AAU Coaches Vs HS Coaches

[Mark Padgett]

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.