Exactly.

Because AAU has gotten more competitive and organized almost every year, many AAU coaches are also high school assistants or head coaches, many at winning schools. And overall, the quality of AAU coaches in general has gotten better in terms of knowing and teaching the game.

As for their behavior that is a complete result of the setting as others have stated. They are less accountable and have less to lose in most AAU settings. So the same coach could be much more of a problem during the summer than he is in the winter.

In top level AAU settings you will find the overall coaching behavior similar to high school. This is because at this level, they are coaching future D-1 players, and a lot of AAU coaches are now getting college jobs. So they have a lot to lose and behave accordingly.

It is the rest of AAU where the overall atmosphere can be more challenging for an official. The coaches can be worse BUT the biggest problem, by far IMO, is the fans. They are louder, more ignorant, and even more blinded by their bias than fans during the scholastic season. And like the coaches, it's often the same fans but their behavior is much worse. And they are often crammed right by the court because of the setting.

It's all about the setting.

Bad News - My apologies !!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I forgot to include your neck of the woods in my statement.


Yes all those things that I have mentioned happen at BW Complex as well.


I look foward to hearing all that stuff in a few weeks when I go down there for a camp !!!!!

That is classic !!!!!!!!!
 

P. G County home of the following NBA "Stars"

Kevin Durant / Michael Beasley / Jarrett Jack / Delonte West

Grun - you know as well as i do they were all public school kids "from the hood"

there were no WCAC kids on that team........


Everything in PG County is "5 out" with no half court sets !!!!!!!!!!


BALLIN IN THE HOOD !!!!!!!!

When? My office is literally 5 minutes from the complex.

Check your private messages.

You are exactly right the higher the level the better they likely will behave. But as I said, the main reason AAU coaches act that way is because many of the tournament directors control the conduct and they often are being paid by the AAU teams to participate. Those TD do not want to lose money or prestige if they get rid of a coach or their fans for bad behavior. If you have a TD that does not put up with that kind of behavior or understands the value in having good officials work their tournament (which might include an evaluation camp), then a lot of that behavior will continue. When I have had these tournaments while attending a camp, there seems to be a very good understanding of between the persons that run the camp and the TD. Also depending on the tournament there might be some high profile coaches and programs around and their conduct could affect other opportunities including their kids that are being observed.

Peace

I have worked AAU over the years from Nationals, Showcases, and in between. AAU coaches seem to be less coaches and more of players themselves. Most of them act like kids and you generally see more coaches get kicked out, tech'd, or told to shutup than you would in a High School game. It is very frustrating and can be very annoying. But in the end I have a good time with it. Its funny to see how a lot of coaches act while I am waiting for another game to start.

Years ago, while training a HS girl and a HS boy to ref in our local kids ref league, we had a third grade boys coach show up for his first game in a three piece suit and a "Pat Riley" haircut holding a clipboard with magnetic pieces on it. Yeah - I said third grade. I was standing next to the table advising the two refs. The boy was in his second year with us and the girl was in her first. In fact, it was her first game ever. The guy was kind of a jerk from the get-go. About three minutes into the game, he threw up his hands and screamed about a call she made (which was an absolutely correct call, BTW). She gave him the stop sign and told him to sit down (our league has no coaching box and coaches may stand only to request a timeout). He told her he'd "sit down when he was good and ready to and not before". She looked over at me. I nodded. She teed him up. He screamed "TECHNICAL!?!?!?" at the top of his lungs and threw his clipboard down. She looked at me again and I nodded again. WHACK - he gone. I had to step in and get him to leave. She then came over and asked me if she did the right thing. It was all I could do to not lean over and give her a great big hug. She stayed with our organization through her HS years but left after that, unfortunately.

There are rules here that prohibit HS coaches from coaching AAU teams. For that reason, I see a lot of wannabes, not professional coaches.

HS coaches loathe AAU coaches for the facts that:
1- Most are more focused on indivduals than actual team basketball.
2- They teach principles that are contrary to what most HS coaches coach.
3- They attempt to recruit kids to different high schools.

I will agree that AAU coaching has improved over what it was 10 years ago. However, I still see a real knucklehead more often in AAU then in HS ball.

The Milford Mudlarks ...
 

Not Gil Thorp. He's different. Always a perfect gentleman. I've never seen him get a technical foul, or get ejected from a game, and he coaches basketball, football, and baseball, and has been doing it at Milford High School for fifty-three years.

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=c...c5a785eabac264

Bold - nice, very professional

The rest is why I try to avoid preparing for AAU coaches any more than a varsity coach.

I'm not sure why acknowledging the increased likelihood of knuckleheadedness is a bad thing. It's not difficult for me to expect poor behavior and be surprised by angels standing on the sideline.

It's the same as the saying, "anticipate the play but not the call." Knowing what to expect prevents you from being caught off guard when the coach starts chirping from the opening tip.

I do not get this way of thinking either. Most of the time nothing major happens, but some coaches you have to be more proactive with to prevent a problem.

+1

Peace

Some choose to react to the unknown, others choose to respond to what they prepared for. Go figure...

Some people just don't go around living with the expectation of a bad thing happening, just to be surprised by all the good things. We each have our own way of thinking, more power to you and yours. Mine is working for me.

If you're caught off guard by a chirping coach, then maybe you haven't experienced many chirping coaches, not necessarily that you're working an AAU game. I guess western PA is the only area of the country where you can find a chirping coach, from the opening tip mind you, at the all accountable interscholastic level.

From my experience, I do believe the likelihood of knuckleheadedness exists at the AAU level. I just think it's more likely to happen inside the lines, which is why I pointed that out in my initial response.

I'm always looking to improve and all ears. Please share your methods of preparing for an AAU tournament coach.