An official is defined as a person elected or appointed to a position and is charged with certain duties. Officials are a necessary part of the game. I’ve had good ones. I’ve had bad ones. I’ve had some that didn’t deserve to put on the striped shirt and carry a whistle. Some officials call everything. Others only run up and down the floor. Many enjoy the job and take it seriously. Others are just there for the paycheck. And the paycheck isn’t bad. Most officials get $25-$30 a game. Do 12 games in a weekend and you pocket $300-$360. That is a nice little supplement to a normal income.
Officiating has changed, and thus the game has changed. The game has become much more physical due to the way games are called and all that is allowed to go on in games. I've seen players get hurt due to officiating. I've seen players get knocked to the floor, no call, seen players get undressed, literally, with their jerseys being pulled out of their shorts, their shorts being pulled down. I've seen players get absolutely mugged or knocked off balance going to the basket. Officials will tell you that if a player is under control going to the basket and gets hit, they will call the foul. But a player that is out of control and falling down, flailing or just throwing the ball at the basket, they will never get the call. This is true in high school and middle school basketball, grade school basketball, and spring/summer or AAU basketball as well.
I personally believe that tournament basketball, i.e., summer basketball, where multiple games are played on multiple courts throughout the day, is responsible for the change in the way games are officiated. Officials are told to keep the games moving along. There is a schedule to keep. Nothing upsets tournament organizers, fans, and parents more than when games are not kept “on time”. Most games are scheduled every hour on the hour, which gives officials a short window in which to get through each game. This results in games that are played with very few fouls or other violations being called. In addition, most officials like to keep the fouls that are called even between the teams. If team A gets 3 or 4 fouls called on them at the start of a game, they will stop calling fouls on team A and call them on team B until they are even. Another issue is that a foul that is a foul at the beginning of the game is not always a foul at the end of the game. Officials do not like to make a call that influences the outcome of a game. Therefore, officials will often swallow their whistles at the ends of games and no calls are made. They don’t want coaches blaming them for the outcome of the game. This, to me, is ridiculous. A foul is a foul, a travel is a travel, a carry is a carry and any other violation is a violation regardless if it happens at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a game, and regardless of the outcome.
Play under the basket is even worse nowadays with players pushing, shoving, grabbing and pulling to get into rebounding position. Players are constantly going “over the back” of other players to get rebounds. There is no official “over the back” call in basketball. What is called is just a “push”. Payers are told that if they actually block out, they will get that call when an opposing player goes “over their back” to get a rebound. But stand under the basket with your hands in the air like a baby bird, and you will never get that call. Players have to be taught to be physical because the good teams will do whatever they get away with. If the game is being called loosely, teams will play more aggressive and more physical because they know they will get away with play that normally would result in fouls being called. If the game is being called tight, teams will back off and play more cautious. This is called adjusting to the officials and is absolutely necessary at every level of basketball.
There are all kinds of officials. As I said, some call everything and like to go by the book. Others like to let the kids play and never call anything. The best official is the one who finds a balance between the two. Some officials know the rules. The truth is that others don’t. Several years ago we played a team with a kid that carried the ball every time he dribbled it up the floor. I mean it was obvious. This kid took 3 or 4 steps in between dribbles and almost carried the ball like a football at times. My wife and I were coaching together at the time and we both complained about the continuous carries. One of the officials came over during a timeout and actually told me that “everyone carries the ball legally,” and that “there is no official ‘carry’ rule.” I was totally dumbfounded. This is funny because I see officials call it all the time. During this same game, I received my first technical foul ever. My wife, er, assistant coach, had been riding the officials the whole game. At one point, he came over to me and told me that she needed to sit down, shut up and coach her team. When I told him she was right, that the kid did in fact carry the ball every time and that he needed to call it, he told me that I needed to sit down and coach my team. I told him he needed to “call the game” and apparently this was the wrong thing to say. I got my first technical foul. I blamed it on my assistant.
That story brings me to another issue. Officials are very sensitive these days. They take things personally. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that if I were officiating and a coach or a fan told me I was terrible, or blind, or worse, I don’t know if I could go on about my business without taking those comments personally. That is why I don’t officiate. Officials are told not to take a lot from coaches and fans. Coaches are told that appropriate behavior during games should consist of asking questions regarding specific rules. Loud and obnoxious behavior, constant complaining and derogatory comments toward officials are absolute no no’s. Coaches are also told that they are responsible for their team’s, fan’s and parent’s behavior.
