Head coach arrives late
 

Looking for opinions on how you would handle this weird situation...

A team's actual head coach is running late to a game for whatever reason (I have seen it happen before), so the game begins with the acting head coach in charge. Either the acting head coach or other bench personnel is hit with a technical foul, so the acting head coach has to sit. The team's actual head coach shows up after all this. Will he inherit an indirect technical foul and have to sit for the game even though he was not present?

Yes, he will "inherit" the indirect.

Similar to what happens when the head coach is EJ and the assistant takes over.

I'd probably give him a choice. He either inherits the indirect, or the gave moves forward with him as the assistant coach.

I'm curious how you treated the Assistant Coach when he was assuming the role of Head Coach.

Was he allowed to stand? Was he allowed to ask questions? Basically did you give him as much rope as you would a head coach?

If you answered yes to any those questions, then the Head Coach would inherit the indirect technical and the coaching box would be lost.

If the Assistant Coach was sitting the entire game and said something inappropriate or whatever else earned him the T. Then I see no problem with Adam's solution.

My 2 cents.

I should be clear, either way, the HC is sitting the rest of that game.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but if the actually HC is not present, that is not my issue. I would assume that would be made clear by the team before the game anyway so that we know who is responsible for the team. I would treat the actual AC like any other HC that was there. Now if the HC comes in the middle of the game, then someone needs to explain why that was not stated before the game. But most of all, I would probably report this to the Administrator and Assignor to see what they would like in the end. Never had this issue take place so I can only speculate what I would do if this were to actually happen. And any T that took place would not change whether the HC stands or not. Any bench T takes away the HC coaching box responsibilities, so I am good with applying the rules accordingly.

Peace

There is no rule basis for the head coach to "inherit the indirect". Fouls are assessed to a name in the book. If he gets two more indirects, I am not going to eject him.

The head coach rule is assessed to the head coach. He definitely inherits the seat belt.

Just my two cents. I think the rule could be read either way, i.e., that an indirect is recorded against a named head coach or against that team role.

I'm thinking this through.
Scenario 1: AC, while acting as the HC, earns a direct T. Once the HC arrives, he will be informed that he his AC earned him an indirect T while he was away, and the coaching box has already been forfeited.

Scenario 2: While AC is acting as HC, A7, sitting on the bench, earns a technical foul for being stupid. HC should be informed when he arrives that he has an indirect T and thus no coaching box. ACs can't get indirects, so this one is the HC's all along.

Alternate procedure that applies in either case: AC is informed he has two choices. He either takes on the role of HC for the entire game, or none of it. If he chooses door number 2, we can start the game with him on the bench coaching his kids, but he won't be able to utilize the coaching box nor request time outs. If he wants a TO, he'll need to have his players request it from the floor.

And yes, I agree with Jeff, the situation is exceedingly rare at the organized level. At summer level, whoever starts as HC will remain HC until he disqualifies himself.

But we have three head coaches...
 

I once had to stop a varsity game because a team had 3 people standing up to coach. When I told them only the HC was allowed to stand and/or address the officials I was informed that "we are all co-head coaches". Of course, they had to pick one and the other two had to sit down. Only one HC gets the box!

I don't care what someone's "official" title is - when the game starts and one of the coaches has declared himself or is acting as head coach then he is HC for the entire game (its how we treat the AC/HC during JV games). When the "real" HC does arrive he will be treated as if he were an assistant and will need to stay seated. The AC who started the game acting as HC can continue in that role.

As an alternative, if the AC comes to me before the game and explains that the HC is running late, then I see no reason why the AC can't choose to coach from the bench and when the HC gets there he assumes his role and all responsibilities/consequences asigned to it. This would include any indirects/seatbelts that have been earned. I would treat it as if he were there to start the game and then had to step out of the gym for some reason (restroom, get some equipment, needed a hot dog). While he was gone he is still responsible for his bench so he takes on the consequences.

Now, since I do follow tat old adage that its the exceptions that make a rule, if I knew we were dealing with strange circumstances and I knew the HC was there but handling the strange situation I would probably allow some reasonable leeway. For instance, if we were at a small school with no trainer and a JV kid got seriously hurt so the HC was dealing with parents, EMS, etc. (true story) then I would not be such an A double S about it. But the situation would have to be one of those once in a while things or I am going with normal procedure.

By the way, is there not a case book play about switching coaches during a game? I'm going to look as soon as I get home but I feel there should be one, even if from years past.

And if this were situations that took place in the summer, we likely do not have a coaches box anyway and no one really cares. But during a regular season game if that was the case, that is how I would handle these situations for the most part.

But this is one of these "Referee shall make decisions on any points not specifically covered in the rules." (Rule 2-3)

Peace

We use the coaching box here during the summer, and it's not rare enough to see them try the "co-head coach" garbage.

Well games are often on often played in side gyms, multiple courts in a field house and a coaching box is not a priority. Heck games are so laid back and so informal, that this almost never is an issue. Heck there are even times there are no benches, so coaching box is the least of our concerns.

Peace

In PA, this would not be an issue, because we have a MANDATORY captains meeting at which the 'HEAD COACH' must be present.....and if the real HC is absent due to being late, then the HC for that game is the coach attending the captains meeting........

If we are talking regular season this is the case here too, but not sure there are any rules that cover this situation specifically so it would be up to the officials to decide what we allow the actual HC to do if he/she shows up. I would assume that in the meeting we would find out that is not the real HC, but there are places you might go and have no idea who that is unless you probe and ask further.

Peace

The Constitution State ...
 

Connecticut (only) rule:

Captains-Head Coaches-Officials pre-game meeting should occur prior to start of game. If the head coach
refuses to attend the meeting, notify Board Commissioner, who will notify the school athletic
director and CIAC.