just a lazy quextion becuase i don't feel like looking it up..

I am a coach, can I use poster board signs with words on them to hold up on the sideline to signal plays in?

And it will take the opposition about three seconds to know what your play is.

If you need a poster board to relay signals, you better have your players' eyes checked. Or are they too dumb to understand hand signals?

Bob

[Edited by bluezebra on Sep 20th, 2002 at 03:13 PM]

Coach,

Rule 1-5-3b prevents electronic or mechanical devices for communications. Therefore, the answer is no.

I must ask the obvious. If you could use a poster board wouldn't that make it possible for the other side in the game and scouts from future games to steal your plays?

A poster board is not a mechanical devise. Therefore, there should be no problems with using this to convey a message to the team on the field. IMHO

Last year we had a team do this type of play calling. The offense never huddled up. They always lined up at the LOS and all players looked over to the sideline and one coach held up a "color" and another coach held up a "number". The players all had the plays taped to their forearms. If the play was "blue 66" then all the players looked at their play list and new what the play was.

Illustrated book used to have this.
 

A couple of years ago the illustrated rules book used to have a page on this topic. I believe ordinary signs to convey signals were considered legal equipment. I don't have my old books and the new one does not have the picture anymore. Anybody remember this?

Re: Illustrated book used to have this.
 

What year? I have back to 1998.

Thanks for the all the incredibly unneccessary commentary and coaching advice about why I should or should not need these signs....you guys really do a great job of breaking the stereo type that all officials really wish they were coaches....however, you guys have posted two responses, one says ok, the other says no go,

so to quote an earlier post,

"maybe you guys are just too dumb" to know the answer to my question so I guess I should get off my lazy but and read my rule book....

For the record, we are a small school that dresses out only 25 players. The personel in the huddle could use the fullback as a fullback or a tight end, the tailback as a tailback or a flanker, and the split end could move to a third back depending on the call. We have names for our personel packages, and it would be great if I could just hold up a sign that had these names on them. The are more complicated than just your run of the mill hand signals. 21 Big Panther for example....21 means 2 backs and 1 tight end, Big means Wes is fullback and Joel is tight end, instead of Joel being split end and Wes being Tight end whick would be "Small" Panther tells everyone that we have our passing XZ in the huddle which is Reid and Turk, 21 Big Rhino would have different XZ in huddle, the run blockers.

For the record we could call any play from any personel package, so I could not give a rats a** who saw the names on the cards, as long as my huddle could read them.

But again, thanks for living up to my hopes and dreams that someday I would meet a football official that just wanted to know and enforce the rules instead of offer advice to coaches. You guys make me feel better about guys I have to put up with on friday nights, which are not doing a bad job at all this season....

Jim, you and I have discussed issues previously on this board and corresponded via email as well. Having said that, I will say that the comments in your post are even more unnecessary than some of those you were offended by. Bluezebra pops off at everybody. No need to be offended by him. Tell people you're too lazy to look something up and then snap at them when you catch some flak. Not too smart, IMHO.

BTW, I agree with Big Whistle. A piece of paper is NOT a mechanical device. If it was, coaches wouldn't be allowed to diagram plays on a paper on the sideline. A piece of poster board is simply a piece of paper.

Good luck this season. Glad you're having fewer problems this year.

PS - Here's another stereotype. "All coaches think they're officials!" :D

hey, my fault, my referees here are doing so well i have not been able to vent on them, probably just my inner self trying to instinctively be mad at officials....

sorry for the comments....it was late at night when i read them....thanks for the heads up on bluezebra too...

Would love if you would check my latest posts....

P.S. - "All Coaches think they are officials.." not so, i don't think I am an official, I just think being an official is very biblical....without God's intervention all officials are born into SIN...haahaha just kidding....This year has been totally different.

I took the head of officials off my black list and took him to lunch and spoke very openly about my issues...he came to school and watched film and sympathized with my complaints and coached my up on some of the nuances he saw differently...and bottom line is it doesn't really matter to the coach what the rule says, but how the white hat on that friday is going to call it, and he gave me good wisdom on that end....like you did bkballref in your post above,,,,again sorry for the attitude....

[Edited by JimNayzium on Sep 22nd, 2002 at 10:40 PM]

Bottom line is that half the time I hear a coach screaming his fool head off, he's simply illustrating his ignorance to all and sundry....

... and it pisses me off. I've had Gods Gift to Coaching (and a level 1 ref, btw) try to verbally keelhaul me for what he thought was a blown call (offence didn't have seven men on the line) when the offence was a player down on the field. In Canadian rules, that means you can run with six on the line. Coach didn't know that. Other coaches don't know what having "no end" is, or why number 66 can't be ten yards downfield on a pass play .... Yet they sure have damn fine eyes...