Intentionally Leaving The Court. Violation?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by Knights_Coach

We had a game 1/26/15, it went like this:

During the 4th quarter, Team A's(them) player fouled out and this also put Team B(us) at the free throw line. Well, Player A gets so mad he leaves the bench area and playing court headed to toward their locker room. The referee spotted the occurrence, didn't allow us to shoot the free throws & told Team A's coach, & the other 2 refs he had to come back. Mind you Team A(us) is waiting to shoot free throws. The referees waited for him to return to the bench all while we waited over 1 minute. Team A never received a technical. I argued my point, tried to get a referee to come to me but was ignored. Never got an explanation.

NFHS 2014-15 Rule 10: Fouls & Penalties Section 5: Head Coach Rules, Article 5 states: The Head Coach shall not permit team members to leave the bench area and/or playing court for an unauthorized reason.
PENALTY: (Section 5) Two free throws plus ball for division-line throw-in. The foul is directly charged to the head coach.

That rule was put in to address the entire team leaving at the end of a half when the other team had FTs still to shoot.

In general, I think the officials got this one right.

[APG]

If I had that coach's scenario happen in my game, I think I would go the route of reminding him that if he's going to allow his player to leave the playing area, that he needs to be accompanied by adult personnel.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

That rule was put in to address the entire team leaving at the end of a half when the other team had FTs still to shoot.

In general, I think the officials got this one right.

An example which the NFHS gave when first publishing the rule was a team member leaving the bench and going up into the stands to confront a spectator.
Technical foul charged to the head coach was the ruling.

[Knights_Coach]

Hey guys, no harm here. I've coach middle school basketball and this is my 8th year. I was only asking, because it's a rule in the NFHS Rule Book. This is the first time this happened.

Not to sound smart, but I didn't know refs could pick and choose which rules to enforce or whether if it was up for interpretation or not.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Knights_Coach

Hey guys, no harm here. I've coach middle school basketball and this is my 8th year. I was only asking, because it's a rule in the NFHS Rule Book. This is the first time this happened.

Not to sound smart, but I didn't know refs could pick and choose which rules to enforce or whether if it was up for interpretation or not.

It's not about picking and choosing, it's about knowing what the rule was meant to address and applying the rule accordingly.

Personally, if a coach sends a player to the locker room, I'm going to simply remind him, "Coach, just a reminder that he needs to have an adult with him." I'm not going to call him back, and if he does return, I'm not holding the game up while he comes back.

And feel lucky the refs weren't being that literal with the rules, or they would have given you a technical foul for trying to influence an official's decision.

[Knights_Coach]

Thanks Adam for your quick reply but, the coach never sent him to the locker room. He was so upset that he fouled out. They were the #1 team with a record of 11-1, we were the #8 team w/ a record of 1-11. It was the 4th quarter, he fouled out, he was upset. They were losing.

I wasn't trying to influence the call. I was looking at my player getting ready to shoot his FTs. Never looked to the other bench. The ref blew the whistle, ordered the young man back, and held the ball. I didn't go, "oooohh, he left the floor/bench." Had the ref never had blew the whistle and ordered him back. Probably, no one would have known.

I'm sorry if I sound full of emotion. You have got to understand, we lost in OT by 1, this happened minutes before the OT. 2 FTs and a possession is worth more than gold at that time.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Knights_Coach

Thanks Adam for your quick reply but, the coach never sent him to the locker room. He was so upset that he fouled out. They were the #1 team with a record of 11-1, we were the #8 team w/ a record of 1-11. It was the 4th quarter, he fouled out, he was upset. They were losing.

I wasn't trying to influence the call. I was looking at my player getting ready to shoot his FTs. Never looked to the other bench. The ref blew the whistle, ordered the young man back, and held the ball. I didn't go, "oooohh, he left the floor/bench." Had the ref never had blew the whistle and ordered him back. Probably, no one would have known.

I'm sorry if I sound full of emotion. You have got to understand, we lost in OT by 1, this happened minutes before the OT. 2 FTs and a possession is worth more than gold at that time.

I get why you're upset, but other than the delay, what advantage was gained? The rules aren't put in place to trip up a team who forgets proper protocol, they're for safety, to prevent an undue advantage, and to promote sportsmanship.

In your situation, I'm likely to simply tell the coach that his kid needs to be supervised per NFHS rules. Then, we're going to shoot your free throws.

The rule that says a kid who leaves the court has to be supervised is the one that's at play here, and there's no penalty for noncompliance (at least not during the game). The technical foul was not written for this scenario.

[Knights_Coach]

Adam, I get what you're saying. I have got to let it go. I'm just venting. I do think that this causes some interpretation instead of following the rules. I do believe it's put in there for preventive officiating.

From what I heard, the reason it's in there is for everyone's safety. I was told that he may harm himself in the locker room or what if he had a weapon in his bag and came back out w/ it because he was upset and harmed others.

[BryanV21]

Originally Posted by Knights_Coach

I'm sorry if I sound full of emotion. You have got to understand, we lost in OT by 1, this happened minutes before the OT. 2 FTs and a possession is worth more than gold at that time.

I wouldn't expect such a call in that situation unless it's absolutely called for. While I don't believe in calling things differently no matter the score or time of game, the fact of the matter is I don't want to make a call that can decide the game without being 100% sure I was right. And like people have said, calling a tech in this situation is not 100% right.