working at the college level.

So, in this case, the coach is effectively saying, "You are only officiating as a hobby. I do this for a living, and it's a crying shame my livelyhood has to depend on someone else's hobby." Isn't that the same thing as saying, "You don't put in the same time and effort I do, and because of that, I'm going to get screwed."?

Maybe I'm just grumpy on a Monday, but what other reason is there for a coach to say something like that other than to diminish our efforts? Perhaps even to say we are cheating somehow, or at least it's obviously not as important to us, because it's our hobby rather than our job? Can anyone tell me a legitimate reason as to why a coach would inform us of this useful bit of information? Would they also be willing to supply us with the details of their salary and bonus info from their contract as well, so we can verify it's really their livelyhood?

It just smacks of a creative way to say "I'm better than you; you're not as important as me." It's certainly not game-related in any way, and probably should be dealt with accordingly.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by tomegun

When I was in Europe working a baseball tournament last month, I joked we would start carrying yellow and red cards since most of the coaches over there watched a lot of football (soccer).

It would work in basketball, too. Once in a while I'd accidentally on purpose grab the wrong card, too, just to give the coach a heart attack.

[MD Longhorn]

I'd probably ignore it. If it was repeated, I might ignore again, might "I hear you", or might, "What's you're point?" it, depending on demeanor, how it's said, how bad I actually screwed up the call in question (jk), etc...

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

+1...but with a question....

What if the coach keeps repeating the comment?

I do not know that I would penalize this at all. I probably would have a response that would stop the comment. But I would not be worried about it.

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

+1...but with a question....

What if the coach keeps repeating the comment?

That would be "prolonged" in the 3 P's (personal, prolonged, profane). The temptation (although I wouldn't act on it), would be to tell him I heard him the first 5 times he said it.

[Mark Padgett]

Official: "That's a T, coach."
Coach: "But this is my livelihood."
Official: "Well, stop being so lively and you won't get another."

[Judtech]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

That would be "prolonged" in the 3 P's (personal, prolonged, profane). The temptation (although I wouldn't act on it), would be to tell him I heard him the first 5 times he said it.

Or "Really? I hope you didn't already quit your day job"

[Texas Aggie]

but what other reason is there for a coach to say something like that other than to diminish our efforts? Perhaps even to say we are cheating somehow

This is sort of what I'm getting at. The other implication is something like, "whenever you make a call that goes against my team, my livelihood is harmed." These are emotional pleas for calls that have little, if anything to do with whether the calls are correct. In Texas public schools, all coaches are full time faculty members. Varsity Football head coaches are usually just that, with an additional title of administrator to allow them to make a higher salary than teachers. All these guys THINK the coaching job is their livelihood, while for the head football coaches, it pretty much is.

When I've heard clinicians talk about these things, its been more of a "what we are hearing from coaches," rather than a "think about it from their perspective."

I'm not hearing this directly from coaches as much as I'm hearing it from supervisors and assignors who talk with coaches, but I'm sure we will all hear it at some point. I bring the topic up because this is something I haven't heard much before recently in my 20+ years in officiating in several sports at all levels. I'm also trying to figure out, from a coach's perspective, what they are trying to get out of the question or comment -- i.e. how exactly do they want us to respond?

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

I'd say in the last 2-3 years, we are hearing the topic comment, and those very similar to it, more and more from coaches. I say "we," since not only have I heard it more, have talked with officials who have heard it more, its now getting discussed in clinics from supervisors, schedulers, etc. -- those who are hearing from coaches and may be attending coaches clinics.

My guess -- and I have nothing really to back this up with -- is that this topic is being discussed heavily at coaching clinics. I'm not sure if its being offered up as a complaint to give officials when a call is made they don't like, perhaps with the theory being its a neutral comment and should not make the coach subject to a penalty (from whatever sport).

What are your experiences with this type of comment from coaches? How did you handle it? Given that, what do you think are good and bad ways to handle the comment?

This is one of the benefits of the US getting "things" before we do in the GWN.

If I ever heard this, I'd (at the very least) chuckle on the inside. Outwards, I'd ignore it. A bad way to handle the comment would be "Well here's another sandwich off your dinner table. Whack!"