Coaches on field- live ball foul?
 

I have a friend that is now a middle school coach and he described the following situation that happened to him last week:

Onsides kick- his team (receiving team) recovers the kick and think the game will be over (a minute left in the game). But all of a sudden, a flag comes out and the ref says "I told you coaches to get back!" (mind you the onsides kick was on the other side of the field and my friend was maybe a yard on the field).

He thinks, ok, it's a dead ball foul, mark them back 15 and they take a knee... But the refs let K re-kick the ball as if it was a live ball foul and, of course, K recovers the subsequent onsides kick.


So, 2 questions:

1) Is this the correct enforcement?
2) Would you have called this?


Thanks!

-bossman

Sounds like a "have to be there"

A Sideline warning has no penalty yardage on the first offense, and then if it was after kick (dead ball) then yes, R would keep the ball.

I'm fairly sure that there is probably another side to the story, hopefully there arent officials that are that bad out there

The first sideline warning is a zero-yard issue and we play on, no replay or repeat. All normal sideline interference and unsportsmanlike fouls on the coaches or sidelines are succeeding spot enforcement penalties.

It sounds like they got a coach for being on the field during play and flagged him for USC. However they used a previous spot enforcement instead of succeeding spot.

I would not have called that especially on the opposite sideline as to where the play ended.

I'm with Warrenkicker here, except if a coach is on the field and gets in my way to where I have to go around him or I run into him, that may earn a sideline interference flag from me - which is a succeeding spot enforcement.

In that case Opie, where you haven't issued a warning yet but the coach gets in the way during a play and you flag him for sideline interference, do you go with a 15 yarder?

If the coach is on the field and I run into him, and the play is to my side, yes, 15 yards, no warning.
Hopefully you don't have to do this and you've given the warning earlier. And where the play is on the other side, I probably tell the coach something like "coach, I had to go around you because you were on the field. Please stay back in the future to avoid a sideline interference flag." Coaches usually appreciate this.

Technically speaking, "letter-of-the-law" enforcement on this is always 15 yards. The warning, followed by a 5-yarder, followed by 15-yarders is when a coach is outside the team box, but not on field. e.g.: standing on the 20 yard line beyond the sideline

I have typically given warnings as well but if we all enforced it the way the fed wants us to it would probably put an end to coaches encroaching on the field.