I posted a comment. it has to be approved by Coach Mac before it will appear.

I can hardy wait to see if he posts it or what his reply might be.

Or even better, he gets one technical after the other. That would be great too. Now he/sh is ejected and he/she just gave their team 2 more shots and lost the ball. That is a possible 7 point swing.

And many times when coaches get ejected, they act like we have to tolerate everything they do after the first one. Good luck with that one.

Peace

I don't like number 2. I know a lot of coaches, and I don't mind them calling me by my first name. But when a guy I just met starts repeating my name during the game, it is just annoying.

Could you share your reply with us?

Many of you insult his credentials and level "Coach Mac" coached at, but I think the article is clearly written for beginner coaches and youth league coaches (where they do have the opportunity shake hands). In fact his whole website seems to be for beginner coaches. I don't envision high school coaches going to his site for advice. And, I think most of the advice he gives seems like good common sense. And, it probably would work to some degree with the officials in the youth leagues, many of which are youths themselves.

That's a ridiculous answer. There will be many times a coach did not get a good view of a play. I will always look for the mechanic given, but sometimes I miss it. Good officials will always give this information when asked properly.

I think he was referencing a situation where a coach tries to put a ref in a hard situation by asking a general question then contesting the ref's answer. I can tell when a coach is trying to be an ash-hole about it, and usually don't answer.

I agree with what you wrote, but there is a difference between a coach saying "I didn't see the play ref, what did you call?" and "Ref, what is my player doing wrong for you to call fouls on him?"

I think that is a horrible answer for his question. The author's point was each referee is in a different point in their development. One referee may have in their mind something that is a violation or foul that a seasoned referee does not. The way this question is asked by the coach to the referee is to get from the referee on that game, what the player needs to do to prevent that call from being called against his player. Basically, the coach knows the rule but the referee may not. I think this is a very polite and productive way of approaching the situation that I am not going to get upset about.

I agree. If you ask me respectfully, I'll tell you. A coach may not be able to see something from his/her angle or the player may genuinely not know what (s)he did wrong. However, if I start giving an answer and the coach either cuts me off or says "that's not what happened," I'm done. Asking me a question then telling me I'm wrong doesn't cut it.


As I said elsewhere, my ex calls me by my first name and that doesn't get her any brownie points either. I'll respond if they call me since that's what my mother named me but I don't want it to be a habit, especially if I'm calling them "Coach."

Just reminded me of something...thanks.

I've never seen such a divisive non-issue as whether an official calls a coach "Coach" or by his first name.

I've been using first names for going on 30 years. The fact I do that at my levels isn't going to be changed by some Referee magazine poll or by someone in my association telling me it's a bad idea, in their opinion.

At higher levels, I'd do what I'm told by the people who hire me, but at my level (HS varsity only) there isn't that level of control where I live.

I'll only call a coach by his first name if his name is "Technical". ;)

We meet with coaches before the game to introduce ourselves and shake hands, and there have been plenty of times after games where a coach has shook my hand (although it wasn't because I was sticking around, they just caught me on my way to the locker room). Doing that is not just a "lower level" thing.

Coach Bill, this is just like an official telling officials to say i the pre-game meeting, "The black mark is out all the way around the count." It shows a lack of understanding higher levels of ball if that is part of your pre-game routine. To suggest someone shake hands after a game, shows that that person has probably never done many high school or varsity and higher games. Every one of those levels officials do not stick around long enough to shake hands. And if he is dealing with beginning coaches, then he is not giving them very good advice. I run a beginning officials class for basketball (and teach one for football) and we do not tell the new officials to do things that are bad habits or that will not carry them through their career. We teach them things that will make them look like a varsity or college offiical by nothing more than their actions and how they speak. And many youth league officials in my experience are not kids, they are adults that also work high school. Actually the youth ball is to make some easy money. Doing these things not only might get you "taught" it might get you with a guy that really is not thinking about you that deep in the first place for any of these things to work as stated in the article. At least in my state, it is not kids that are working these games. It is older guys in their 40s and 50s that are just getting into officiating because their kids played and now are in college and they are looking for something to do.

Peace

I do not think it is a non-issue. It is an issue for some and that is the problem with the advice. It is also a values issue and you will offend the wrong people if you call them by their first name. That is why I do not call coaches by their first name unless I know both coach in a similar fashion and even then I default to "Coach" when referring or talking to them.

Ultimately you do what you want, but if you do not know me, I do not want you calling me by my first name. I do not do that in business or personal. You are Mr. or Mrs or Sir and Ma'am to me. I still do not even feel comfortable calling people by their first name that were adults when I was a kid. But I was raised that way and I still believe in that way of thinking.

Peace

Honestly, that makes it even worse for me. Beginning level coaches should coach, and not worry about trying to win friends and influence officials.

The ball they're coaching is going to get officials who, for the most part, fall into one of two categories.
1. Beginners who may actually get flustered by getting "worked" too much. This won't always go the way the coach wants it to.
2. Veterans working to shake off some rust or to "give back." These vets aren't likely to put up with being "worked" by some rookie coach who learned some great tactics from Caoch Carnegie.

Beginning coaches can work on communication with officials, to be sure, but don't go in with the mindset that it can affect the calls. Do it with the mindset to learn more about the game (beginning officials should approach coach communication the same way, IMO).