Of Captains and Coin Tosses

[BoomerSooner]

I prefer to do it on the field at the prescribed time as it is written, but I've seen it handled prior to teams taking the field. I've even heard of an instance where the coaches met on a Thursday prior to a Friday night game, had their own coin toss and simply agreed to go with their choices no matter what happened in the actual coin toss if the referee didn't agree to go with their predetermined choices. I don't know if the story is true or if so what actually happened in the game, but I could see things going wrong with that arrangement.

That said, to what extent do you think the reason coaches want to be involved and have it done earlier is to prevent captains from making the wrong choice vs. wanting to know earlier to game plan for being on offense or defense first?

I ask because one of the funniest things I've seen in during a coin toss was the two visiting captains came to midfield both carrying 3x5 index cards. One of cards had Win written and underlined across the top of one side, then below that it read 1. Say "Defer" 2. Wait for other team's choice 2. Say "Defend South" or say "receive" if they pick a side. On the back side, it had Lose written and underlined with 1. If home defers, you say "Receive" 2. If home says they'll take the ball, you say "defend south". The other captain had had heads written on one side and tails written on the other and said pick a side on the bottom of each side. I knew this had to be an inside joke with the captains and coaches and possibly a sign that a captain had messed up his choice during a prior game. We all shared a good laugh at that one after the game.

[Rich]

We don't let kids make the wrong choice. Period.

When a captain defers their choice, I turn to the other team and say "Receive" and don't even wait for the answer before turning back to the team that deferred to see which goal they wish to defend. (I already know what the teams want anyway, cause I collect that from the coaches well before the coin toss. In 20+ years I've never had a team choose anything other than receive after the other team defers. If they did, I'd know already, cause the coach would've told me so.)

Likewise, on penalties, our wing gets the choice from the coach and I'll let the captain know what that choice is and what we're doing.

Nobody wins when we let 16 and 17 year olds make the wrong choice on the field. The kid doesn't, the team doesn't, we don't.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by Rich

We don't let kids make the wrong choice. Period.

Rich, I don't want to jump into the philosophical debate of how much officials should insert themselves into the process, but I think we can agree that not every official takes as hard a stance as you do on this and can also agree that captains come out and haven't been coached on how to handle the toss.

Any coach that has been burned by that situation has a clear motivation for wanting to do the toss early and away from the field so he can directly make the choice. I'm just curious as to if we as a body believe that is the motivation or is it to get a jump on planning offense vs. defense???

[Rich]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

Rich, I don't want to jump into the philosophical debate of how much officials should insert themselves into the process, but I think we can agree that not every official takes as hard a stance as you do on this and can also agree that captains come out and haven't been coached on how to handle the toss.

Any coach that has been burned by that situation has a clear motivation for wanting to do the toss early and away from the field so he can directly make the choice. I'm just curious as to if we as a body believe that is the motivation or is it to get a jump on planning offense vs. defense???

For me I think it's wanting to get a jump on offense/defense.

Also, I'm afraid we'd kickoff at 7:05PM instead of 7PM if we tried holding it 3 minutes before the kickoff. HS games are nowhere near as organized as college games. I'm thrilled we do it early. We know what side of the field we're going to and we head there for the anthem / introductions and we know whose football we need for the kickoff, etc.

[CT1]

Originally Posted by Rich

We don't let kids make the wrong choice. Period.

Likewise, on penalties, our wing gets the choice from the coach and I'll let the captain know what that choice is and what we're doing.

Nobody wins when we let 16 and 17 year olds make the wrong choice on the field. The kid doesn't, the team doesn't, we don't.

Agree 100%.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Rich

We don't let kids make the wrong choice. Period.

Likewise, on penalties, our wing gets the choice from the coach and I'll let the captain know what that choice is and what we're doing.

Nobody wins when we let 16 and 17 year olds make the wrong choice on the field. The kid doesn't, the team doesn't, we don't.

Nobody is suggesting you SHOULD ever " let kids make the wrong choice". The question is, "What is the best way to make sure that doesn't happen". Blowing the Captain off, ignoring him and dealing only with the Coach, will certainly avoid problems, BUT IT'S NOT THE ONLY WAY, or arguably the "best" way.

Knowing BOTH coach's preference BEFORE the KO, can avoid a lot of potential problems in dealing with a Captain's answers. Should an answer "seem" wrong, suggesting, "Excuse me, I may not have explained your options clear enough, allow me to rephrase ( while turning the Captain to face his Coach).

On penalties; explaining the options to the Captain within EARSHOT of his Coach and allowing him to make eye contact with his Coach before deciding (on those situations beyond a simply, and obvious, choice.

We're the adults, and should be able to figure out how to accomplish both paying the respect the Captain HAS EARNED while avoiding any unnecessary misunderstanding mistakes regarding choice decisions. It can also go a long way in gaining the Captain's respect, which may prove useful should unanticipated problems develop during the contest.