Can an official besides the WH eject players/coaches if he sees fit?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Jim D.

A WH can't overrule another official. Now we all (no matter what position we're working) will talk to another crew member if we think he's wrong, and we should never let the crew make a mistake.

A WH should always respect your flag. If he doesn't, you might as well stay home. The only way he should overrule you is if you're wrong (you called it illegal motion and it was clearly and illegal shift, or you penalized the player for a PF for cussing instead of USC, etc. The penalty still stands, he just gets to correct the call.)

I did overturn an ejection a few seasons ago. We were in the middle of a scrum and my partner and I saw the same activity and he said we needed to eject a player. I disagreed. Again, a case of two officials that disagree on the same play. And on that one, I won (at the time, I thought the game was better served with no ejection and I didn't think the offense really warranted a flagrant USC foul). When the WH has identical coverage with another official and disagrees with the other official, the WH is going to prevail -- right or wrong. It's happened once for me in many years this way. And I will also say I have considerably more experience in most cases compared with the members on my crew. I am not asking questions or guiding people's decisions in order to live my own power trip, it's just me doing my job. If the official can't explain a call or decision to me, how will he go back to his sideline and talk with a coach?

Where I live, I recruit people to my crew and I also deal with establishing and maintaining our schedule with commissioners and athletic directors. Let me say this: I may have no specific authority during a game to stop someone from ejecting a player or coach or calling any penalty, but I also have no requirement to keep an official who makes poor choices in this area on my crew, either. I've fired 2 crew members in the past 5 years (neither, actually, for on-field performance, not directly), so depending on how your area works, getting in a pissing match with the referee may not be a wise idea if you want to work on that crew or any crew.