Taking care of business vs. being a nice guy (long and somehwat of a rant)

DrakeM · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:26pm

Game situation last night.
Tight ballgame throughout. In the second half, I notice the visiting coach, 6 feet onto the HOME TEAM SIDE OF THE FLOOR!
I check to where the ball is, and hit my whistle.
I walk up to the coach and say, "Coach,look where you are!"
To which he replies, "Am I bothering the game?" So I make him get back at least to HIS SIDE of the floor.
Later in the game, (under two minutes 4th quarter) he does it again! The game is a 1 0r 2 point game at this time.
Again I try to get him back. One of the assistants even came off the bench to grab him. The ball gets stolen, and while ball is loose, two girls dive for it. My attention is on the Coach and my partner, gives the ball back to the home team. I go to the bench and tell the assistants, that if he goes over the line again, I'm going to have to Whack him. They nod emphaticly.
Meanwhile, visiting coach doesn't like the fact that home team got the ball and calls time out, all the while staring my partner down.

Jump to the end of the game, and his team loses by three.
Now keep in mind, that the only controversial play in this game is the one where we gave the ball back to the home team on the loose ball OOB's.

As we are leaving the floor, I see out of the corner of my eye, visiting Coach running after us.
He proceeds to go into a profanity laced tirade, and the home team's AD has to physically restrain him!

Here's what ticks me off. I am a firm believer in taking care of business. However, certain people in my area have told me to be more approachable, blah blah blah. So I have bent over backwards (IMHO) this year to be non confrontational, to listen to coaches and players, and to try to give the benefit of the doubt.
Problem is, what good did it do us? We gave Visiting Coach, every break when it came to the Coaches box, in fact I'm shocked that the Home coach wasn't all over us for not "T"ing this guy the second time he crossed mid-court!
He broke both mine and my partners concentration to the point that we were both concerned with his actions. Ihave always been taught that when that happens, you "T".
I didn't do that, gave the Coach a break,and look where it got us! I guess the only positive is that in our report to the State, we can safely say we bent over backwards to give him a chance.
Next time though, I WILL take care of business!

Hawks Coach · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:33pm

I am not a big fan of strict coaching box enforcement, but I get really irritated if someone decides that they can come in front of my bench to coach their team. One warning is all I would recommend, and let them know that they will be whacked if they cross half court again. You have to have a reasonable limit, and crossing the center stripe is one that I think must be respected.

DrakeM · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:40pm

I agree,and that is what bothers me about the way we handled it. In a tight ball game, and not wanting to punish the team for the actions of their coach, I decided against doing what I knew was best and it didn't get us anywhere positive in the end result.

Dan_ref · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:41pm

IMO his reply to your first warning ("Am I bothering the game?") was him carrying a sign saying "I am a jerk and deserve whatever I get." You done good with the first warning, you should have T'ed him when he tried it a second time.

I'll add that "nice guy training" paid off with your warning. But sometimes being a nice guy aint all it's cracked up to be.

[Edited by Dan_ref on Feb 12th, 2003 at 02:44 PM]

rainmaker · #5 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:43pm

Quote:

Originally posted by DrakeM
Later in the game, (under two minutes 4th quarter) he does it again! The game is a 1 0r 2 point game at this time. Again I try to get him back. One of the assistants even came off the bench to grab him. The ball gets stolen, and while ball is loose, two girls dive for it. My attention is on the Coach and my partner gives the ball back to the home team. I go to the bench and tell the assistants, that if he goes over the line again, I'm going to have to Whack him. They nod emphaticly.
Meanwhile, visiting coach doesn't like the fact that home team got the ball...

"Coach, T for turnover, or T for technical. You choose..."

DownTownTonyBrown · #6 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 03:58pm

Coaching box, if that is what allowance you are giving him, ENDS 28 FEET from the end line - unless your State has given some further latitude or other direction as to placement of the box.

In my opinion the coach should never be in front of the scorer's table. To cross the division line means he has assuredly left his coaching box and proceeded to, even if momentarily, restrict the view of the timer/scorers.

