Dealing with coaches...

[Nevadaref]

Don't ignore unacceptable behavior, address it.
If you don't the coach will believe that it is permissible.

Remember that the coach is there to provide instruction to his team, not the officials.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Don't ignore unacceptable behavior, address it.
If you don't the coach will believe that it is permissible.

Remember that the coach is there to provide instruction to his team, not the officials.

First time at a camp that a coach dropped a vociferous F-bomb today. Guess he thought that was permissible. He did very well coaching from the bench thereafter.

[BigT]

Thanks so much guys. I have taken a lot of this to heart. Last Saturday I was at a GV/GJV camp and had a volunteer church official with me doing a game. He was doing a great job and I had a coach questioning a lot of calls. The rookie put up his hand to let the coach know we had heard enough. I come by later and he starts getting into with me. I said coach my crew has had enough with the running commentary. Immediately more chirping. Coach I just said enough. Immediately more chirping. That is at least 3 warnings to stop talking so I rang him up.

Thoughts on the T. I had a thought come to me after this T and I wanted to know if it was stupid or brilliant.

At this 3rd+ warning to talk the running commentary. Blow the whistle with a fist in the air. Send the teams to the bench. Tell the coach you have my attention what do you want us to watch for if there is one important thing you want us to do better the rest of the game. Listen for about 10-15 seconds. Go over to the other coach give him the same 10-15 seconds and ask him who he wants to shoot the T. Then turn and verbalize that you are giving a technical foul and administrator it. If the coach tries to stand at the next dead ball your partner tells him by rule you are only allowed to stand for time outs and talk to us about said timeouts. What do you guys think?

[BatteryPowered]

Originally Posted by BigT

Thanks so much guys. I have taken a lot of this to heart. Last Saturday I was at a GV/GJV camp and had a volunteer church official with me doing a game. He was doing a great job and I had a coach questioning a lot of calls. The rookie put up his hand to let the coach know we had heard enough. I come by later and he starts getting into with me. I said coach my crew has had enough with the running commentary. Immediately more chirping. Coach I just said enough. Immediately more chirping. That is at least 3 warnings to stop talking so I rang him up.

Thoughts on the T. I had a thought come to me after this T and I wanted to know if it was stupid or brilliant.

At this 3rd+ warning to talk the running commentary. Blow the whistle with a fist in the air. Send the teams to the bench. Tell the coach you have my attention what do you want us to watch for if there is one important thing you want us to do better the rest of the game. Listen for about 10-15 seconds. Go over to the other coach give him the same 10-15 seconds and ask him who he wants to shoot the T. Then turn and verbalize that you are giving a technical foul and administrator it. If the coach tries to stand at the next dead ball your partner tells him by rule you are only allowed to stand for time outs and talk to us about said timeouts. What do you guys think?

Personally...I like the way you handled it. You backed up your partner's warning verbally and (with the last warning) made sure he understood. Basketball, like life, is all about choices. Coach made his choice, you just administered the consequences of his choice.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by BigT

Thanks so much guys. I have taken a lot of this to heart. Last Saturday I was at a GV/GJV camp and had a volunteer church official with me doing a game. He was doing a great job and I had a coach questioning a lot of calls. The rookie put up his hand to let the coach know we had heard enough. I come by later and he starts getting into with me. I said coach my crew has had enough with the running commentary. Immediately more chirping. Coach I just said enough. Immediately more chirping. That is at least 3 warnings to stop talking so I rang him up.

Thoughts on the T.

3 warnings = at least one, probably 2 warnings too many.

I had a thought come to me after this T and I wanted to know if it was stupid or brilliant.

At this 3rd+ warning to talk the running commentary. Blow the whistle with a fist in the air. Send the teams to the bench. Tell the coach you have my attention what do you want us to watch for if there is one important thing you want us to do better the rest of the game. Listen for about 10-15 seconds. Go over to the other coach give him the same 10-15 seconds and ask him who he wants to shoot the T. Then turn and verbalize that you are giving a technical foul and administrator it. If the coach tries to stand at the next dead ball your partner tells him by rule you are only allowed to stand for time outs and talk to us about said timeouts. What do you guys think?

no. No. NO. A thousand times, NO.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by BigT

...Thoughts on the T. I had a thought come to me after this T and I wanted to know if it was stupid or brilliant.

At this 3rd+ warning to talk the running commentary. Blow the whistle with a fist in the air. Send the teams to the bench. Tell the coach you have my attention what do you want us to watch for if there is one important thing you want us to do better the rest of the game. Listen for about 10-15 seconds. Go over to the other coach give him the same 10-15 seconds and ask him who he wants to shoot the T. Then turn and verbalize that you are giving a technical foul and administrator it. If the coach tries to stand at the next dead ball your partner tells him by rule you are only allowed to stand for time outs and talk to us about said timeouts. What do you guys think?

No, no, no. Ackknowledge (I hear you coach), Warn (ok coach, that's enough), then T. After giving a T there should be no more conversation.

[Andy]

While I love the creativity and would fantasize about doing this to a mouthy coach that just won't stop....

You are doing the thing that we, as officials, absolutely don't want done to us...showing up the coach.

As was said previously, we (the officials) are generally the only people in the gym that do not have an emotional investment in the outcome of the game. We need to remain professional at all times and not lower ourselves to the emotional level of the participants.

