How much do you talk to coaches?

[BktBallRef]

The ability to be approachable and talk to coaches is something that takes new officials time to develop. If they're experienced and you're just learning the ropes, they'll eat you alive. They know what to say, you don't.

As a few guidelines:
#1, first and foremost, answer questions but do NOT address comments.

Only talk to the coach when the opportunity presents itself.
Don't get caught up in a convo when you should be officiating.
Don't throw your partner under the bus.
Don't argue with him. If you disagree, walk away when it's obvious nothing is going to change his mind or yours.
Admitting a mistake is okay but once a game is enough.

I'm sure others will offer their thoughts as well.

[jTheUmp]

Silence can't be misquoted. If you can't think of an appropriate response, don't say anything.

Answer questions only.

Ignore comments (unless they rise to the level of a Technical Foul, then take care of business).

Only talk to the coach during a dead ball.

Keep your voice calm. Use a normal conversational tone.

Body language is important. When taking to the coach, have your arms at your sides or behind your back. Never fold your arms in front of you, this makes you look unapproachable.

You get a maximum of one "you're right coach, I kicked that call" per game. Use it wisely.

If they're questioning a charge/block call/no-call, I've found that it can help to include the phrase "legal guarding position" into your response. "Coach, the defender established legal guarding position and your player initiated the contact"

You can initiate conversation, but only to give factual information (Coach, you have 3 timeouts remaining), or to request their help with a situation (Coach, please stay in your coaching box).

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

Silence can't be misquoted. If you can't think of an appropriate response, don't say anything.

Answer questions only.

Ignore comments (unless they rise to the level of a Technical Foul, then take care of business).

Only talk to the coach during a dead ball.

Keep your voice calm. Use a normal conversational tone.

Body language is important. When taking to the coach, have your arms at your sides or behind your back. Never fold your arms in front of you, this makes you look unapproachable.

You get a maximum of one "you're right coach, I kicked that call" per game. Use it wisely.

If they're questioning a charge/block call/no-call, I've found that it can help to include the phrase "legal guarding position" into your response. "Coach, the defender established legal guarding position and your player initiated the contact"

You can initiate conversation, but only to give factual information (Coach, you have 3 timeouts remaining), or to request their help with a situation (Coach, please stay in your coaching box).

Yikes!!!!! Why would you do that? Unsolicited to boot. That's what ACs are for. It can only hurt you, should your info be wrong. When he's out,yes, as preventative medicine, I'll tell AC.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Yikes!!!!! Why would you do that? Unsolicited to boot. That's what ACs are for. It can only hurt you, should your info be wrong. When he's out,yes, as preventative medicine, I'll tell AC.

I check with the official scorebook during the timeout, and tell the HC after the timeout has ended. That way I know I'm not wrong. If the coach asks me when at some other point (during a FT, for example), I'll say "Coach, you need to ask the scorekeeper".

I also will let my partner know how many TOs each team has as the game's winding down.

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

I check with the official scorebook during the timeout, and tell the HC after the timeout has ended. That way I know I'm not wrong. If the coach asks me when at some other point (during a FT, for example), I'll say "Coach, you need to ask the scorekeeper".

I also will let my partner know how many TOs each team has as the game's winding down.

Why do you feel the need to check with scorekeeper to keep coach informed if he has 2,3,4 timeouts left.

The whole point is table tells you he has one left...YOU tell coach, table then finds mistake later in game and guess who gets blamed when he calls a TO and there isn't one left? You're right, not the table. Why act as his concierge?

Personally, I could care less when officials tell me how many TOs a team has left unless he's out. That said can't remember any Varsity partners telling me TO situation unless out. Just useless stuff.

I also don't want to train coaches to ask me how many TO they have which you mentioned(can't ever recall a varsity coach asking me how many they have left).

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Personally, I could care less when officials tell me how many TOs a team has left unless he's out. That said can't remember any Varsity partners telling me TO situation unless out. Just useless stuff.

If you know a coach only has 30s (or fulls), then you can just grant and report the TO. You won't need to ask a question with an obvious (to the coach) answer. More than one coach has become iritated at that question. Perhaps they shouldn't, but why even give them the chance?

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

If you know a coach only has 30s (or fulls), then you can just grant and report the TO. You won't need to ask a question with an obvious (to the coach) answer. More than one coach has become iritated at that question. Perhaps they shouldn't, but why even give them the chance?

I've had several coaches respond with an irritated "That's all I've got left." Ok, great. I don't know that for sure and it's not my responsibility to know that. That's what the table and the 5 clowns you have dressed up on your bench are for.

I get it. The coach's irritation is from the game and the pressure to win...whatever. And then you ask them a question that to them is obvious. But good staffs have an asst tell you what the coach wants or a coach can give u the full or 30 signal or just flippin say what they want. It takes a nano second.

Sometimes it works out that I do know what they have left but it's not a conscious effort.

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

If you know a coach only has 30s (or fulls), then you can just grant and report the TO. You won't need to ask a question with an obvious (to the coach) answer. More than one coach has become iritated at that question. Perhaps they shouldn't, but why even give them the chance?

