I go over to the table at around 12:30 and all I care about is the information submitted. The stuff in the book is not something I worry about until the game starts. But if the coach has somewhere their starters and all their team members, the book does not need to be ready until we start.

Peace

Same deal for us. We go JV followed by varsity. Last night, though, it was clear that the coach forgot. He picked 5 players from the lineup and sounded like he was thinking about it.

This is protocol here.

Ok, maybe this is a silly question, but why do you have them sign it? And why under the roster?

While I assume it is to prevent any questions in case there is a discrepancy, I'm not sure it really prevents anything. What if there is a problem, and the coach says, "Yea, I signed it, but I didn't look real closely at it because I had to get back to my players. Here's the list I gave the scorekeeper, and it shows everything correctly." Now what do you do? Is there any rule or case that states the signature overrides the fact that the correct roster was submitted initially?

Last night, for example, the home scorekeepper had both coaches sign the book (at the top, btw), and both teams had the wrong starters listed in the book. We verified the book copied them correctly from the sheets handed to the scorekeepers, and went with the starters showing in the book. Both coaches had the players they had wanted to start waiting at the table during the jump, and they came in after the first dead ball. In this case both coach's signatures meant nothing.

As for signing the book under the names, what if the coach uses the last line in the book, and forgot to add Little Johnny who is on the JV squad, and there is no more room on the page? (Trivial, I know.) But I would guess there may be a couple of scorekeepers on this site who might complain about taking up useful space in the book with a signature that isn't required anywhere by rule or mechanic.

While having coaches look at and sign the book may occasionally prevent a possible error, there is obviously no guarantee it will. It just seems like wasted time and energy to do something that isn't even required by rule. Why not simply verify that each each coach submitted their correct roster? Whay worry about taking the coaches away from their teams, and taking the book away from the table, etc.?

I'm not a big fan of it at all, but it's the protocol here. The logic seems to be "they get their chance to change anything, so if anything is wrong in the book after that they can't say they didn't have the chance." Of course it doesn't have any sort of actual weight, as you noted, but that's the thinking.

I'd just as soon get on with it and do away with as much of this administrative stuff as possible. However, our state office is now asking us to have coaches present medical letters to allow sleeves or other medically necessary garments that otherwise aren't legal. Their word is no longer good enough.

Sigh.

I totally agree with you. I think it's silly, too. I do it because everyone else does it. If there is a problem with any numbers during the game, I will check the list supplied to the scorekeeper first. The signature means nothing to me. It's just the local custom.

M & M Guy-I couldn't agree with you more.If the Fed wanted coaches to sign that their rosters were recorded correctly they would've instructed the score book companies to create a space in their book to do so.Same for officials using the bottom.The only one who should assume responsibility for the book is the scorekeeper-If the Fed makes any change I believe that the scorekeeper should initial on both sides (next to the school names) and write the active # of players for each side next to their initials.

I believe that the coaches signatures mean that their roster is recorded correctly in the book for that game-as such any player not listed would be subject to an administrative technical foul.It also prevents scorekeepers from just adding the missing player in without the tech being assessed.