The way I see it, officials have to know that if they are going to be out there making calls that at least one team is never going to like, they have to understand that not everyone is going to be happy with those calls. Coaches are going to complain. Fans are going to complain. Even players are going to complain. If it crosses the line, the officials have the authority to act accordingly. They should never reply, comment or speak to fans directly. I had an official recently come to the bench and tell me that I needed to get control of one of our parents. I have no problem with that, even though I didn’t do anything at the time as I was in the middle of coaching a game. The time to address this type of behavior is between games. On the other hand, some officials take things personally and they will make it personal toward the coach or the fans.
This issue brings me to another story. My team was playing in a tournament in April of this year. We won a game and lost one on Saturday. We won the first tournament game on Sunday. The next game we had to play a team that had already beaten us. We played very poorly from the start and dug a huge hole that we could not get out of. We were down by a large margin before the first half was over. I always tell my players to continue to play no matter what the score is. I expect the same from the officials, to continue to call the game. Unfortunately, due to the lopsided score, the officials put the whistles away and stopped calling fouls. Now this is a highly combustible situation. My team is down big. I am telling them to play physical and scrap and claw and continue to play hard. The opponent is having fun winning big and they continue to score, which they should. (ide note: I believe that if a team isn’t willing to stop you from scoring, you should continue to score. The only time this shouldn’t happen is if a team is absolutely outmanned and doesn’t have the talent or ability to stop you from scoring. That is when a little mercy can be shown.) Back to my story. Things got as chippy as this years NHL Finals. Before the first half was over, one of my guys was playing good, hard defense on the baseline. His man was trying to force his way to the basket by lowering his shoulder and slamming into my guy. I should state here that what the offensive player was doing was illegal and should have been called a foul. My guy stood his ground and played excellent defense. The official told my guy to take it easy and eventually called a foul on him. One of my parents says, “it goes both ways ref.” The official looks at the parent and says, “That’s cute.” He then looks at me. I told him I didn’t say it. In the meantime, my guys were getting hammered on offense every time we tried to take the ball to the basket. No fouls were called. At halftime I went to the officials and I asked them about the rules. My question was, “Look, I know we are down big, but that doesn’t mean you guys are going to stop calling fouls does it? A foul is still a foul isn’t it?” He says, “I’m not getting into that, do you have a question about the rules?” I said, “that is about the rules.” There was no reply. As he was walking away from me he turned and said, “Well, you aren’t going to quit coaching are you?” Of course I wasn’t, and I didn’t. The second half was no better. Fouls were still not called. At one point my son was bringing the ball across half court. His defender was all over him, grabbing his shirt and pulling it out of his shorts. This happened on two consecutive possessions. On the very next trip down the floor, he got up in his mans face and played some pressure defense. He was called for a foul. Inside I was boiling. But all I said was, “ah, that’s good.” The official immediately hit me with a technical foul and told me I had to sit down. I couldn’t believe it. My assistants couldn’t believe. Our parents couldn't believe it. I obviously felt like he was looking for something, anything just to call a technical foul. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told my son to take his jersey off and give it to the kid guarding him on the previous play.
After the game, I continued to express my displeasure with the officiating to the tournament site director. I didn’t understand how the official could speak to one of the fan’s in a sarcastic manner. There were no consequences. Yet I received a technical foul for saying “that’s good”. At this point the other official, whom had rarely blown his whistle during the game, joined the conversation in an attempt to defend his and his partner’s performance. He made some derogatory comments about my team. When I pushed the foul issue, he resorted to taunting us. His comment was, “Well you got beat by 50,” like a little kid in a school yard. I thought I was back on the playground in elementary school in New Castle. For the record, we lost by 41. He continued to taunt us as he and his partner, who happened to take great pleasure in the taunts, left the gym. This took place in front of players, parents, tournament officials and anyone who was within earshot. Quite a display of maturity and self control from an official. This is a person who is supposed to maintain control in an often out of control game. A person of authority, who is out there to keep the peace, call the game and make sure everyone follows the rules. It was an unbelievable experience, something I had never experienced before and haven't since. Of course I complained, but to no avail. There was nothing to be done. I attempted to obtain the names of these officials. I would have included their names, and made every attempt to expose their unprofessionalism. However, I was unsuccessful. I still don’t know who they are. I can only hope we never have them again.
Officials are necessary. We have to have them. Some are good, some are bad. Some care, others don’t. Some make it personal, but the good ones just continue to call the game. People will always complain about officiating, about calls, no calls and many fans like to tell the official what they think of them or their eyesight. I, however, have found that the less you say as a coach, the better. The more you complain the worse the officiating gets. You have no control over the officials assigned to do your games. You just have to sit down and coach your team, and yes, shut up sometimes. You have to let the players play and let the officials officiate. Officials don’t usually cost teams games anyway. Sometimes it just seems that way.
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