The coach/official relationship is fascinating. The list of complaints about officials from coaches and administrators is long and never really ends. One of the entries of this blog is dedicated to relaying common complaints from coaches. From our side of the fence, coaches try to intimidate and badger us in the hopes of getting every call in their favor. They are ignorant, and often times the enemy, preventing us from doing our jobs peacefully.
What's wrong with that picture? It's untrue. While both sides can feel those ways at times, it is quite common that a mutual respect can be attained. We both know what each other needs to do. However, as human beings, we all have our own ideas about how to get it done. Some say the coach/official relationship is like a marriage, where mutual respect needs to be there to maintain a bond through minor disagreements. The problem is, the officials need to always maintain composure and act professionally at all times. We need to be the bigger person when things get emotional and personal.
Which brings me to the point of this entry. We all deal with aggressive coaches who can get very emotional and vocal during games. Some of these guys are just great when they are winning, and become difficult when games or individual calls don't go their way. As officials, we categorize these coaches. When an aggressive coach usually makes good points, he is "competitive". When a coach rants and raves about non-issues, he is "irrational". When a coach begs frequently, he is "whiny". Fair or unfair, these labels follow coaches, and they can have an effect on how we do our jobs, and manages the games.
I don't believe that a vocal coach means that he is against the officials. I am certain that there are coaches that hate officials, or will try to intimidate or badger officials into giving them that one call that may make a difference between winning or losing a 1-point game. However, I believe the best mindset for us is to be innocent and oblivious. We need to assume that players and coaches have no ill intentions.
Coaches, especially the best ones, hate to lose. The spend tons or time, energy, and passion into trying to win games by directing their players. During the game, that energy and passion has to go somewhere, especially when things don't go as planned. Players don't execute perfectly. Coach tells a player to do X and Y. Player does A and B. Coach asks why, and never gets a good answer. What's the result? Frustration. Same thing goes with calls the coach doesn't like, and despite our egos, we miss lots of calls. No good answer? More frustration.
Frustration results in energy having to go somewhere. Some coaches--and people--bottle it up. It may or may not explode. Others vent. Where can the coach vent? He can rip the players, and often does. He can passionately direct his team, and often does. However, you cannot spend 32 or 40 minutes doing that. The players will burn out and tune him out. What does that leave? The officials...
Some coaches like to scream "Travel!" throughout the game, even when they know that you have tuned them out? Why? Some say that it is in the hopes that they get that one travel call. I prefer to believe that it is just energy that has to go somewhere. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it any different than a 4-year-old boy who is so full of energy that he cannot sit still? No! Coaches cannot ride a treadmill during a game. They cannot sprint around. They cannot scream at the table. They cannot yell at the opponent, or tell their AD to jump in a lake. But they can vent on officials, for the most part, without penalty. It's accepted.
Next time you have a vocal coach that is not getting personal, instead of thinking he's being overly critical and annoying, try to remember that he has competitive energy and frustration built up that has to go somewhere. That small amount of empathy might help you deal with the coach better, and also keep your focus on doing what is best for the game--players and coaches--instead of getting annoyed with high maintenance coach. I know when I head the "Travel!" 25 times in a game, it doesn't bother me a bit. It makes me feel good that the coach is working that hard. It's not fun for me, but it is good for the game as long as I am not affected!
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