I have a general idea, as a good table may tell me previously where we are. If a coach becomes aggravated because he didn't indicate what kind of TO and I have to ask, I'm really not worried how that effects my rating from him, much like I'm not concerned what he thinks of a call I made. Never had someone gripe yet. I ask respectfully and most coaches indicate prior to having to ask what they want.

That said again, if I know for certain, of course I proceed without asking.

After all, I am fullor30.................can't change to coachuhave2

[tomegun]

I had a conversation about this about an hour ago with one of my friends who is a rookie in the NBA this season. He told me that the "rule" has been to answer questions and not comments. He went on to say that isn't necessarily what we have to do because some comments must be addressed.

What brought this up was a game he was at today where one coach was an irritant and the other coach followed suit - the just kept making comments and calling out "ref". He said it was to the point where it was getting on his nerves in the stands. I can imagine he is more in tune with this than the regular fan since officiating is what he does for a living. The point is, the officials on the game didn't address the comments. Another reason he said they should have addressed it is because they were one 50/50 play away from either of the coaches going off. He said when that happens we often wonder why and it could have been prevented by addressing - through conflict resolution skills - the coaches earlier.

[26 Year Gap]

The coach is not supposed to be your friend. So, do not expect to win one over. Respond to questions asked with civility. If I have made a call off ball or where a coach may have been straightlined, I will answer a "What happened?" type of question. Good coaches will use that information to help coach their players. Too many new officials are told to "not talk to coaches" rather than given instruction as to when and how. I am still learning, and will be still learning on the day I hang up the whistle.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

The coach is not supposed to be your friend. So, do not expect to win one over. Respond to questions asked with civility. If I have made a call off ball or where a coach may have been straightlined, I will answer a "What happened?" type of question. Good coaches will use that information to help coach their players. Too many new officials are told to "not talk to coaches" rather than given instruction as to when and how. I am still learning, and will be still learning on the day I hang up the whistle.

One lesson that you (the OP, not the person I'm using here for a reply) should get out of the way (here, rather than on the court) is that coaches are not your friends. No matter how friendly and nice they are at any point during the game, they can and will turn on you in a heartbeat.

And even when calls go their way, they relate to the coach that "got screwed" more than they relate to you. Players are the exact same way.

Use this knowledge, though, when you talk with coaches. I'm friendly (until I have a reason not to be), approachable (until I have a reason not to be) and will answer any question that a coach has (within reason). Don't think for one minute that a coach's friendly nature and handshake means that it's an invitation for you to initiate a dialogue about calls that go against him to try to "explain" them away.

As a first year official, I'd worry less about this and worry more about some other things that you can control more. Be confident with your calls -- be able to look the scorer in the eye when you report and don't appear to be in a hurry to "get away". If a coach asks a question, answer it with as few words as possible and move on. Make it look like you're willing to listen to comments, even if the comments are worthless. Use strong signals and portray confidence when making calls.

It took me a long time to get comfortable with talking with coaches because when I started we (as a group)talked a lot less than we do now. I think.

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

The ability to be approachable and talk to coaches is something that takes new officials time to develop. If they're experienced and you're just learning the ropes, they'll eat you alive. They know what to say, you don't.

As a few guidelines:
#1, first and foremost, answer questions but do NOT address comments.

Only talk to the coach when the opportunity presents itself.
Don't get caught up in a convo when you should be officiating.
Don't throw your partner under the bus.
Don't argue with him. If you disagree, walk away when it's obvious nothing is going to change his mind or yours.
Admitting a mistake is okay but once a game is enough.

I'm sure others will offer their thoughts as well.

Pretty much covered all the basics right here. I agree with all of this.

I just had this conversation last night with a JV official who was talking about how to respond to a comment by a coach and talking with coaches in general.

I told her don't respond too comments, only questions. If you do get engaged with a coach during their commentary simply state something along the lines of "coach, if you have a specific question, I'd be happy to address it."

Veteran coaches know how to get a lot of commentary into their "questions." Sometimes a good, "Coach, we hear you" with a variation of the stop sign technique works well for me in those situations.

Technically, I believe we are only "suppose" to discuss rules questions. But the more experience you get the more you will learn how to verbally interact with coaches. And learning how to do so efficiently and effectively will go along way toward advancing your career as an official.

As a young official it's tough but I would suggest limiting what you say until you feel more comfortable in your responses. A lot of time coaches just want to be heard. As long as they are respectful, let them know you hear them (use body language) and as you gain experience you will gain confidence in what responses work for you.

[Toren]

I'm in my 2nd varsity year, so I'm a newer official.

I would say try things. Especially in the off season. During season like we are right now, I didn't say much my first year. I acknowledged a lot of comments at first with a nod but very rarely said anything.

In the off season, I tried conversing more and sometimes I found I overstepped and said far too much. Sometimes I found that I didn't say enough.

I saw my mentor, yesterday, in a game and he did something I never even thought about doing. Three man mechanics, we rotate opposite table as the calling official, but he simply said to his partner "I'm staying" and he had a brief discussion with the coach. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but it didn't matter, he acknowledged the coach and then addressed it. I did hear what the coach said, he nodded and said "I understand that" and then walked away.

Generally for me I would just talk to coaches when I was on their sideline and they had a question. But now if there's ever a dicey play that needs immediate intervention from preventing a blow up, I think I will try this tactic.