"I hear you, Coach."

(Image Source: ESPN.com)

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate." (Cool Hand Luke, 1967)

Today's post is a Part 2 followup to last week's post regarding how not to argue (you can read that post here).  In that post, I linked a Referee.com article written by a psychologist with a list of points on what not to do in an argument with a Coach.

Part of being a successful referee is your communication skills: your nonverbal and your interpersonal.  As a referee, it's our job to enforce the rules and to make calls when the rules of the game are broken.  Every time we fill our Fox 40 with air, the game stops, at which point every head in the gym/stadium turns to you to see what call you are going to make.

Is it a violation?  Did somebody get fouled?  Maybe one of the coaches called a timeout?

What we do next tells everybody what we have.  If it's a foul, we raise our hand with a closed fist.  If it's a violation, we raise our hand with an open palm and then indicate the violation.  If it's a timeout, we raise our hand with an open palm and point to the bench with a verbal "timeout!" call.  When these are not done, the fans, players, and coaches (and your partner!) are left scratching their heads as to what the call is.

What if the ball goes out-of-bounds and your partner starts beckoning substitutes into the game.  If you don't communicate with your partner (via eye contact, etc) and you put the ball in play now we have a situation where players are transitioning into and out of the game.

Communication is important and if we don't pay attention to our communication...what we have left is a failure to communicate.

"I hear you, Coach."

What about our interaction with coaches?  We already know how not to argue with them; how do we practice a little bit of "preventative officiating" and avoid those potential arguments and conflicts?

Interacting with coaches at the scholastic (high school) and higher levels are vastly different than interacting with your moms and dads who come out on the weekend to help coach Junior and Sally's team(s).  Your coaches at the high school level and above are paid professionals.  Your recreational level coaches are unpaid volunteers.

Just as we have different standards to calling a scholastic vs. recreational game, our interactions with the coaches at these two different levels must be different.  We have to be more patient with coaches at the recreational level because they are volunteers - they are not paid and more often than not, they do not know the rules.

You want examples?  How about the infamous 3-second violation.  We all know that this count resets every time the ball is shot, but how many times do we hear coaches yell "He's been in there for 10 seconds!"

Or how about "over the back".  We all know there is no such call as "over the back" and unless there's displacement, there is no foul, but we still hear coaches yell "He's going over the back for that rebound!"

But nothing irks a coach more than when his players are getting fouled and calls are not being made.  Remember that coaches are always going to advocate for their players.  If there is a big crash on a layup attempt and poor Johnny hits the deck, but no whistle, that coach is going to want to know why there wasn't a whistle.

If the coach has a legitimate question and asks it in a professional manner, we must provide a legitimate answer.

Sometimes, all they are looking for is to know that you are keeping an eye out of it.  A simple "I hear you, Coach and I'll keep an eye out on it." can do wonders for your interaction with that coach on that particular game day, not to mention diffuse a potentially explosive situation.

If you missed a play, you missed it.  We are human so we all makes mistakes and there has yet to be a perfect game called.  In the situation where there was a crash and you missed the call, when questioned about it, just say "You're right Coach, I missed it."  If there was an obvious foul and no whistle and we don't admit that we were wrong when questioned by the Coach...we end up losing credibility.

As NBA referee Joey Crawford says: "You are wrong sometimes.  It doesn't mean that you are wrong on purpose, but you are wrong sometimes, and you have to admit when you are wrong."

Ignoring a Coach who has a legitimate complaint is never the right way to go.  Depending on the style of play during the game, the Coach's frustration may continue to rise to the point where there is now a full blown argument and we start throwing out Technical fouls.

Closing Thoughts

There is the thought that Coaches and Referees must be adversaries and oppose each other, but that is not true.  For our recreational level games (games where scholarships aren't on the line, players aren't being paid, etc), coaches and referees must work together to lead the players.  When that balance is achieved, the players and the game benefits.

This means that Coaches should be allowed to voice their concerns with the Referees (respectfully, of course...meaning without accusation, screaming, or being aggressive) and the referees should take a moment (note: a moment only!) at a reasonable time during the game to address these concerns.

However, this does not mean the Coach has the right to say anything he/she wants to say and this does not give the coach an opportunity to verbally abuse or degrade the game official.  If the line has been crossed between open communication to one of verbal abuse, we need to nip that in the bud and re-establish that line, whether it be a verbal warning or a technical foul.

The common complaint that I hear from coaches regarding an official's interpersonal communication is that the official "is not open for dialogue."  When this happens, the us vs. them mentality is established and that is a ticking time bomb.

I leave you with this: our relationship and communication with coaches, while tricky, should be one of professionalism and born out of respect for each other.  If we establish that open dialogue, it will go a long way on any given game day in helping us avoid conflict with coaches.

Of course, if you do get into an argument, click here to learn how not to argue.