I'll be Seeing These Guys Tomorrow

[stiffler3492]

Broadcasting, not officiating. Should be fun...

Referees and Grafton coaching staff confrontation during Wisconsin high school basketball game - YouTube

[pfan1981]

I always was sort of envious of officials that get to work the playoffs.....maybe not so much anymore .

Good luck man,

[VaTerp]

I give them credit for trying to take care of business but why so much conversation with so many of the assistant coaches? I had to watch twice just to figure out the guy with the suit on was the HC.

They should have only been addressing the HC, especially after sticking his bench.

And it looks like someone from GM of the home team gets involved with the visiting bench. That really shouldnt be happening unless he's asked to do so.

And FWIW, I think the kid definitely got fouled on the shot. Tough to see in 2-man but he got hit.

[Bad Zebra]

Wow. Was game management involved in that mess? Way too much discussion with the bench by the officials...and holy cr@p! How many assistants were on that bench? Looked like they had more coaches than players.

If you're going to whack 'em...do it and move on. This looked like a nightmare in the making.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

Wow. Was game management involved in that mess? Way too much discussion with the bench by the officials...and holy cr@p! How many assistants were on that bench? Looked like they had more coaches than players.

If you're going to whack 'em...do it and move on. This looked like a nightmare in the making.

I had the same thought about the number of coaches on that bench! Good grief.

And no clue why at least one of those assistant coaches wasn't tossed. Possibly even two or three.

And also no clue why the two refs stuck around that bench area for so long. The young looking guy with the "Sit down now!" repeated three or four times really cracked me up.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

Wow. Was game management involved in that mess? Way too much discussion with the bench by the officials...and holy cr@p! How many assistants were on that bench? Looked like they had more coaches than players.

If you're going to whack 'em...do it and move on. This looked like a nightmare in the making.

In IL, you're allowed 15 team members, and 22 total "bench personnel plus players". The V team often brings the S and F coaches to the playoffs. Since those coaches are used to standing / actively coaching (vs. assisting), it can lead to some interesting dynamics.

[OrStBballRef]

Agree with most of what has already been said here, but what I'm curious about is which AC got the T (video cuts away)....reason I'm asking is if it's the one who I think got it, it looks like he was in the huddle(s) when the officials were talking to the HC.

Going into the throng of players and coaches there at the end of the quarter to talk to the AC....bad.

Continuing to talk to AC/HC combo (I too took awhile to realize the person in the suit was the HC) even worse.

In that situation best to let the HC know that before any conversation takes place that he needs to get his bench under control. Then we can have a conversation...

I'd be curious to know if bench decorum had been dealt with before this sequence of events...2 minutes in a youtube clip just doesn't explain show what happened before (and I'd bet this was going on prior to this play)...

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by OrStBballRef

Agree with most of what has already been said here, but what I'm curious about is which AC got the T (video cuts away)....reason I'm asking is if it's the one who I think got it, it looks like he was in the huddle(s) when the officials were talking to the HC.

Going into the throng of players and coaches there at the end of the quarter to talk to the AC....bad.

Continuing to talk to AC/HC combo (I too took awhile to realize the person in the suit was the HC) even worse.

In that situation best to let the HC know that before any conversation takes place that he needs to get his bench under control. Then we can have a conversation...

I'd be curious to know if bench decorum had been dealt with before this sequence of events...2 minutes in a youtube clip just doesn't explain show what happened before (and I'd bet this was going on prior to this play)...

+1

Especially the bolded.

[zm1283]

+1 on everything that has been said. This is waaaay too much interaction with the assistants. I wouldn't entertain the HC at all unless the howler monkeys were under control first. Chances are, with the way they were acting, at least one of them wouldn't be around very long anyway.

[JetMetFan]

Seriously, what was there to explain for that long while in the team's bench area? "Coach, assistant #X picked up the T for complaining and it needs to stop." Heck, I doubt I'd even say that much.

