YOU DECIDE THE CALL, COACH!!!

Some might recall a post a few weeks ago title If You Had Kept Your Mouth Shut, when I ejected a Coach before the 1st Quarter had ended in a Girl's 8th Grade Basketball game.  

Well, that coach was back tonite coaching an 8th Grade Boys team, as the Visiting Team at the same school he'd been at when I ejected him....

No he dd NOT get ejected tonite. It seems he learned his lesson 4 weeks ago......

Tonight we had a play where my partner and I BOTH had simultaneous whistle calls (also called "Double Whistles"), but for DIFFERENT calls.

Most fans, even coaches, do not realize the Refs are NOT looking at the same thing all the time. With 2 Referees, One Ref looks at action around the ball-dribbler, defender(s), ect. That we call "On Ball."

The other Ref is watching everything else- "Off Ball".

My whistle was a Foul for an Illegal Screen on the Visiting Team.

My partner was calling "3 Seconds" on the Visiting Team.

My partner did not notice my whistle OR my fist in the air signaling a Foul, hollered "3 Seconds" and pointed to a spot for the In-bounds Play.

I figure the Home Team was gonna get the ball on either call and decided not to make an issue of my Foul Call. Play On!!

BUT, as I trotted by the Visiting Team Bench, the Coach hollers out, "How can that be 3 Seconds? His heels were out of the Key!"

I turned to him and said, "Coach, you'll have to ask my partner that since he made the call. I was not watching Off Ball. I was looking On Ball and was calling a Foul on your #30 for an Illegal Screen. If you feel strongly my partner made a bad call, I will void his 3 Seconds Call and Replace it with the Foul Call. You decide! Which call do you want......?"

He stammered a bit and I said, "So you're saying 3 Seconds Call was a Good Call after all, then Coach?" He nodded a meek "Yes" and sat down,

I couldn't help but smile as I continued down the court.......

Image by Russ Ferriday via Flickr.com

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Assistant Coaches Say the Darndest Things…

Some of you "older" folks will remember Art Linkletter’s show segment "Kids Say The Darndest Things"…

Sometimes when I Referee Basketball I get to see my own private version of that show called "Assistant Coaches Say The Darndest Things" on a pretty regular basis!!

In Arizona we have a very simple rule for Coaches and Assistant Coaches STANDING

and Coaching in front of the bench while a game is in progress. ONLY the Head Coach can stand and coach. The Assistants have to remain seated, except to cheer a specific play, greet a player coming out of the game or during Time Out, and between Quarters/ Half Time.

When my Partner and I go to briefly meet the Coaches before the game starts I point to the lines that mark the Coaches Box Area in front of the Team bench and ask the Head Coach if their Assistants are familiar with the Coaches Box Rule. They always say "Yes".

Tonight, we were barely 2 minutes into the game and I see an Assistant Coach for the Home Team standing up shouting instructions to the players since the ball had gone Out Of Bounds and I was near the bench area, I could quickly step to the Head Coach and say, "Coach, may I offer a quick reminder that Assistant Coaches must remain seated during game time?”

Image by Kevin Coles via Flickr

He nodded yes but I got a perplexed look from the Assistant Coach.

A few minutes later I see the same Assistant standing, again!! Fortunately I was in front of their bench area again with the clock stopped and stepped back to remind the Coach about the Assistant not standing to Coach rule.

He again acknowledge he knew that and then the Assistant Coach says to me, "But our Head Coach was sitting down, so the rule is that I can stand up, right?”

It is my practice in this situation to always address ONLY the Head Coach. I'm not being arrogant or showing disrespect for the Assistant, but since the only Coach that is supposed to be communicating with the Referees is the Head Coach, that’s who I talk with.

However, in this situation, I was so amused with the Assistant attempted rebuttal (he is not the first Assistant to try it out this "rule") that I looked first at the Head Coach and smiled, then I looked at and spoke directly to the Assistant Coach saying, “No, I'm sorry Coach, that is not the rule. Only the Head Coach can stand. As far as I am concerned, Assistant Coaches do not exist, and since they do not exist they cannot stand and Coach the players. Now if you want to test that theory you can, but the consequence is a Technical Foul and I suspect if your team loses this game because of a "T" on you for standing, you're existing as an Assistant Coach in the figurative sense might become quite literal……"

The Assistant looked at me, then at his Head Coach who sort of nodded his head towards the bench as if to say to his Assistant, "Go ahead and just sit down, son." And he stayed seated the rest of the game

………

The Home Team won by 4 points. An untimely "T" could have turned the game the other way, so I hope it was a lesson well learned by the Assistant!

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An Honor Call

It was just my 2nd Varsity Boy's Volleyball game of the season......IN my 2nd Seasons as a Volleyball Referee.

A ball goes out of bounds. I think it is off the Visiting Team and the Line Judge signals it is off the Visiting Team.

Photo taken by Charles "Andy" Lee via Flickr, under a Public Domain License

Just after I indicated awarding the point to the Home team I heard someone from the Home Team say, "Make the Honor Call, then!" 

Turns out it was the Home Team Head Coach AND Assistant Coach. BOTH fellows who are also Nationally Certified volleyball Referees themselves, talking to their player.

A player from the Home Team trotted over to where I was standing on the platform as the Referee and said, "I touched the ball, Ref!"

I asked if he was sure because both myself and the Line Judge thought it was off the other team.

He insisted he had touched it, so I reversed the point award.

I looked up at the Home Team Assistant & Varsity Coaches, pointing to the player that had made the Honor Call and gave them a "Thumbs Up."

After the game I was talking to the Head Coach, who as I said is also a Nationally Certified Volleyball Referee and complimented his player and Assistant Coach for making the Honor Call.

He replied, "We teach our player's that our team's honor and self-respect is more important than any point!"

Well played Coach!!


Campo Verde @ Westwood 3/5/2015

Brian Hannah Westwood Head Coach

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“I Don’t Talk to Assistant Coaches..."

I worked a game last nite where a 5’6’’ player drove into the key and jumped into a 6’5’’ player and then crashed to the floor.

The player’s Assistant Coach hollered out, “How can THAT NOT be a foul?!”

Being near the bench at the time I said, “It’s NOT a foul because your little player jumped into the biggest player on the court, who had established a legal guarding position, and got the short end of that stick! I would not recommend doing that again.”

When the Assistant Coach continued to protest, I blew my whistle and reported a “Bench Personell Warning.”

After getting a Bench Warning, any other problem with anyone on the Bench and it could be a Technical Foul on the Head Coach!

Then the Head Coach said, “What was that for? He didn’t say anything bad!”

I replied, ”No, he didn’t say anything bad, but he has been constantly complaining about calls all nite. If YOU have a question, as the Head Coach, I’m happy to talk to you about it. But I’m not talking with your Assistant, it’s annoying for him to keep yapping, I’m tired of hearing him and he’s done refereeing from the bench for tonite!”

Did not hear any more from the Assistant all nite. I think the Head Coach realized the next thing his Assistant might say would likely be a Technical Foul and in a game that had a maximum lead of 6 points either way all nite he did not want to risk that!

Also, since more than one of his players were trying the crash into the defense & then crash to the floor technique and NOT getting any fouls called,  he realized we knew what they were doing and did not want to press the issue?

As to the Assistant Coaches talking to the Ref’s, one veteran referee once said, “I don’t talk to Assistant coaches. In my games they do not exist. I only talk with Head Coaches.”

I have a rather low tolerance for Assistant coaches who want to referee from the bench, too……

High School Girl’s Basketball

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