Looking for some assistance

[Roger Greene]

"Now if the coach had tapped me on the back to get me to turn around and then told me, "Wait till the ball is caught before you run," I wouldn't say that qualifies, though you might get an argument on that point from somebody else."

That someone who might argue would be a play in which the very action of "taping" the runner is interpertated as a physical assist.

IMO, and the play ruling (and I haven't searched for the cite), call it.

Yelling or screaming at the runner is ok. touching him to give a signal or to indicate a change of direction, or to cause him to take any action is, by definition, "phyical assistance."

Roger