Did Team A do anything wrong?
 

The horn sounds ending the 1st quarter. The Head Coach for Team A is disappointed in the performance of his team and wants to give yell at them. So he takes his team into the hallway so the fans can't see nor hear him. He gets the team back to the bench and onto the court before the start of the 2nd quarter. Violation? Foul? :confused: Nothing?

Yep.

Rule 10-5-5: The head coach shall not permit team members to leave the bench area and/or playing court for an unauthorized reason.

This would not qualify as an authorized reason IMO.

I agree 110%

A step further: While the coach is in the hallway, you can hear him using profanity. Two whacks?

Is there a rule that says the coach has to keep is team in the playing area during an intermission?

I believe he is restricted to the TO area except at half time. I'll have to check tonight when I get home if no one else confirms this .

I'll just go with the one.

The second will likely come on its own when you let him know about the first.

It Depends On What The Meaning Of The Words Is Is (Bill Clinton) ...
 

It depends on how one defines "unauthorized reason".

I'm more looking for what the artist formerly known as Snaqwells is referring to, when a team is allowed to leave bench area.

Pennsylvania Of The West ...
 

I'm sure that we can all agree that the halftime intermission would be one of those "authorized" times. We also know, based on a recent interpretation, that the team is not allowed to leave the bench area with no time on the clock in the second period when free throws are to be taken by the opponent before halftime.

Any other authorized reason? As I've said before, pretend that I'm from Missouri.

Halftime is an intermission. The 1 minute period between the 1st & 2nd/3rd & 4th quarter is an intermission. Are teams allowed to leave the bench area during all intermissions?

I'm not asking about "authorized reasons", I'm asking about the timeframes teams are allowed to leave the bench area.

Who's Going To Step Up ???
 

Good question.

I've been perusing the rules, and caseplays, and I can't find any language that states that they are allowed to leave the bench area during the halftime intermission. Can the halftime intermission be an authorized reason because of tradition, with no specific rule reference?

Tradition (Fiddler On The Roof) ...
 

You have to ask about "authorized reasons", there's no way around it, because that's the only rule reference, that I can find, that allows teams to leave the bench area.

So the question, essentially, becomes, what are these authorized reasons, and I cannot find any rule reference to a single authorized reason, not even the halftime intermission. But we let them leave anyway. Why?

The scene opens in a small, rural, high school gymnasium, poorly lighted, half filled with spectators. The halftime buzzer sounds. Coach, wearing a plaid sports jacket, holding a rolled up game program: "Hey Mr. BillyMac. Does my team have your permission to leave the bench area and go to the locker room for our halftime intermission meeting?" BillyMac: "Just let me look through my handy, pocket sized, rulebook coach. I don't see a list of authorized reasons, nor do I see such a list in my handy, pocket sized, casebook, so, no, you can't leave".

Yeah? Like that's really going to happen, because if it did, I would never work another game for the rest of my life.

Now let's twist the situation around for one of the other two intermissions. Now it becomes a more realistic scene, maybe with an Academy Award winning performance by BillyMac. I could just see it now: "I'd like to thank all the little people, like the point guards, who made this possible".

Check rule 10 where it prohibits the coach from taking his team away from the bench area. My book is at home, and I'm at work, so I can't check. I was thinking it said "except half time", but I could be way off.

10.5.5:

"The head coach shall not permit team members to leave the bench area and/or playing court for an unauthorized reason."

No mention of exceptions.

Authorized ???
 

.. not even for the halftime intermission?

Now, just exactly what are these authorized reasons? Halftime intermission? Intermissions between periods one, and two; and between periods three, and four? Timeouts? And just exactly who authorizes these reasons? NFHS? Officials? And just where in the rulebook, and/or casebook, are these authorized reasons listed?

Another poorly written rule change not taking into account all the details, it seems.

My take, then:
The intent matters. Obviously, the committee wasn't trying to stop teams from going to the locker rooms at half time, so that would be an "authorized reason." A coach leaving the bench during a quarter intermission is different, though.

So, a right after they made this change, I had a coach have his players run sprints after the first quarter. I didn't think about it until it was practically over with, but decided I should have stopped him by rule. Maybe I was accidentally right?

Where is the restriction for timeouts laid out? Does that include the time following the odd-numbered quarters?

Timeout Restrictions ...
 

1-13-3: The time-out area shall be the area inside an imaginary rectangle formed by the boundaries of the sideline (including the bench), end line, and an imaginary line extended from the free-throw lane line nearest the bench area meeting an imaginary line extended from the coaching-box line.

Changes (David Bowie, 1971) ...
 

What exactly is this change that you speak of? What's the before, and what's the after?

Inquiring Minds Want To Know ...
 

Where in the rules/caseplays does it say that, and where does it say that the halftime intermission is an authorized reason, while the other two intermissions are unauthorized reasons?

I guess that tradition, and common sense, trump the rules, or lack of rules, in this case.

so far I'm not issuing a T.

Casebook 10.4.1B certainly implies that teams going to their dressing rooms at halftime is authorized. Just don't disrespect the officials while doing so. As for the coach taking his team out in the hall after the first quarter, theoretically, I guess he could say he just wanted his players to be able to remove their jerseys (without being penalized: 10.4.1C) to cool off a bit while also to hear some "choice" words of instruction. :)

In several of our discussions, here on the forum, and elsewhere, the understanding that - "If it isn't prohibited, it must be legal." - has been used for justification for points not specifically covered by the written rules.

2-4-4 REFEREE'S PREGAME DUTIES states "The referee shall be responsible for having each team notified three minutes before each half is to begin."

Case Book 2.4.4 infers that the team returning to the dressing room is permitted, with the stipulation that, having been notified three minutes prior to the start of the game, if the team delays the start by more than one minute, with "no excusable reason" a technical foul is charged, with reference to 10-1-5a.

That inference is also used regarding the team "returning to its dressing room" at halftime.

10-1-5b refers to the RoP procedure, as it pertains to a "time-out or intermission between quarters". There is no reference to where the teams must be, during the intermission between quarters, but the designation of a "time-out area" is strong inference that they are to spend a time-out in the designated area.

So, a Technical foul assessed to a team, for not being ready to start a 2nd or 4th quarter would be governed by the RoP procedure, with no consideration as to where the team must spend the intermission between the quarters.
As irregular as it may be, a team going out into the hallway during the intermission between quarters, and not delaying the start of the subsequent quarter, seems not to be prohibited.
JMHO - as wordy (sp) as it may be . . .

Seems like another good reason to go to halves. ;)

Where's The Like Button ???
 

Good citation, certainly better than citing tradition, or common sense.

We're close guys. We've got citations for halftime intermission (authorized), and citations for timeouts (not authorized), so lets put our heads together and close out the other two intermissions controversy and put this baby to bed.

What would be the purpose of prohibiting a team from leaving the room? Is it so they won't sneak in new players or switch shirts? (Like for instance switching a shirt from a player in foul trouble to another.)

I'm not sure there is a good reason to prohibit this ... they could attempt to do this at halftime so that can't be it. The reality is that they would have about 45 seconds away from the bench as they would have to be back before the 1 minute intermission is over. If they want to sprint to a hallway, I don't know why we would want to make that "unauthorized".

Honestly, I don't see any reason (certainly not rules based ... but also not rulesmaker intent based either) to prevent them from spending their allotted time between quarters in a nearby hallway. As long as they are ready to go when they are supposed to - I don't know why we'd want to make an issue of this.

To those mentioning timeout, I think we see in the book that the time between quarters is an intermission, and not a time out. Time outs are very specifically defined. Rules regarding timeouts do not apply during intermissions.