Coach on the floor?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by jritchie

Had good/heated district game last night, 2 good teams. 4 pt game in 4th quarter, A1 and B1 coming up floor kinda bumped each other coming through traffic on fast break around mid court, when they got to 3 pt line they bumped again which wasn't accidental, Whistle double foul, then they get in each others face, whistle double T, I quickly jump in between players and other players come running up and grab own players to pull them away, the away coach from far end, comes running on floor, i would assume to make sure things were okay and no fight would occur. Question?

Assignor is at the game, comes in the locker room and asked why we didn't throw the coach? quotes rule 10.4.5 If a coach leaves the bench and enters the floor without being beckoned by the offical for any reason this is a flagrant technical foul and is disqualified.

I tried to explain that if there is a possibility of a fight a coach is allowed on the floor, he said we had it under control and he shouldn't of came on and should of been ejected or at the least T'd up.

1. what is rule for coach being allowed on floor to help with fight? am at work and can't look it up right now.

2. what do you all think? T warranted? ejection? We talked about it as a crew and thought that the coach was okay on the floor getting his players and pulling them back to his bench and that the T, would of definitely not been good for the game at that point of the game.

Visitors ended up winning by 4 and sinking 2 free throws with 2 seconds to ice the game.

JRitchie:

Your assigner was referring to NFHS Casebook Play 10.4.5 SITUATION B, and per rule he is correct. The HC, during a fight, is not to enter the court unless beckoned onto the court by the officials. That said, I would take a wait and see approach. When we have a volatile situation such as yours, the HC (and even the ACs) can be your crew's best friend. If he comes onto the court to take control of his players then I have nothing, BUT if he comes and does just about anything else (join the fight or gets confrontational with anyone) then he gets the big WHACK!

MTD, Sr.