A technical situation

So over the weekend, I hit a coaching milestone. Not one to be particularly proud of I am sure, but a humorous one none the less. In the midst of a game coaching for Always 100 on Sunday afternoon, I was assessed my 10^th career technical foul as a coach.

What stood out to me afterwards was the interesting point in what a referee’s line is. Do they always have the same line? Does it vary day by day? Coach by coach? I’ve been hit with some justified technical fouls and also with some, as this weekend was, humorous ones. My quandary after the game about what justifies a technical met up nicely with Duke’s Mike Krszyweski getting one that same day for throwing his dry-erase marker at the ground during a timeout and then being t’d up by a referee standing half a court away who Coach K has his back turned to.

As for me on Sunday, I was given the old ‘T’ sign with the hands after expressing my opinion to the official that perhaps he could go over to one of the adjacent courts in the field house where volleyball was taking place.

He didn’t even let me explain it was because in that sport, it wasn’t required for an official to call fouls. He didn’t take the time to think maybe I was just concerned with expanding his horizons in his secondary job of choice.

He also didn’t want to hear anything about the call he missed where an opposing player literally grabbed one of my player’s ankles with his hands to trip him right in front of the referee.

Nope, just a whistle, a hand gesture, told I was “done” and forced to take a seat.

Which has led me to think, with 10 under my belt now, how many technicals were actually justified in the traditional sense? Is it right to give a coach a technical for sarcasm? Maybe. It all depends on what your definition of “attempting” to “show up” the “referee” is.

Technical #1 came in 2006, almost seven and a half years ago at Huntington North High School while I was coaching the Fort Wayne North Side freshmen. It was the one and only time vulgarity was the cause of a technical. Using the word bullshit in a high school basketball game, probably not the best idea. But was it justified use of the word on my end? Of course. But this isn’t about my morality. Bullshit was mild when you look at the phrases and racial slurs slung at my players that day in Huntington North High School, the heart of hate. Especially when it was in direct response to the referee (yes I remember you Tim Enyeart) refusing to acknowledge my constant pleas to end the hateful remarks. But again, their morality, not mine. I’d do it again, but was the technical justified? Sure was.

Technical #2 came 13 seconds later for standing up. It is a no-no once the first technical was received. But considering it came with 15 seconds left in the game and I stood up to get a better angle on a loose ball and immediately sat back down, it sure wasn’t justified. Never the less, I was able to make an early retreat to the locker room where I had to listen to a midget Athletic Director with a complex act like he was relevant for a couple minutes.

It wasn’t again until 2011, amidst my first season coaching in Vinton that I received Technical #3. Since that game, I grew all too use to the horrible officiating in Roanoke County, especially of these guys I could only assume buy their VHSL official patches from the Goodwill. But back then, it was all too new. We were playing the 76ers in an overly aggressive game fully of fouls and beatings. Were we innocent? Probably not. But were we the worst? Nope. So after watching two players tumble to the ground going after a rebound and then see my player shoved while on the ground by the 76er on the ground, only to be ignored by the referee who was looking at them, I was hot. On the next defensive possession, more over aggression led to a hard foul on a 76er and my immediate assertion that they needed to call the game on both ends of the floor as the foul total for the half was now at 7 for us and 1 for them. Then came the whistle. Then came me sitting down and letting the referee know that if this wasn’t fixed then I was pulling my team off the floor because the officials were not taking care of any of the kids on either team and I wouldn’t put up with the dangerous environment. And then game Technical #4. I’d love to give the official the first one, but his lack of warning (I hadn’t, believe it or not, been mouthy up to this point) makes it a no go. And the second? Well he was just not level headed at that point. Protecting kids is technical worthy? Ok then. But remember this isn’t high school you are working.

