Stephen Jarboe

KIN 288

TuTh 4-5:20

Coaches Behavior Towards Officials

In the world of high school sports today it is becoming all too common that you see a coach get belligerent with an official. Most coaches are professional about the way they handle they’re disagreements with the officials, however there are a few that would rather just go wild and crazy and yell at the refs for no particular reason. Is it acceptable for a coach to go after a ref like that, especially when he is supposed to be a leader and setting an example for his players? I believe that there are times that a coach needs to get his point across to the official, but I also think that there are good and bad ways to do that. Some people believe that the more a coach yells at an official, the more calls he will get for his team. However, there are those that think that if you yell at an official too much that you will not be able to get any calls as the game goes on. There’s going to come a point in a game where something is going to happen that is going to be blatantly obvious to everyone, but the ref might have missed it. At this point I think that you get your point across to the ref, but you realize that he is only human and he is not going to be able to catch everything that happens. But when you do that, the ref will then begin to look for it and he shouldn’t miss it the next time. However, if it becomes a continuous problem with calls being missed then I think the coach has all the right to argue and yell at the ref. I don’t think that yelling at the refs will buy your team more calls. If anything, I think that the coach that does tend to yell and harass the officials all game long will begin to be resented by the officials and will likely have fewer calls in their favor. I believe that it’s important for coaches to pick and choose what battles they want to fight, the officials will have more respect for you then. Constant yelling will not get you any more calls, but it could cost you the game if it comes down to a close play. High school coaches can be some of the most influential people of a young athlete’s life. It’s important that a coach carry himself with dignity at all times, because his players are always looking to him to see what’s right and wrong. A team will take on the characteristics of their coach. If players see their coach always yelling and arguing with the officials then they will think that is an acceptable way to handle it all the time and they will eventually begin arguing with the officials too. A coach needs to teach his players that an official will not be able to make every call, they’re not perfect, but that they should just continue to play hard and if there is a problem that needs to be handled then it will be handled by him. But, if there continues to be bad calls throughout the course of a game it is ok if the coach yells at the official. This will let the players know that their coach is behind them and sticking up for them. If the coach lets the calls go the team will think that the coach does not care, so why should they. There are many different ways to handle officials during a game, some work and some aren’t so great. When officials put on their striped shirts they think they run everything and they dare you to challenge their authority, because with one wrong move they can send you back to the locker room. I think that a coach should keep the arguing and yelling at a minimum if at all possible. There are ways to be heard without getting loud and angry about it, because that’s just going make the official angry as well. I