I had a game once where the captain said they wanted to kick. I made him well aware that if he kicks then he'll most likely kick to start the second half as well. He assured me that is what his coach said. It turns out he was right. This team liked playing defense. The coach was a defensive minded coach and wanted them to set the tone for the game. Since then I will now talk with the captains on the sideline, as will the umpire, about coin toss options. If the captains are confused they can consult with their coach prior to going out for the toss.

Is he still the coach...seems kind of stupid to let the other team get the ball both halves. Is his name Dave Wannstadt (former Bears coach)?

Let's put it this way, we've had things like this happen before where a kid was told a very specific thing by his coach and he got confused. His options were explained clearly and then he made a different choice. His coach then blew up saying we had convinced his captain otherwise.

Our policy is to not influence the players' decisions. We are not there to decide what happens in the game.

A touch judgemental here, without knowing that team's strength. Perhaps their defense is their primary scorer? Perhaps they know that their defense is strong enough to pin and hold the opponent deep in their own end?

glyphrunner, it is called humor, try it sometime!

It is obvious from this statement from the original post: Home Captain: "We'll defer and defend that goal" (indicating the west goal). That the captain was a bit confused.

They did exactly as they planned. Stopped the offense and got the ball right back in good field position. Apparently they figured they'd get better field position on defense than they would with a kickoff return. The coach must be doing something right cause they went on to win the state championship in Texas that year and they are number 1 in the polls this year as well.

When I wear the WH I ask the coaches when I talk to the prior to the game if the captain knows what to do if they win and if the other team defers. That way you can point the kid in the right direction if he screws it up. Bottom line here is we all talk about preventative officiation and I think the toss falls right into that thinking. Why start the game or the second half with a pissed off coach? Knowing what the kids is supposed to do and "helping" him get there makes things much easier.

Poor game management. When he said, "We defer and..." you should just tell him that he only gets to defer right now and he has to wait a moment on the goal to choose. You should not have reopened the other options - he already told you EXACTLY what he wants.

ANY time you are faced with a kid about to give the other team the ball both halves, you need to make sure that's REALLY what he wants.

REPLY: I don't look at it as a captain having four choices. It's actually a two-tiered set of options:
FIRST DECISION

• Choice in the first half, or
• Defer and take choice in the second half.

SECOND DECISION

• Kick
• Receive
• Defend a Goal

So I approach it that way: "Captain, you've won the toss. Would you prefer to make your choice this half or defer and wait till the second half?" Only after that decision is made, will I even begin to mention the three options that need to be considered.

Same way as Ref In So CA recommended.

We had it in a game Friday night. The home team won the toss and chose to defer. At the beginning of the second half, the captain said they would kick. After the WH asked him if he really wanted to kick the ball away and give it to the other team he figured that what he really wanted to do was to receive. Who knows what the kid was thinking.

I know...he really wanted to receive! Why else would they defer, we sometimes are really reading way too much into these scenarios!

We had a game a couple of years ago and the captian said "We want to kick the ball." So I asked him again and he said "we want to kick the ball." So I asked the other captians if they were sure of his choice and another captian said "we want to defer to the second half." I said great choice, and the first captian broke in and said " Gdit, we want to kick the ball." :mad: So they got to kick off both halfs that night. :p I felt we tried to help but we couldn't make the choice for the team.

Under Switzer, the Sooners used to do this all the time. The FOP for their first series, after a 3 and out and a punt, was almost always around the 40, whereas after the other team kicks it's usually much further back. Sound strategy if your defense is as dominating as theirs was at that time.

If we get 100 high and 100 college coaches in a room and ask them if they want to kick-off both halves what would be the number of coaches that would say, "hay that is a great idea?" NONE, my bad, that one Texas HS coach would.