To end the following season, again with the Vinton Blue Devils, I continued my early exit streak of “if you get one, might as well get two,” with technicals in the final regular season game, a meeting with the Hidden Valley Heat. As usual, the referees were having mental lapses and I was on them most of the game. The final straw came close to the end of the game when our point guard was called for a charge when he collided with a defender 4 feet behind the three-point line while they were both in mid air (our player was trying to make a pass). It was ridiculous. I said as much, though the specific words (unbelievable? terrible? ludicrous?) escape me at the moment. Justified on Technical #5? Not so much, but I also knew what my tone was going to be, so I knew I was getting one. And moments later, in one of my better off the cuff moments, I let Mr. Referee know “that’s the best call you made all day.” Whistle, T, Ejection. Justified of Technical #6? Yup.

I kicked off the next regular season ready to knock out my technicals with Technical #7. Maybe it was the referee’s assertion during the pre-game coaches meeting that “we (the officials) are basically volunteers,” and that as a reason we shouldn’t be hard on them. I’m no mathlete, but $25 per game (aka per hour) doesn’t really seem too volunteer to me. Especially since these meeting came after a lot of incidents during football season. But anyway, I was not thrilled with Ben Minton from the get go. What followed up was the usual amount of no calls and half-ass paying attention from the officials. This culminated, down by 1 point with under a minute to play when we got on a 1-on-1 fast break. This ended with an errant block attempt from the other team that ended up (unintentionally in my opinion) with a punch to our player’s forehead. He went down in a heap and in tears (this was a 10 year old after all), with no whistle and Mr. Minton staring down at the kid as he jogged back up the court with the play. He refused to stop play so I could check on the kid for a good 20-30 seconds, all of which I was heated. As I went to check on him, I lashed out back in the ref’s direction “see, this is why coaches get mad at referees.” Whistle time. Justified? Are you kidding me?

Now that I got that single technical out of the way and actually didn’t get ejected, I tried my hardest to be on my best behavior for the remainder of the season. That was until the Vinton Redskins played the Vinton Thunder, Technicals #8 and #9. A rough game with rough officiating that saw the Thunder coach also T’d up, we trailed in the final seconds of overtime by 3 when I called a timeout with the ball at half court. I let them know to inbound the ball to our best player and instructed him to put up a shot as soon as he felt contact. I knew this other coach and I knew that he would try to foul as quickly as possible to not allow us to shoot a three and potentially tie the game. By us throwing up the shot, I was hoping we would at least get three free throws and try to foil their plan. He did what I thought, met with one of their players basically tackling our shooter. He fired the shot, the referee called the foul and the bucket swished through. Barely over 2-seconds left and we were tied with a chance to win. Then after discussion between the referees (the one near the shot called the foul, the one in front of me on the other side of the court didn’t even blow his whistle), the call was overturned. The basket was no good. I emphatically urged to the referee who called the foul that he “couldn’t do this” as he walked to the scorers table to wave off the shot. It was to no avail and I lost my mind. Call it a rage blackout or whatever you choose; I don’t remember what I said to him. I heard a whistle and saw his hands. The game ended, we “lost” and I proceeded to let him know how ridiculous it was immediately after hand shakes. He let the scorers table know to mark me down for a second technical at that point, which I followed up with “put me down for 5, the game is over. And everybody in this gym just saw what you did.”

First one totally justified. Second one, highly questionable.

He didn’t put me down for 5. But those technicals earned me a 2-game suspension. Those are the breaks I suppose.

It was my last technical before Sunday and the last time I really lost it on a ref (if we exclude baseball umpires who don’t know that a ball bouncing in the dirt is not a strike).

At the end of the day, it comes down to this…what crosses the line? I have done way more to get one than I did Sunday. In fact, I have said way more and not received one. So I don’t think referees have a “line,” I just think they have agendas. In game agendas, against the coach agendas, life agendas, plan for the day agendas.

I joked with a parent after the game Sunday that our ref (always in a Duke hoodie) was too worried about the Duke ACC title game on TV and he didn’t want to be there. I joked. And then moments later realized that after the game, he left all of his stuff at the court and raced over to the snack bar to watch that game.

That was his agenda. And if that is how he wants to make some extra cash, he might as well go ahead and referee volleyball instead.