I rang up a VB coach during the JV game last night. He was assisting the JV coach. I told him he'd get his chance next game but not now. He gave me the "go to hell" wave and thats all I needed.

He wouldnt look at me the rest of the game. He caught a loose ball and when I headed to him to retrieve ball he just rolled it the other way.

He just about got tossed

Confucius Says ...
 

Like little children, assistant coaches should be seen, and not heard.

I get the feeling from some varsity coaches feel they are above jv officials, and can therefore do or say whatever they like. That makes me give them a shorter leash than I normally would.

Toss him.

This same situation happened to me two weeks ago. Head coach just got a T. Kid shooting 2 for the T, bricks the first FT hard. Ball bounces straight to this coach. As I'm headed toward him to collect the ball he tosses it across the court to my partner. Shoulda ran him but didn't. I will next time, and I hope you do as well.

I did something similiar when I first started officiating back in '03...my first year I stuck the varsity boys coach who was the assistant jv coach and guess what-over the past 9 years as a varsity referee I have not had one single issue out of him! Sure, he has asked for an explanation on a few calls over the years, but it has always been done in the proper and respectful way.

Maybe that T will earn you some respect in the future!!!

If this happened in a varsity game, would you have responded differently?

I try to be patient and I understand the competitive nature of the game for both coaches and players, but anytime I am in that situation which you described and a coach reacts the way he did-it is time to go ahead toss him from the gym. There is no place for that on the high school level, or any other level for that matter!

Bottom line-blatant disrespect or an attempt to show up either of my partners or myself will result in immediate penalty! PERIOD!!

Head Varsity coach not on bench
 

Ok, so what do you do when the head varsity coach is sitting across the floor from the JV team. Varsity coach blurts out "That's terrible! You cannot make that call" to one of my partners. Is he just a fan at that time? I looked at him an shook my head and he didnt say anything else, but what can we really do?

I would have tossed him without a second thought.
I hope you didn't chase the ball.

I had an AC yesterday that couldn't have been more than 20. I didn't hear anything from him, but my partner did, and let him and me know he wasn't going to hear any more. I kept it in the back of my mind.

Cut to the second half, this team has a frontcourt endline throw-in. I'm the T, near his bench. Says the AC to his big forward, who was waiting for the TI in the lane, "watch the three seconds!" I cringed, waited for the next dead ball, and leaned into to him.

"Sir, there's no three-second violation on a throw-in."

Normally, I don't talk to ACs, but who else is going to tell him?

That's an easy toss. Shocked you didn't.

On the bench and/or huddling with the team, he's a coach. Away from them, or across like you said, he's just another fan.

A few years ago, in a JV Mens game, a gentleman joined the bench during the 2nd quarter, sitting at the other end from the HC. He immediately started in with the verbal critiques of our work. I told the HC that " You need to tell the gentleman on the other end that I won't hear from him again!" HC responds, "But, he's the Varsity HC!"
I told him, "You're the HC for this game! Don't let him run over you like that!" And he went to the the Varsity HC and talked to him. Shortly thereafter, the VHC left the bench, to sit across the gym.
When we met with the captains and HC's for the Varsity game, he was cordial, and we had no problems with him during his game.

I remember years ago I was working a game in a "Private-Christian" conference. They gym was not very filled and the visiting team had a call go against them on the other end in the first half. Well I was the Trail, near the bench and 5 coaches started yelling at me (I did not make the call).

I simply said, "Coach, I will answer any question you have, but I am not listening to 5 people yell at me when you are not saying anything. The HC turned around and said, "Will you guys shut the **** up!" I did not hear a peep out of the entire bench the rest of the night. ;)

Peace

I have zero tolerance for bench personnel. If an asst. coach pipes off or the players object to calls loudly or demonstratively its a T from me everytime. Head coaches get a little more lee way but only so far. Then its a warning (if their lucky) and a tech follows the next time the line is crossed.

I found an exception to the rule today.

Small Christian school pairing, middle school boys. Head coach was wheelchair bound; assistant was his father. The AC used the box frequently, even guiding kids to the table.

I spoke with my young partner at halftime about it, and decided it was best not to touch that. We still kept all communication with the head coach (disqualified players, delay of game warnings, etc.), but left all the legwork to the AC. I'd love to meet the rigid soul that could object to that.