[JRutledge]

I do not get this "showing up a coach" thing. It think that is ego driven and does not get to how we solve the problem. If they ask a legitimate question we have the option to answer it. If they are making statements, we choose to ignore most of those unless they are excessive in yelling or acting in a way that their behavior is over the top. If a coach is acting a fool, my reaction my show that. They are the ones that are acting in a way that could be considered over the top. We should stay calm, but we have a right to respond in a way IMO to stop their behavior for escalating. If they "show us up" we have methods to take care of that. If we act unprofessionally, there are methods to handle that as well. And sometimes unconventional methods should be used if it fits your personality or experience.

Peace

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by BigT

At this 3rd+ warning to talk the running commentary. Blow the whistle with a fist in the air. Send the teams to the bench. Tell the coach you have my attention what do you want us to watch for if there is one important thing you want us to do better the rest of the game. Listen for about 10-15 seconds. Go over to the other coach give him the same 10-15 seconds and ask him who he wants to shoot the T. Then turn and verbalize that you are giving a technical foul and administrator it. If the coach tries to stand at the next dead ball your partner tells him by rule you are only allowed to stand for time outs and talk to us about said timeouts. What do you guys think?

Let me add my voice to the "Ugh, please don't do this" crowd. Third warning? A warning is a warning. Unless you said, "Coach, if you do not stop, I shall ask you to stop a second time!" Warning are worthless if you can't follow through. Don't warn unless you are willing to do so.

[deecee]

When a coach has reached his limit with me regarding complaining I just say, "I've heard/had enough." He's grown enough to understand what comes next.

If a coach is unhappy about a specific call and hasn't been a PITA I generally just say, "I got your point let's move on." He's grown enough here as well to understand what comes next.

When working with less experienced officials who are taking a beating I generally tell my partner that the next time the coach says something just tell him you've had enough. If it's a stoppage in play also tell me that you have warned to coach. I also, if I think that my partner has taken enough abuse for the crew, at the first sign the coach is going to whine to me, he gets his warning. Crap from a coach is accumulated as a crew IMO, and it shouldn't be individually earned.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by deecee

When working with less experienced officials who are taking a beating I generally tell my partner that the next time the coach says something just tell him you've had enough. If it's a stoppage in play also tell me that you have warned to coach. I also, if I think that my partner has taken enough abuse for the crew, at the first sign the coach is going to whine to me, he gets his warning. Crap from a coach is accumulated as a crew IMO, and it shouldn't be individually earned.

Why don't you protect your less experienced partner and not permit the coach to abuse him? After "enough abuse for the crew" the coach doesn't deserve a warning, he deserves a T.

You should certainly not instruct an inexperienced official to tell a coach to stop. That is something which a veteran should do for his newbie partner.
Unfortunately, you still aren't ready to lead a crew.

[deecee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Why don't you protect your less experienced partner and not permit the coach to abuse him? After "enough abuse for the crew" the coach doesn't deserve a warning, he deserves a T.

You should certainly not instruct an inexperienced official to tell a coach to stop. That is something which a veteran should do for his newbie partner.
Unfortunately, you still aren't ready to lead a crew.

I prefer to lead by allowing the less experienced the opportunity to deal with this issue themselves. If they show that after instruction they cannot handle the situation then I can step in. We are not dealing with infants but adults, and I remember when I was new and partners just jumped all over doing whatever they thought or wanted to it annoyed me. I would rather have been instructed as to what the proper way to handle a situation was and given the opportunity. Of course if a coach is so belligerent then by all means my partner could step in, and I would appreciate a, "I did that because..."

We all lead in different ways. You, I can guess, lead by a dogmatic approach of I am right and everyone else is wrong. I am happy that works for you.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Why don't you protect your less experienced partner and not permit the coach to abuse him? After "enough abuse for the crew" the coach doesn't deserve a warning, he deserves a T.

You should certainly not instruct an inexperienced official to tell a coach to stop. That is something which a veteran should do for his newbie partner.
Unfortunately, you still aren't ready to lead a crew.

I'm going to give my partner a crack or two to handle the situation himself. If he's good enough to be assigned to a particular game, I'm going to assume (at least at first) that he's capable of handling a coach.

There's nothing worse for the crew, IMO, than a veteran jumping over the rookie at the first sign of trouble. It makes the rookie look incapable, it makes the veteran look aggressive. That said, I won't let a coach run the bus over a younger official, either. But I'll try to handle it in a way that doesn't (1) show up the coach, (2) show everyone I have no trust in my partner and (3) make it look like I have it out for the coach.

[k_st8r]

Listen to the content and volume. I don't respond to statements...generally. Pick your battles call your game, don't be trolling the sidelines for trouble from the bench, if you troll long enough something will attract your attention, and deviate all the attention from the court and the game.

Accusations, emphatic physical behavior, loud and attention gathering verbal outcries, still boohooing about a NO call 2 trips later.......1 warning, if needed a physical a "stop sign"..... continued behavior, "here's your sign!" "T"

It is rare that this is unpredictable, you can smell it coming like bad gas.
Exceptions maybe.... a specific incidental call, injury play. We are not perfect, we do HAVE TO MAKE A CALL. we can not stop the contact/foul from occurring, we can merely choose to call something, or not.

In closing.... there is a big difference between a Varsity game Coach conduct, and Tournament ball, AAU, USSSA,etc...

BIG DIFFERENCE.....................

[BigT]

Great comments all around. I appreciate and look forward to using the suggestions at a National tournament this weekend.