[letemplay]

Others have said it...a case of way too many assistants. I'd bet at least a couple are former HC's that, for what ever reason (I'd offer a guess), lost that position and cannot behave benchside like an assistant should.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by stiffler3492

Broadcasting, not officiating. Should be fun...

Who are you seeing tomorrow? The Grafton team or the officials from this game?
Was this a playoff game?
Does your area have consolation games? The video shows that despite leading 36-35 at the end of 3 qtrs, Grafton scored a whopping 9 points in the fourth and surrendered 20 to lose 55-45.

BTW I don't see the whole scene as that chaotic. It isn't good behavior. It isn't smoothly handled by the crew, but the officials don't seem to lose composure. Strangely, there is some person, possibly and admin, who comes over behind the bench and chastises the coaches, then gets shooed away. Don't know his role or if he made things better or worse, but doubtful that he is someone for the officials to worry about. I don't believe that he is a coach from the opposing team. I could be mistaken here.

Bottom line: a T was issued, the officials heard some from the staff, it was passed the time to walk away and get on with administering the game.
I wouldn't have any ejections. I've seen far worse behavior from coaches.
By penalizing this and keeping it to only one T and just 2 FTs, the officials seemed to be doing the fair thing for the kids involved.

[stiffler3492]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Who are you seeing tomorrow? The Grafton team or the officials from this game?
Was this a playoff game?
Does your area have consolation games? The video shows that despite leading 36-35 at the end of 3 qtrs, Grafton scored a whopping 9 points in the fourth and surrendered 20 to lose 55-45.

This was a regular season game. I'll be seeing the Grafton team.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

the officials don't seem to lose composure.

True, but they don't have things under control either.

[Brad]

Just watched the video and have not read the other comments yet*—*wanted to throw in my unsolicited feedback first

I don't know about the rest of the game or how it was officiated. The no call isn't the worst in the world ... yes, it is probably a foul, but it wasn't ridiculously awful and I can understand having a patient whistle here and passing on it.

SIX assistant coaches is beyond ridiculous. If this trend continues I can imagine the NFHS or state associations putting a rule in about it ... of course, the rules committees are generally run by coaches, so probably not.

Anyway, on to the technical foul... We don't see it, but I am assuming it was well deserved since there are at least a couple of others that *could* have been well deserved in the video that we DO see. The administration of the technical foul, however, was poor and the officials did several things that caused them more grief and trouble than necessary.

1) The best thing you can do after a technical foul is to shoot the shots and get the ball back in play as quickly as possible (without being so quick that you mess something up). Once the ball is back in play, the coaches will (most likely) go back to coaching. The entire time you are administering the technical foul shots they have nothing to do but say something to you, complain further, etc.

2) Since this technical will be administered at the beginning of the 4th quarter, we have an extended time period directly following it. That is out of our control. What is in our control, though, is where we spend that time —*which should be on the opposite side of the court from the coaches. Do not go over there. Do not engage. Do not explain. Get away!!

3) The officials engage the head coach and many of the assistants —*there is no reason for this. Talk to the head coach. Let him know you will talk to him and ask him to have his assistants sit down. There is no reason to argue with any of the assistant coaches —*especially when there are 6 assistants!!! You are in a losing battle.

4) Demeanor goes a long way. If you are standing 3-4 feet from a coach it isn't necessary to make hand gestures*—*like wiggling your finger in the air in admonishment, or leaning towards the coach with a stop sign signal.

Also, if there is an issue with the assistant coaches standing you should tell the head coach and ask him to have his assistants sit down. Waving your finger/hand down and yelling "Sit down!" across the court is adversarial and unnecessary. If you ask the coach to have his assistants sit down, he will then turn and ask the assistants to sit —*the request is coming from the coach not you, which makes a difference. You should see a better result —*and if you don't, you can assess a technical foul as necessary and the head coach has no excuse or complaint, since he was informed about it by you earlier.

Look at the demeanor of the officials in the screen caps below and ask yourself what message it communicates.