Thursday, October 11, 2007

Officials Given Green Light to T up Misbehaving Coaches


The NCAA is finally planning to enforce its bench decorum rules… Keep in mind that NCAA Supervisor of Officials Hank Nichols is retiring at the end of the season. I wonder if this is a going away gift?

From ESPNU.


INDIANAPOLIS -- Cursing or venturing onto the court could draw college basketball coaches a quick technical foul this season.

The NCAA is making bench decorum a point of emphasis for 2007-08 and warns coaches to expect a whistle without warning for a variety of unsportsmanlike actions.

Officials who consistently enforce the rules will be given preferential consideration for conference and NCAA tournament assignments.
Referees who are consistent in enforcing the rules will be rewarded.

"The bench decorum rules, which include staying in the prescribed coaching box, have been interpreted in various ways for some time," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, the
president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said Thursday. "This initiative for strengthened, consistent enforcement has significant ramifications. Coaches and game officials who do not strictly adhere to the rules will be penalized."

The actions that can draw a technical include disrespectfully addressing an official or attempting to influence an official's decision, using abusive or profane language, taunting an opponent, inciting undesirable crowd reactions and coming onto the court without permission of an official to attend to an injured player. full story



Coach K should be interesting to watch on the sidelines with his vocabulary severely limited by enforcement of rules that have been in place for years. Gary Williams might struggle a bit with this too. This is something that has been needed for quite a while. Nowadays, people see a college coach go off on an official and think it's acceptable conduct at all levels. Ever wonder why officiating is so poor these days? Well officials have to start at the Rec level. It's one thing to get abused for $750 a night as a college ref, but it's not worth putting up with for $50 a night in rec or high school ball. After a while, new officials get fed up and quit.

Well definitely have to keep track of T's this season and give some type of honor (or dishonor) when we release our post-season awards.


2 comments:

Ken White said...

You know, I think last year Coach K had really toned it down. Not sure if it was related to cleaning up his image for USA Basketball or what, but he was much more controlled. Gary on the other hand is just a wild man. I sat behind the Maryland bench at the tournament in Tampa. I really think he loses complete control.

Speaking of Rec league refs, you remember that time I was calling intramural game, and my partner calling the game hauled off and punched a player that was bitching?

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten about that... If the refs were allowed to slug players and coaches it would calm the sideline antics down a bit.