I had the chance to
officiate an extramural basketball tournament at Oakland University in Michigan
and dealt with many hot-tempered coaches, whom we are trained as officials to
communicate with. However, in the men’s
semifinal game of the tournament, in a close game that would crush the hopes of
one college club team and advance the other to the highly-coveted championship
game, I was in a bind that changed the way I view coaching from the
sidelines.
After another
official on my crew called an intentional foul on a player who clearly hacked
an opponent on a fast break, the fouling player’s coach began a tirade on the
sideline and contested that the play was not overly violent (the coach clearly
misunderstood the difference between an intentional foul and a flagrant
foul). The third official on my crew
gave the coach a much-deserved technical foul and told him that he had to sit
down, or else he would be kicked out of the game.
The coach proceeded
to continue standing and arguing, and I went over to him and warned him that he
had to sit down or I’d eject him. At
this point, his team was down 12 points with under a minute left and was
clearly going to lose, yet he refused to give in to our instructions. His team wanted to get the game over with and
his team captain yelled at him to sit down because he was embarrassing the team
and they wanted to finish the game. I
did not eject the coach, which the NCAA official evaluating me told me was the
biggest mistake I made all game because it compromised my authority as an
official.
What I learned from
the whole situation is that a coach’s conduct not only influences his
reputation among officials and fans but also reflects the whole team, and in
youth sports coaches must be role models for their players. After the game, the team’s captain came up to
our officiating crew and apologized on behalf of his coach and said the whole
team was embarrassed by his behavior. As
a coach, especially at an amateur level, one must be respectful of officials
and set a good example for his or her team.
In the future when I coach youth sports, I will always remember this
lesson I learned from a coach’s extremely poor sportsmanship.
As a basketball
official, I have dealt with many coaches who do not hesitate to spew
criticisms, even at the youth level and have learned that coaches not only must
be professional in conduct and demeanor but also must set a standard for
communicating with officials that their players can follow. In pre-game captains meetings, I always make
it clear that as officials we are glad to answer any questions about specific
calls but will not respond to obnoxious statements about our officiating. Coaches, as role models for their players,
must demonstrate the proper way to deal with officials so their players do not
feel they have the option to act disrespectfully towards referees.