You are right Drake, stepping outside the rules in an attempt to be a good guy can very quickly backfire. Intentional abuse or making up his own set of rules "Am I bothering the game?" needs to be immediately rectified and further abuse should be punished.

Here is the rule coach. Your box is back here. And you have stepped well beyond its limits into the realm of Technical Fouls. You need to get back to YOUR bench.

I would not have stopped the game to make this correction. I might have ran nearly ran into the coach as we switched ends of the court and said, "You need to get back to your bench." or "Are you lost little boy?"

The game situation should not effect your decisions about blatant violations. Blatant violations should be punished. I wouldn't have liked to do it but would probably have T-boned him with the second violation.

The answer is "Yes, you are bothering the game! get back to your bench." His position was distracting you from your work.

JMHO

devdog69 · #7 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:03pm

I guess I'm a little confused, what level was this and what size is the coaching box? In my area, we have a six foot coaches box from the 28' to the 22' line (I think). If a coach is across halfcourt he is WELL beyond the legal limit, depending a little on the size of the court. I don't think I would have blinked an eye before T'ing him up the FIRST time. I have had one coach this year who was AT halfcourt once and I did give him a warning, but mostly because the table and bench area was so cramped that he was only about 6-8 feet out of the box.

Hawks Coach · #8 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:04pm

As I read the posts, I realize some of it can sound sort of harsh.

Drake, I should make clear that I side with Dan in that you are to be commended for trying to work with the coaches and not to make a violation of the coaching box rule decide the game. But in this case, you may have let something go that you couldn't afford to just tolerate and correct. And every experience leads to more learning. It appears that most would agree that you allowed too much latitude, but I wouldn't worry about it as much as learn from it.

Your overall intent to be more receptive to coaches will work in your favor. It can only make the game better if you can work with the coaches. Just make sure that your more receptive self draws some limits up that you will not allow coaches to exceed. With that in mind, you'll do great.

Mark Padgett · #9 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:15pm

Confucious say, "First T is the warning."

canuckrefguy · #10 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:16pm

Drake,

Don't abandon your nice-guy philosophy, just insert appropriate limits. Ushering the coach back to his box without stopping the game is acceptable, and if he keeps violating, so is a T. His comment about "am I bothering the game" would have led to an auto-WHACK the next time if I had been in your spot. But you were there, and you had a feel for the game.

Officiating without coming off as "officious" is a valuable tool, stay with it. It's that mix of nice + firm that we're all looking for.

TriggerMN · #11 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:18pm

If he's across half court, ding him. There's no excuse for that. No warning needed. Period.

stripes · #12 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:45pm

Drake I think I can sympathize with you more than most here, because I know exactly why this is an issue for you with the approachability issues. I know you are trying to do the right thing by being a good guy, but he's simply too far out of the box, IMO. I might understand one warning if he is coaching (maybe), but the second time you have to get him, once again IMO. You know that the video will show him being inf front of the table so it is very defendable if the film and a complaint makes it to Jerry. Tough spot given the perception some have of you...

bigwhistle · #13 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 12, 2003, 04:46pm

I agree that the first violation could be handled with "niceness". I would not have stopped the game, however. When you tell the coach to honor his box and he comments "am I bothering your game?" you can tell him that the other coach is respecting the box and that he is gaining an unfair advantage for being so far away from the box.

Second incident should probably have resulted in a T when his position on the floor distracted you from making a call. He DID take you out of your game.

LepTalBldgs · #14 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 13, 2003, 12:52am

upon hearing "am I bothering the game" to T him for the action of being out of the box and then responding with a smart remark. It sounds like I would be in the minority.

Adam · #15 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 13, 2003, 01:03am

Quote:

Originally posted by LepTalBldgs
upon hearing "am I bothering the game" to T him for the action of being out of the box and then responding with a smart remark. It sounds like I would be in the minority.

That was my first reaction, too. I'm not sure it would have been my first reaction if I'd been in Drake's shoes. After reflecting on it, though, I'd like to think I'd whack him after the comment. If not, next time he got so much as in front of the table, whack.