To Whom May Timeout Be Granted?

[Freddy]

Situation tonight for fellow official who asked me prompts these questions of you.
His Situation: A1 has player control under pressure from B2 and B3. Official hears from the bench area, "Time out! Time out!" Official, assuming it is the head coach making the request, grants the time out -- only to find out when he turns around it was not requested by the head coach but by the assistant.


Question #1: May a timeout request be properly granted only if made by a player or a head coach?
3-1-2 and 5-8-3 seem to say so.

Question #2: If an assistant coach's request for a timeout was granted by an official, could that the granting of that request, if illegitimate by rule, be retracted so that an "inadvertent whistle" situation results, ala 5.8.3 E, (b): the Team A head coach is yelling “side out” offensive instructions to his/her team and the official stops play believing the coach requested a time-out.
I'm guessing that if the head coach does not desire a timeout, it can be retracted by the official, resulting in an inadvertent whistle and ball out at POI. If the head coach wants the timeout, he'd just say so before the official retracts it and life would go on as normal.

Am I missing something here?

[Adam]

Now that the ball is dead, a timeout may be granted to either coach or any player.
If, after blowing the whistle, the official has any doubt as to whether the HC had requested it, he may (should) go with an IW if the HC denies making the request.

[OnePutt]

In response to Question 2, and assuming HC of Team A opts for the IW, Team A is getting out of the trap (thereby punishing Team B for good defense) at no cost to them. Who is to say HC didn't put the asst. up to it?

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by OnePutt

Who is to say HC didn't put the asst. up to it?

with all that's going on in a game, you're giving a coach an awful lot of credit for coming up with a bizarre play at the spur of the moment.....

"Quick, request a timeout!"

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by OnePutt

Who is to say HC didn't put the asst. up to it?

If he did, he gets credit for being smarter than the official, and the official hopefully makes sure next time he knows who was making the request.

[Mregor]

Me: Coach, what do you want a 30 or full?
HC: What? I didn't ask for a timeout.
Me: It might have been your ASSistant, but that's gonna cost you a T so what do you want, 30 or full?
HC: 30.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Mregor

Me: Coach, what do you want a 30 or full?
HC: What? I didn't ask for a timeout.
Me: It might have been your ASSistant, but that's gonna cost you a T so what do you want, 30 or full?
HC: 30.

A T for the assistant requesting a timeout, which you improperly granted? Good luck with that.

[Mregor]

Originally Posted by just another ref

A T for the assistant requesting a timeout, which you improperly granted? Good luck with that.

You're already screwed by granting the timeout from an unauthorized individual. What are you gonna do? IW where the offense who was trapped is now bailed out? Where I work, assistants are to be seen and not heard. If they are addressing the officials during a live ball, I have no problem with a T. Why make another error to try and correct the original error of granting the TO?

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Mregor

You're already screwed by granting the timeout from an unauthorized individual. What are you gonna do? IW where the offense who was trapped is now bailed out? Where I work, assistants are to be seen and not heard. If they are addressing the officials during a live ball, I have no problem with a T. Why make another error to try and correct the original error of granting the TO?

Why make another error by calling a T which is not justified? Asst. coach yelling timeout is not against the rules. He could have been yelling for a player to make the request.

[Mregor]

Never T'd a coach in this situation. Actually, don't recall the exact situation ever happening, but before coaches boxes, I used the similiar line to standing coaches all the time. Same philosophy. What are you gonna do? You've already blown the whistle so advantage is to the Offense or the team that you wrongly granted the TO. The air is already in the whistle, what are you gonna do? That's what the OP wanted to know. I gave an answer. All you did was critisize mine. Let's here yours so I can call you a dumb ***.

[just another ref]

If the head coach and the team all proceeded to huddle, I would probably report the timeout, say nothing, and make a mental note to be more careful.

If the head coach speaks up "I didn't call timeout!" tell him the truth.

"Your assistant did. I made a mistake by granting it. If you don't want it, we'll play on."

IW

[just another ref]

New quote Billy Mac: Better to miss a TO request by the head coach than to grant one by the assistant.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Am I missing something here?

Nothing other than reminding your friend NOT to grant a timeout unless he turns to see who is making the request.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Nothing other than reminding your friend NOT to grant a timeout unless he turns to see who is making the request.

Oh yeah, you bet I did. I pointed him to the responses in this thread and know he will own this from now on.

Thanx for the well-reasoned, seasoned reactions.