Working the officials- does it help?

Just throwing a dart, but my guess is that a) fans far over-estimate the value b) fans don't accurately perceive the extent/nature of which their team's coach does or does not work the refs and c) all said, coaches need to work the refs to some extent. Not doing so might actually reduce the accountability of certain refs (part of the game).

 

Years ago Auburn was ahead of Indiana at the half. Bobby Knight slammed his fist into the scorers table so hard that the phones bounced off the hook. The officials called a completely different second half.

 

Honestly, and I know a lot of NBN clamor for it, I never believed it to be of much value. But, what do I know?

 

I'm not the biggest fan of it all the time, personally. But you do need to prove a point from time to time. I can tell you Golden was losing his mind on the refs today in the first half.

 

I remember that well. Knight should have gotten a T but the refs were so scared that they called fouls on Auburn every possession until Indiana took the lead.
It would never fly today but it worked. They are still searching for those refs spines.

 

I never coached at a high level but I did player/coach several intramural teams at UF. I NEVER ranted at them even when they where horrible. I didn't have the cred. Now Emmitt Smith had a team we played against and he told the refs what to call and they did and then they got autographs after the game. That game sucked. His team of Gator footballers beat us by about six points with the most lopsided whistle you can imagine.

The one time I got a call in an intramural game was when I complained about three seconds against an opposing player that was camping out in the lane that I was defending. The next possession I gave three swipes of my arm and they called three seconds.

 

I'd rather see our guy work the official than stand there like a deer in headlights all game. However, it does get old watching some coaches get more into yelling at officials than coaching the game.

Golden has said we need to learn to guard without fouling better down the stretch. Is that him recognizing we foul too much, or is that him lobbying to officials through the press?

Watching the Texas A&M, Bama, and now the usce game all games we had control of until the opposing team went on scoring droughts from the field for several mins and still managed to capture the lead or keep the game within 1 score due to fouls I question if it's us fouling too much or officials taking over the game for the home team. It's discouraging as a fan, because I don't recall the Gators getting the same benefit at home when we go through dry spells. I'm sure some of it is my O&B bias, but it's been a theme in several tough losses. We can't even get the obvious foul calls like the one on Clayton that should of made that game a 1 pt game late.

 

Taking a shot at the officials you mean?

 

Perhaps a Coach K can have an impact on refs. TG with his young thin look is likely not to get much respect comparatively. However, think refs are influenced by where they live. Refs and league office in Bama likely influence games more than any other factor

 

I think like most things timing and the manner in which you do something play a big role in how well they are received. Constantly working the refs creates a boy that cried wolf scenario. Complaining to or at the refs can irritate them. I think the style that works is the buddy - buddy, respectful but authoritative approach. More experienced, suave coaches like say Pearl and Calipari can smooth talk a ref and know when and how to push those buttons. They also have the respect of the refs for being oldtimers. I think since most refs to get to the level of being an SEC ref is based on seniority and to ref the big games even more so, this old coach old ref “comraderie” is enhanced or exacerbated, depending on which side you’re on. For Golden, as a young up and coming coach he just isn’t there yet, and maybe as a very smart guy he might come off as disrespectful to the old brass…or maybe they’re just anti-semites. Who knows.

 

Good story. Thanks for posting. Funny that Bruce Pearl with Aunbrin tried the pound -the-scorers-table against us and it didn't help one bit. Har!!

 

Probably depends on the respective refs and coaches. Different sport, but I've had a couple of baseball umps tell me that coaches/players complaining has a negative effect.

I do think that in basketball fans can have a favorable impact on refs, tho it rarely seems to happen at UF.

 

There was no doubt that SC got away with a lot of hacking. If you happened to watch the Ala/Tenn game last night at Tuscaloosa, Alabama was hacking the whole game. One of their wings fouled out, but they just like SC will dog you, bump into to you the whole game. Barnes who doesn’t come out of his seat much, was fully engaging the refs the whole night. It was needed for them to get the win. Do you think Hurley at UConn would not engage the refs? A good coach can plead nicely, or go crazy on huge missed calls, but what ticks me off is our guys getting thrown to the ground and fouls then called on us or bloody. WTH this has happened way too much all year. Condon gets hit in the face and bleeds but no calls, the other teams have this happen to them and they throw the book at us, review, call for foul shots and if we argue even a technical. The Wake Forest and Virginia games were stolen. The Alabama game, the South Carolina game were called lopsided in the second half, these are the ones I remember well. ole Miss got lost every call at Oxford. My feeling is that coach has to try anything he can to stay engage with the refs. as he matures in coaching he will figure out what works and what doesn’t. The South Carolina coach talked all night to one of his ref brothers, the second half he was all smiles

 

As mentioned in the game thread, the probabilities of getting eight fouls in a row called against one team is very low. iirc we've had games with six or seven in a row. Seems like these come in the second half of games we lose. Maybe it's just frequency & confirmation bias. I'm going to get the data for all games & see.

 

You are 100% correct. My thoughts exactly. Most of the time we have to realize that when we are the visiting team we have to be very careful. But what's so odd is when we are the home team, we still get screwed by the refs.