BEHIND THE CLIPBOARD: Coaches vs. refs

Why do coaches yell at refs? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one change a call.

A.B., Galt

Why did the chicken cross the road? Why do fools fall in love?

Add to that list of eternal questions the one you posed: Why do coaches yell at refs?

Some coaches claim that they can buy a call later if they can get the ref to think he just blew one. They’re hoping for a make-up call at some point, so they make sure it’s clear a mistake had been made.

Unfortunately, most of the time coaches indicate the ref might possibly have been mistaken in his judgment by screaming at the top of their lungs that the official not only has vision issues, but is fat and ugly as well. Precisely how this will get the refs on anyone’s side is unclear, but it seems to be the most common tactic.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that a coach could get far enough inside the ref’s head that there will be a sense of obligation that will lead to a favorable call. OK, so what would be the best way to do that? Let’s start a list:

1) Yelling out “That’s a foul” at the top of your lungs;

2) Screaming “She was onside and if you ran down the field instead of jogging, you’d have known that”;

3) Loudly telling the captain to go ask the ref to explain that last pathetic call; or

4) Calmly discussing the possibility that a rule was misapplied or that a particular play was miscalled.

But simple observation will reveal that 4) is the least-popular tactic. Coaches much prefer to vent their frustrations by screaming at the officials rather than actually trying to get the refs to give them a favorable ruling later in the game.

In addition, let’s say a coach really does get the ref to pay attention, and really gets under the official’s skin with a series of well-timed bon mots – “I’ve seen better eyes on potatoes,” for example. What will be the result?

It’s highly unlikely that the ref is going to get any better when flustered; in fact, the odds are the official is going to get worse, and maybe a lot worse. At that point, calls become more like the flip of a coin than having any apparent relation to action in the game, and the chances of getting that fabled make-up call get slimmer and slimmer.

But to me, the worst thing about coaches screaming at officials has little to do with whether calls will wind up being tilted one way or another. After all, a good official won’t be swayed, and a bad official has no clue to begin with.

No, the worst thing that happens when a coach complains about the officiating is that the players start to buy in – and pretty soon, they have a built-in excuse to lose. “We didn’t have a chance because of the refs,” they’ll say afterward, when in fact the game was lost when they started to believe there was a reason they should lose.

Players feed off their coach, and a high school coach is well aware of the limitations of the refs. (If the officials were any good, they wouldn’t be doing high school; if the coach was any good, he wouldn’t either.) So if a coach wants to give his players an excuse, he should yell at the refs constantly and point out their every mistake.

Even though he won’t get a call changed, he will lower his chances of winning – and you know, that’s really not what a coach should be trying to do.  

Clay Kallam is an assistant athletic director and girls varsity basketball coach at Bentley High in Lafayette. To submit a question for Behind the Clipboard, email Coach Kallam at clayk@fullcourt.com