How tight is the seat belt?

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by Smitty

In my association, we were specifically told this season to give a little more respect to assistant coaches. The leadership of our association had a sit down with a bunch of coaches last off season and got their top list of gripes about officials and the top gripe was how we treat assistant coaches. Not that we should take any crap from them but we should afford them some respect until they prove they don't deserve it. We allow them to ask questions at timeouts as long as it's done in a respectful manner. Part of the reasoning is that they will be tomorrow's head coaches. I'm fine with it - it's caused me to rethink my philosophy on assistant coaches as I was always told they have no rights in the past. I kind of like it because I do think we tend to treat them like turds right off the bat and that may be unfair (some of the time).

As far as the OP, since the T was on the assistant, and as long as the coach was coaching during those 2 second standups, I would probably ignore it. Why stir the pot?

What does this mean exactly?

I will answer questions from asst's during timeouts and am cordial/professional to them. Hell, I use to be an asst coach.

But I am not going to listen to any chirping or sideline officiating from the bench. And I get the sense that this is the overwhelming feeling of my association as well.

[MD Longhorn]

"we should afford them some respect until they prove they don't deserve it."

As an aside, I once, long ago, had a mentor say something similar, but significantly different. Something like, "I respect assistant coaches tremendously, until they prove they exist."

Yeah - that's beyond my line... but it was funny.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

"I respect assistant coaches tremendously, until they prove they exist."

Should not have read that while taking a sip of water.

Good one.

On topic: I'll answer any coaches (or player's, or even any bench personnel's) question, as long as it's asked a) at an appropriate time and b) politely and respectfully.

[Raymond]

During an extended dead ball I had assistant coach tell me last night that I needed to tell my partner about something the AC supposedly witnessed. I told him "i'm not going tell my partner what you saw". He then says "Well, what do want me to do, yell across the court at him". I said, "no, I want you to not say to anything at all to us".

[Smitty]

Originally Posted by VaTerp

What does this mean exactly?

I will answer questions from asst's during timeouts and am cordial/professional to them. Hell, I use to be an asst coach.

But I am not going to listen to any chirping or sideline officiating from the bench. And I get the sense that this is the overwhelming feeling of my association as well.

I should have been more clear. What you said is pretty much how we were told to treat them. It is not a "complain to the refs free" card, rather we don't automatically treat them like they're insignificant. I think the mindframe a lot of people are told is that assistant coaches have no rights whatsoever and people take that to an extreme - meaning they won't even entertain a legitimate question during a timeout. Hence that being the main gripe from head coaches.

As far as them being future head coaches, I did mention in the past how much pull head coaches have here in Texas. They can determine (as a district) which officials association will officiate their games. So that changes the perspective of the leadership of our associations - coaches have more power than they probably should here and it is part of the business of the association to give them a good product. How that is interpreted is subjective, but it is what it is.