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

Originally Posted by HLin NC

Similar experience happened to me about 8 years ago. I had about 7 years under my belt then but had moved to a new region. My first scrimmage with my new group, a LB grabs the TE coming off the line and holds him. I flag it and the WH starts yelling "that's not pass interference" at me. After the play was over, I calmly told him "I know, I've got Holding on the defense".

Sometimes if you are a young and/or inexperienced official, veterans will try to overcompensate for you. Its not usually done intentionally.

Had a similar experience last fall. A receiver was in motion in the backfield, and just a moment before the snap, turned up field, and was in the neutral zone just as the ball was snapped. (Pretty fast, but I caught it because it was on my end of the line) I blew the play dead, flagged it, and reported it as a false start. My white hat looked at me and said you don't have a false start, you have an illegal motion, and you let the play go. I said he was in the neutral zone when the ball was snapped. White hat went to the other wing, who could only confirm the forward motion, but not the neutral zone infraction. White hat looked at me again and said, that's illegal motion.

At halftime, we discussed this, and white hat was going off about me blowing the play dead. I was the only one in the room who insisted it had to be blown dead because the receiver was in the neutral zone at the snap, and his motion caused him to be there. So being the "least experienced" official, I "kowtowed" to the crew and said it would never happen again, but I expected them to do the explaining when a coach complains we got the call wrong. They said a coach won't complain. Lo and behold, we had it happen in the second half, and coach went ballastic because our enforcement changed. I explained to him that it wasn't a false start, but illegal motion and I made the mistake in the first half (but I felt like s**t saying that because I know I was right). He had a conference with the white hat, who said the same thing. Coach then asked me (after white hat went back to his position) what the crew threatened me with during halftime. I calmly said "nothing".

In retrospect, if I would have said encroachment instead of false start, I wonder if this whole scenario would have played out or not. But the point of the matter is, you see the play, you flag it, and then report it to the white hat. If there's any question, you will have a discussion, but ultimately the white hat shouldn't overrule you because YOU saw the part of the play you flagged.

[Texas Aggie]

I'm wondering if there are areas where the white hat (i.e Referee; just to be clear) and the Crew chief are or could be two different individuals. Where I work, they are the same. R's have some additional responsibilities (without additional pay, but that's another debate) and do take control. However, if one of my crew members brings me a penalty, I'm going to enforce it unless its just flat out wrong. Then I will convince him to change it -- which I have done. Heck, I've even talked myself into picking up my own flag before! No, we don't get into a habit of that, but if its necessary we'll do it.

I tell my crew (and adhere to it myself): don't be married to your calls. If my BJ comes in with a DPI and my LJ comes in and says it was probably uncatchable, I'll give them 5-10 seconds to discuss it and then we'll come to a decision but I expect both of them to decide on what's the best call for that situation, not what upholds their ego. Otherwise, I expect my guys to make the tough calls and when they bring them to me, I'll enforce them. If one guy comes to me and says, "18 threw a punch, I think he's ejected," 18 is gone. If one comes to me and says "18 had a personal foul but I'm not sure if it was flagrant," I'll try to get together to see if 1) they saw what 18 did on that play and 2) if they had warned 18 before. In the end, whoever made the call will make the decision unless he gives it up to me or the crew.

This is one reason why you need a good pregame if working with guys you don't consistently work with. That's when I give my "married to your calls" speech -- which mainly applies to things like uncatchable pass on DPI or pass thrown behind the line on ineligibles downfield, and like plays.