First big one

[ChuckElias]

My minor exception from my first college varsity game:

Setting: D2 game, visiting team is ranked #6 in the region. Tight ball game, but no real problems all afternoon.

Time winding down, and home team leads by very slim margin, 4 maybe 5 points. Visitors hit a 3 to cut it to a 1 or 2 point ball game with less than 10 seconds remaining. NCAA rules, so clock is stopped after the made basket. Home trying to inbound, but visitors are pressing hard. I am trail official on the bench side and as my partner gets to about 4 on his 5-second count, I hear home coach request TO.

So I blow my whistle, point to home bench and announce "time out". But apparently the visiting coach thought the whistle came from my partner and that a throw-in violation had been called.

Basically, I wasn't forceful enough in communicating what I was calling. Each coach thought they were getting the call. When I explained that the TO happened first, he went just bonkers. He freaked out. And then I doubted myself. I thought "Jeez, did the wrong team have the ball?" I couldn't figure out what got the guy so jacked up.

But the fact was, I made the right call (granting the TO), but I didn't communicate it well enough to my partners or the coaches. That was a good lesson learned. Sometimes it's not enough to get the call right. In that particular situation, everybody has to know immediately what the call is. Communication!

Chuck