I've had a couple of games this year where someone in the crew came in and said "Hey, we have a time-out before the violation". It was no big deal.

This one is not so bad... Not sure I'd do it exactly that way, but in this particular case, if it DOESN'T go, you can't give him a timeout anyway, so he's really just asking for a timeout if he's allowed to have one.

NO WAY. No. Never. His "heads up" to you should, at MOST, make you stay aware of him, with an ear peeled toward him. But what if you were to decide, at 3 1/2 seconds, that "they cannot inbound the ball" - and then he does. This one is fraught with problems if you call one before he says it or signals it.

Agreed. It certainly happens.

Yep. As I said in both posts, it was a heads-up notice. I mentioned "he was about to call it", but his team got the ball in.

Are you talking about a situation where the officials whistled for the timeout before the 5-second violation whistle? I was talking about a situation where no timeout is granted, until the officials conference and say "well, the coach wanted a TO before the violation, so let's give it to him." Like granting a timeout after the fact. FYI: I would never do this, please do not criticize.

Just re-read your post. I've never even had a coach make such a request.

Here's the essence of what I said: I hope I never have to deal with a situation where an official calls a timeout for a coach. I can see a coach saying "hey, grant me a timeout before the 5-second throw-in violation", and then the official calling it for the coach.

Where Eagles Dare
 

Somewhere from out by the bottom of the eastern slope of the mountain range separating Seattle from the rest of the state, I can detect a faint, gratified, "You bet I am!!!"

Well, you shouldn't have if you did ... all you have to say is, "Coach, take it up with the scorer — he had zero time-outs left for you in the book."

How hard is that?

By rule you must inform them when they have zero remaining. At some point you're going to get burned by not informing the coach when he is out, just like this crew did.

I always informed them when they only have ONE remaining as well. No, the book doesn't say that you have to do that, but it doesn't say you can't. And telling them helps prevents problems!!

Problem #1: "Thinks"

Problem #2: Not telling the coach he was out of timeouts. If you do this, he likely starts throwing a fit saying, "I didn't call timeout!!!" ... And then you just get both teams back on the floor immediately and put the ball in play.

Problem #3: You don't have to T him — and you shouldn't. This is your crew's screwup. You granted a time-out that was not requested. That shouldn't be charged to the head coach and the team shouldn't be penalized for something your partner thought happened. This was your chance to right the wrong — explain what happened to both coaches and the timeout counts for no one.

Best thing to do is learn from the experience. If you do that, it's most likely that you'll never find yourself in that same predicament!

100% WRONG!!!
Your position on this matter is untenable.
Follow the NFHS rule and stop doing it your personal way.

It's almost as wrong as your bedside manner. :eek: