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[SRW]

Originally Posted by Gulf Coast Blue

C'mon....many of us are on are probably on beer drinking terms with coaches. In JO ASA I am friends with at least 25% of the coaches....(maybe more)...and many of them on beer drinking terms

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by SRW

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

NCAA is an entirely different animal. Even at Div III, you are probably doing a bit of traveling to the game. It is unlikely you are living in the same neighborhood, going to the same church, having kids / grand kids in the same schools with the NCAA coaches. One of the umpires in our association coaches a high school JV team and a summer travel team. Several coaches when my kids were still in school I got to know as parents before we had a coach/umpire relationship. What do I do? Shun them? Ridiculous.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by Dakota

NCAA is an entirely different animal. Even at Div III, you are probably doing a bit of traveling to the game. It is unlikely you are living in the same neighborhood, going to the same church, having kids / grand kids in the same schools with the NCAA coaches. One of the umpires in our association coaches a high school JV team and a summer travel team. Several coaches when my kids were still in school I got to know as parents before we had a coach/umpire relationship. What do I do? Shun them? Ridiculous.

Ironically, I live in an area where I do, in fact, encounter players, coaches and fans of not one, but three of the colleges I service. (1 JUCO, 1 DIII, and 1 DII.) It has never been a problem, though, that I can recall.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I don't know of any coaches at any level below the college level that are capable of using social media.

MTD, Sr.

[Andy]

Here is what happened to me this weekend:

Number 1 pitcher for the local DII team registered as an ASA umpire this year. I got to watch and help evaluate her at a tournament this summer.

I get a friend request on FB from her this weekend.....

PS....I also told her this summer that now that I know that she is an umpire, if I ever get a dirty look from her when I am behind the plate while she is pitching, she will be gone so fast.....

[AtlUmpSteve]

Originally Posted by Andy

Here is what happened to me this weekend:

Number 1 pitcher for the local DII team registered as an ASA umpire this year. I got to watch and help evaluate her at a tournament this summer.

I get a friend request on FB from her this weekend.....

PS....I also told her this summer that now that I know that she is an umpire, if I ever get a dirty look from her when I am behind the plate while she is pitching, she will be gone so fast.....

It wasn't difficult for me to explain to the several coaches and several players that had FB friended me previously that the NCAA SUP frowned on that, and that they shouldn't take it personally that I was unfriending them only for that reason.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by SRW

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

I may be wrong, but I think there's a reasonable expectation that, at the NCAA level, coaches and umpires are pretty separated in terms of interactions away from the field. It's probably rare that a college umpire and a college coach will have any kind of relationship outside of softball.

The same is not necessarily true at the high school and local ASA level. A few of the umpires in my association are high school coaches, and I've seen them at social events involving our association, in the stands at games I've attended as an umpire evaluator or casual spectator, and even at Target or Costco.

I also know a couple of coaches from when my son played high school baseball. Heck, one of his head coaches is now the assistant coach for the high school's softball team. He was also one of my Little League volunteer umpires when I was the District UIC. We've known each other for many years.

So I think the NCAA has the luxury of having a lot more separation between umpires and coaches that is not necessarily present at the more local level with high school and ASA. If the same policy existed, then our umpires who also coach high school teams wouldn't be able to participate in association functions.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by SRW

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

News flash folks, there is life beyond softball. And even within softball, many of the HS & college coaches in my area used to be a fellow softball player or umpire. There are a couple that I was the umpire when they were playing baseball as a child. And I've probably had some social interaction, including alcohol, with all of them at one point or another.

A former national ASA UIC was an assistant coach at a DII school and a very popular umpire and clinician. How in the world were they to get an umpire if you sit on this ridiculous notion?

[infoleather]

NCAA program to set these standards, and like it or not, if you play their game, you have to play by their rules.

[Gulf Coast Blue]

Originally Posted by SRW

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

Because where I live all of the kids are in the same school starting in 5th grade. My kids range five years from oldest to youngest and so that includes a large range of people I might be acquainted with or possibly even grew up with. I also coached all three daughters in softball and soccer and got to be friends with other coaches in the area.

I don't think I ever had an issue officiating in my area due to friendships.

Joel

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by SRW

Diving deeper with this - WHY and HOW did you get to be on "beer drinking terms" with them?

I think there's a difference between being friends with a coach, and being friendly with a coach. As Steve pointed out earlier, NCAA wants the latter, not the former. I personally believe that mindset should trickle down to NFHS, and even ASA to a point.

By and large, I knew them separately from softball, in some cases before they became coaches. I can think of only one case where I became friends with someone (other than fellow blues) after meeting them at softball, and that's because she became my daughter's pitching coach.