Referees and Umpires: In your pre-Game meetings with coaches be real, real careful telling the coach what he can do and then repeat it back 3 times so there's no question.

Last night: BOTH coaches told me and my umpire they will sit in the press box. Of course I told both coaches their sideline designees can not call time outs. And, of course it went in one ear and out the other.

Game starts and in the 2nd quarter the Asst. HC wants to call timeout from the sideline. My linesman told him he couldn't and of course he went ballistic. Low and behold at halftime the HC comes out of the booth and was extremely frustrated with me indicating I told him preGame that he could have the assistants call a timeout. BS. BS. BS.

The asst. was yelling "But I'm the Assistant (emphasis) HEAD COACH...and head coaches are allowed to call a timeout."

My suggestion...repeat it back more than once. Even though I did this in the presence of my umpire and we got into a SHORT pissing contest "you told me this...no I didn't...yes you did..."

I handled it the best I could saying "Coach, perhaps we had a misunderstanding. I'm certain I told you and you're certain I didn't. So, let's move on, put it behind us and I'll accept accountability for the misunderstanding."

I bit my tongue the best I could. But, in the end he was OK. The bad part is the crew the week before allowed this.

So my advice: Don't only repeat it back a couple of times like I swear I did, but take the asst HC coach aside (which I didn't do) and remind him that he can't call a time out, then ask if he has any questions.

UGH!

Assistant head coach. Ha ha. I love that title.

The post was great advice, but whenever I hear this I think, "Are you sure" I have had coaches tell me, "But they let us do that last week" more times than I can count but it rarely pans out to be true. I think it is an angle many coaches try to get us off center. My usual response to that is, "Really coach, I need to know who your crew was last week so I can straighten them out." Only once did a coach actually tell me the name of the official that allowed something the week before, tinted visors, and it was our 30+ year veteran, and association interpreter, who goes balistic on the issue and doesn't think they should even wear clear shields so I know it was a stretch of the truth at best.

[Edited by BulldogMcC on Sep 18th, 2005 at 03:49 AM]

Guys, I know for a fact that coaches use that as an angle, I usually just say well not this week and usually no arguement after that.

I heard that just Friday night, coach wanted #50 to report for elgible TE, I told him that he could not, NFL rule, not NF. Of course, HC says, they let us last week! I told the coach, "that crew must have been getting ready for Sunday's game at Cincinnati."

He still did not like it! He did not know the tick rule, so my best understanding was that he could not comprehend the rule book. I ignored him all night! I really had to due to his inability to understand the rules.

the tick rule?

9-yard marks = tick rule

Ahhh okay.

My answer to the coach is always, "I'm sorry that the crew last week got it wrong, coach, but we will get it right this week." Doesn't usually elicit any smiles, but does get the point across.