I live in a small town and do alot of the rec. league games and know all the coaches. My question is: where do you draw the line on there behavior. I don't want to be an hard nose ref but i don't want the coaches to forget WHO we are there for and there behavior is unexcusable at times. How far should the leash be allowed to strech? Any comments or rule of thumbs to go by.

Every official has his own boundary that a coach cannot cross. This boundary may even be different from one game to another and partly depends on the level of play. Personally I have a very thick skin because I deal with people who are under great stress during my regular occupation, but even I have limits. I usually will give the "stop sign" as a warning when I feel that a particular coach is beginning to cross the line. If the behavior continues, then the "T" is in order. My best advice is thata "T" feels right, then it is right. Also, when coaches (or players for that matter) ask me why I gave them a "T", I respond by saying "Coach, I don't give things away...coaches earn the technicals that they get."

reed2310,
What kind of action bothers you?
There are so many factors and reasons to T/notT a coach that your question becomes mighty general.
mick

I guess it is the ranting and raving about calls and the storming up and down the sideline. Definitaly not staying in the box. The other officials don't enforce it and there you have my predicament.

...I wonder if the Indiana Coach was out of his box....?

Dude

There are different ways to handle coaches. One official that I saw here, ran by the coach in the first two minutes of the game and said coach, we aren't going to listen to that all night. The coach quit chipping and started coaching. That worked for him, but it didn't work for me.

I tell the coach that I will talk to him, but not if he is yelling at me. And I keep him in the box. My rule of thumb is: if he takes away my concentration of the game -- whack 'em.

When I first started working, I had a coach who would jump up and down, yell, and throw a tantrum all the time. I talked to him and talked to him about his behaviour, but to no avail. I never gave him a T, because he would be tossed from that game and suspended the next game too. (League rules)

If I had him now and he acted like he did. I would run him out of the gym.

Yesterday, I worked three rec games, JH girls, just can't seem to say no. Anyway, one of the coaches was a veteran varsity official in the area. The other coach started whining about three seconds immediately after a shot and he starts getting into an argument with the other coach about the three second rule. I had to give him a stern warning to stop. He said later that "he knew better". Well, duh.

interesting comment
 

Both an assistant I worked with previously and my current assistant coach do this. They will complain to the official about something they know is legal, but is commonly accepted as illegal, to see if they can get a call. (For example, a ball hitting the top of the backboard.)

I think it just makes the coach look ignorant to an experienced official. But they've gotten calls this way once in a great while. Something to keep in mind before you categorize all of us as howler monkeys--maybe some of us are trying to work over those of you with weak rules knowledge!

Re: interesting comment
 

You are correct about some of you trying to work a weaker official, but I would have to question the integrity of someone who tries to get an official to call something he know is not right.

I had this problem. Finally quit that rec league and got into a better one, where the refs are REQUIRED to deal with it, and the board deals with coaches that get T's. The other league just got too exhausting.

I work a limited amount of rec league here in SE minn (for most of us it is probably not hard to understand why the amount is very limited :D) Usually the level of play is adult mens. I have found that this can be enjoyable to work as the level of play is usually very good. Also most all of the players know or quickly learn that I work a lot of "organized" ball and the whining quickly stops as in this league 2 T's gets you out of that game and next weeks too. Any T's in subsequent games equalls 2 games of sit time and then expulsion from the league. I have also found rec leagues to be a wonderful place to refine off ball coverage and solidify mechanics.

Coach's perspective
 

As a coach who tries to avoid howling (for a lot of reasons, not just to avoid a T), I resent other coaches who push the limits. If I am approaching the line, I would expect a warning before getting whacked, but if I go over the line, whack me. Because I do control myself, I sometimes feel at a disadvatage when I see other coaches "working the refs", howling about calls, leaving the box, etc. So on behalf of the coaches who do not push the limits, I say "Make sure coaches do not abuse the rules. Warn early, then whack them if they won't cooperate." I know being a ref is tough enough without having to deal with crap from the benches. I also believe that if the coaches are riding the refs, there is a better chance that the refs will be distracted and do a poorer job than if they are allowed to concentrate on the game.

In regards to MN' s comment about being able to refine off ball coverage and solidify mechanics in rec league games, I find just the opposite in rec leagues that I do. A lot of time I am reffing the game with an inexperienced ref who is either not blowing the whistle at all, forcing me to watch all areas of the court, or one that is whistle happy and calling things in all areas of the court.

The one good thing about reffing rec league is that I can be the lead official and get practice at that. Being a newly patched official, I am always looking at the experienced refs for learning purposes so this gives me good experience for that, but generally I feel rec league games hurt more than help.

I will only work rec ball w/ an experienced official or a younger guy that we are mentoring. I still firmly believe this is an enviornment when you can work on improving your week areas. Treat it as you have a big time evaluator in the stands and see how it improves your HS/college game, may not work for all but has done wonders for me....

Maybe I'm not working the right Rec league but I agree that they usually hurt the mechanics more than help. They do give you an opportunity to work on other aspects, dealing with coaches being one of them.

As far as the coaching box, I usually take the approach that if the coach wanders a little out of the box only to "coach his team" we won't have problems. If they start to abuse the wandering aspect or start leavig to box to get on me or my partner, then I get them back in the box. I even had a partner tell the coaches that before the game and informed them they would get one warning. Usually only takes one comment and they get back in the box. Keeps the coach from having to yell out plays/directions.