Coach going across the field
 

I heard of this situation in a game in our area this season: Coach calls a timeout and then walks all the way across the field to talk to the opposing coach. I am sure it was not to congratulate him on a fine game. However, it was brief and not as visibly confrontational as we might expect.

Do we have a foul here?

I don't think this is a foul... it's definitely a DON'T DO THAT - and don't ever let this happen on your field.

I would have to be a really good reason not to have a foul on this play. For one he is out of the box and off the sideline and then this action could have caused other reactions. More than "Do not do that anymore" in my book.

Peace

Here it'd be a UIL report minimum I think. Hopefully we prevent it from even happening in the first place but if he goes charging past the officials attempting to corral him, I think flags are coming out.

Why didn't one of the officials stop him?

Unsportsmanlike Conduct. 9-8-3.... A nonplayer shall not be outside his team box.....

The op said that a time out was requested (and I'm assuming granted) So his being on the field wouldn't fall under this rule, but he is restricted to his teams huddle at the hash. I would think that he should have had to walk past atleast 3 officials ( R,U and line judge) to get to the other sideline. One of the 3 has to stop him and advise him to return to his sideline. Then at that point you could have some type of unsportsmanlike penality.

You walk 15 when a player steps out of the team box during a time out? Wow.

No, just when a coach walks 55 to engage another coach in an argument.

Inventing rules is fun.

I'm pretty sure that on most of our fields, we, or some other official on our crews, would have stopped this guy LONG before he got halfway. And if he blew through our stop sign, sure, penalize him... But if for some crazy reason we did not try to stop him from crossing the field, I can't see a penalty here assuming he does as described in the OP and doesn't "start something".

I was not at the game so I don't know if anyone tried to stop him but it sounds like no one did.

I had this coach a few years ago and there was an injury TO. He went to the injured player and then started walking to his team's huddle which was about 10 yds away from the injured player. I told him he couldn't do that during an injury TO and he said he could. Whack! USC foul. This is the type of guy he is.

This situation in the OP is one to put into our memory banks and be ready for it.

Hey, you're the one who said it wasn't a foul. I merely pointed out that it is. I didn't invent anything. Get over yourself.

Nothing to get over, sir. And no offense intended. You quoted a rule that does not apply, then when questioned on it, implied you would use that inapplicable rule in the situation at hand. Sounds like rule inventing to me, but I'm open to hear your explanation (hopefully an actual explanation rather than a flippant response). I STILL say it's not a foul. Not as described in the OP.

You would have to call something here. If he is able to get past all of the officials and make it to the other sideline, you absolutely have to flag him. You have to put him on notice that his blatent disregard for our authority won't be accepted. This guy is proably the type of guy who always thinks the rules don't apply to him, and by putting this in the memory bank you have done a disservice to every official in the chapter for which you work. Also a flag for this action may potentially keep him in check for future situations, If not then he should become accoustomed to being flagged for unsporting actions.

Our job is not to put coaches "on notice", nor is it to "keep them in check". You sound like an baseball umpire.

Other than offending your sensibilities and thoughts on decorum, what RULE VIOLATION did the coach in the original post commit?