Any crews run into this: During a game we were at the pre-game with the HC of the Home team, when reminded about the TO rules this year he stated that he was in the press box and that he would designate a coach to call the TO. When we told him that was not allowable, he got a little upset and said the other crews have been letting him do it all year.
So now we look like the a$$es for enforcing the rule.

Anybody else have trouble when crews b4 them do this, and what have you done about it? we brought it up at our association meeting, and no one owned up to it.

No, I haven't run across that specific problem. The only time it bothers me is when a coach tells me that a crew before has let a kid play with a tinted eyeshield or without a note for a cast. That bugs me. Although I haven't heard that yet this year, I have in past years. I never know if I'm not getting the full story from the coach or if there are crews out there actually doing that. And like you say, no one owns up to it at association meetings.

Maybe try, "Well you were given an advantage last week Coach, but it isn't gonna happen this week."

Do you guys have weekly meetings and go over unusual plays and coach/player antics? I feel very fortunate the fellows I happened to have my first officiating exposure are very professional and take the resposibility seriously. We work on the rules and mechanics every weekly meeting.

I do belive there would be some ticked off people in our association if we were told what you were told and it was one of our guys.

We haven't run into the problem with the coach in the pressbox but at times we have run into the "they've let us do that all year" comment. We do have one coach in our area who always is in the box. One crew reminded him that he could not designate someone on the sidelines to call a time out and he said" he knew that but he still feels like he is being discriminated against." Not sure I disagree with him.

Coaches always try to get the upper hand by saying "they let us do it last week." Enforce it as it is suppose to be and report it to your assignor or association.

That happens all too often and if officials communicated among themselves it would happen less often. In areas where schools are serviced by different associations the problem is harder to fix but if the same association services a school that problem can easily be fixed by communication among officials.

Hehehe, funny story...Coach has a kid with a cast. WH asks for doctors note, coach gets upset, says no crew has asked for it all year. WH says "kid can't play". Coach says there is a doctor who comes to all the games, is on the sidelines, and will sign a note for him when he gets there. WH says "fine". Doctor comes and starts crossing the field before game, but before he gets to the sideline, WH asks if he is the doctor. Doctor says yes. WH says that the coach said he will sign a note about the boys cast. Doctor says "where's the old note?" WH says, "what note?" Doctor says "the note...the note they've been showing all the crews all year?" :) WH says, "coach doesn't have it". After getting the note signed, WH goes to coach and says "where's the note you been showing all the other crews this year?" Coach suddendly gets sheepish and says "I left it in my wife's car". Lesson is coach's try to use whatever they can to intimidate a referee to let them slide.

"They let us do it last week!"
"I know that kid, he wouldn't do that!"
"Let em play!" (Translation: "Don't call that on our team!")
"We've been using that play just like that for years!"
"That's holding!"
"He was down first!" (Normally called from at least 40 yards away, through two teams of players)
"Really? When did they change that rule?" ("1971 coach" or, in a lot of cases, "Before you were born coach")

Any of these sound familiar?

Coaches have pulled this stunt as long as there have been gullible officials. The officials "last week" always let coaches get away with murder.

Try this. Ask the coach for the name(s) of the WH that let him get away with breaking the rules. Call him on a cell phone and find out what really happened. Do this in front of the coach. 8 out of 10 times you'll find that the coach was not totally straight with you.

If you find that the coach told you the truth, report it to your board.

Exactly, I believe they just say that most of the times to get us to allow them to do it. Gotta be smarter than the average bear, or in this case coach.

What do you do when the average bear is smarter than your coach?

Who would let the coach with the title "Head Coach", who wants to coach from the press box, say that his defensive coordinator or another coach, who is on the sideline, is the head coach for that night?

At lower levels we are supposed to ask who is the head coach for that game as the head coach is usually not there. So if the head coach wanted to give that title to another coach for the purposes of calling timeouts would you allow it?

Similarly, if the head coach is in the press box and you have multiple sideline interferences, more than three coaches in the box, so that you have to eject a coach do you eject the head coach in the press box or a coach from the sideline?

This was clearly covered as part of the rule change. You can't just designate a HC "for the night." If he is in the box, no coach can call timeouts (NFHS).

I understand all that.

How many times do you go to do a game and don't know who the head coach is prior to arriving at the game? They could run "anybody" out in front of you and call him the head coach and you might not know the difference. I'd be surprised if it hasn't happened somewhere.

Also if you have a JV game and the "head coach" is there but an assistant is being the head coach who are you going to allow to call the timeout?

Or 3 7th grade games where you have the same coaching staff (and I'm sure only 1 is listed as "head coach" for the school), but there is a different "head coach" responsible for each game.

I see no problem simply asking - who's the head coach - and then proceeding accordingly, with that guy in charge for the duration of the game.

I hate those guys. Being under 21 (I'm a youngin--second year official) I get a lot of flack from the coaches. But I don't have rules stuck from the 1970s like a lot of officials do.

We had an ineligble receiver downfield a few weeks ago, and when we replayed the down the defensive coach (my sideline) went nuts saying it was a loss of down. I mean, he was CERTAIN it was loss of down. He said he wanted to protest, and when I told them that the GHSA doesn't recognize protests he said he wanted to talk to the white hat.

Evidently, back before I was born IRD was a loss of down and the coach just had a flashback.

Well, I don't think it was before you were born, but it was quite a while ago that they changed the inelgible downfield. And believe me, once you get something like that in your head, it is hard to get out. I still have to think about it when I go to administer one.

As far as Georgia not allowing protests, didn't they have one last year that resulted in a big mess?

On Friday nights I have crew cards already written up and usually have the coach's names (from the state website) already written down. If I get a different name when greeting the head coach, I know which questions to ask.

I know officials who still think R needs to have 5 players by their restraining line on kickoffs (and to this point, I have always seen them realize their error before the play).

I would like to see the previous week's game just once, because the rulebook didn't seem to matter in that game.

Ineligible downfield was last penalized with a loss of down in 1987.

This site will provide hours of enjoyment:

http://football.refs.org/rules/index.html

--Rich

Wow, '87? Gettin' old I guess, at least it feels that way some mornings.

Your lucky. Here unless we do a lot of research ourselves we don't know who the coaches are until we talk to them. No reliable websites to get coaches names from for smaller schools. I do the research but even then I might not get the right name due to coaching changes during the season (have had a couple of those in my area in the last 3 years).

We only know where we are going and earlier in the week we tell the home team when to expect us.

While the rule says a head coach is the only one that can call time out, you have to give some latitude. After all, with varsity squads there are head offensive and defensive coaches who really control their portion of the game.

Before the game starts tell the "head coach" he is the only coach who can call time out and it must be him personally on the sidelines. Of course, any of the players on the field can call time out.

Once the game starts weigh the situation when you hear that request for time out. If it is a critical situation and you hear "time out," grant it. You don't want to accused of causing that great play to happen.

But during that time out remind the head coach he owes you one and remember time out can only be called by him.