Coaches

[bainsey]

I know how you feel, stir, but these guys have it.

I recall one like you had a few years ago. Seventh-grade girls game, home team getting beaten by visibly better away team. (Jealously of this away town is very apparent, even at this level.) Home coach calls time out and proceeds to guterrally scream at her kids. It was well beyond any typical yelling, and was entirely unnecessary.

When the anger turned to my direction ("that's not a foul up here, but it is down there?!?"), she earned her ABS technical. It's my only coach whack to date (six years), and the only time yet an A.D. recommended my partner and I wait for the gym to empty before we depart.

Like you, I also pondered for a while. Should I have pointed out to the coach that she was gutterally screaming at 12-year-old girls? Would that be proper game management or interference? Would I have whacked the coach had not been over the top earlier? Most likely not. Usually such words will only get a stop sign. Still, the only way I can answer it is when such dissent is turned to my direction, and it did.

[BillyMac]

Several years ago, I had a rookie varsity coach say to one of his female players, "Get your f**king head in the game", just loud enough for the the player, his bench, and me, and nobody else, to hear. After the game, as I was walking out of the gym, I bumped into the coach's athletic director, who happened to a a friend of mine. I decided to say something, but I was very careful about my words. "Your rookie coach is doing a great job. I've already seen a big improvement in your team over past season's teams. However, he needs to watch his language with his players", and I went on to describe what I had heard. The athletic director thanked me, and stated that there was no place for such language in any of his programs. I left feeling that I had done my little part as a basketball "carekeeper", and that by adding some positive comments, and carefully choosing my words, I really didn't think that I threw the coach under the bus. That said, if I didn't already have a good relationship with that athletic director, I don't know if I would have mentioned it.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by bainsey

I know how you feel, stir, but these guys have it.

I recall one like you had a few years ago. Seventh-grade girls game, home team getting beaten by visibly better away team. (Jealously of this away town is very apparent, even at this level.) Home coach calls time out and proceeds to guterrally scream at her kids. It was well beyond any typical yelling, and was entirely unnecessary.

When the anger turned to my direction ("that's not a foul up here, but it is down there?!?"), she earned her ABS technical. It's my only coach whack to date (six years), and the only time yet an A.D. recommended my partner and I wait for the gym to empty before we depart.

Like you, I also pondered for a while. Should I have pointed out to the coach that she was gutterally screaming at 12-year-old girls? Would that be proper game management or interference? Would I have whacked the coach had not been over the top earlier? Most likely not. Usually such words will only get a stop sign. Still, the only way I can answer it is when such dissent is turned to my direction, and it did.

If she screamed her comments to you, easy T. It's a possible ABS (as you suggest).

[grunewar]

I did a HS age G AAU tournament a few years ago with a coach who was just nuts! A real screamer! A "large man" (being kind), coaching a team from Baltimore....and they just weren't getting it.

"RUN THE PLAY!" "SET IT UP" "C'MON, THAT'S NOT WHAT I TAUGHT YOU!" "IS THAT THE WAY WE DO IT IN PRACTICE?" "RUN THE PLAY!!"

"Ref, give me a TO." "You got it coach."

"RUN THE PLAY!" "RUN THE PLAYS!" "WILL YOU PLEASE RUN THE PLAYS!" Just a yellin.

As I blew the whistle to bring the teams back from their huddles, I said to two team parents sitting at the inbound location, "So, you think they'll run the play?" One said, "We hope so!"

Ball in.

Well it appears they ran the play as it looked like something drawn up...... result, ten foot shot - AIR BALL.

As the other team got the rebound and headed the other way, I heard him yell, "Thank you!"

They won going away......

Worst screamer I ever had. But, that's the parent's problem as far as I'm concerned. As long as he's not being vulgar, swearing, etc. I just try and let it go.

[stiffler3492]

I had a screamer last season in a regular season HS sophomore girl's game. Kind of strange. He was a yeller at everyone. His players, us, etc.

Here's why I didn't have a problem in this game though...He would say his piece and move on without coming back to it. Even though he was yelling, I sort of recognized that he only had one volume. Was it showing us up? Maybe...but the fact that he would say one thing and move on didn't bother me at all.

Could I have T'd him? Probably, but I appreciated his intensity, and if it had been a problem I would have said something like "Coach, I really appreciate your intensity, but could you take it down a notch when you ask us a question?" IIRC, he was a reasonable guy, and I think he would have had no problem acquiescing (sp?).