Yelling at the referees - benefit or drawback?
 

The thread about best coaches for some reason got me thinking about sideline demeanor.

I like that Andy doesn't yell at referees. Assuming that they haven't been bribed by Robert Kraft, referees are trying to do their job, and they're part of the football ecosystem. In the Super Bowl, Andy was minding his own business and the Rat's child was throwing tantrums, and it made me really glad to be a Chiefs fan.

However, it got me wondering about the most effective strategy. If I'm a ref, I'm going to like Andy a lot more. But the old saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" is often true.

What's the best strategy on handling the officials if you're a head coach? Should you more or less ignore them like Andy does, and occasionally educate them on the rules when they're wrong? Should you violently argue every single call? Does it make any difference, because an NFL official is immune to outside influence?

More flies with honey, or something like that. I live that.

I like his style, refs are going to make mistakes they are human and humans hold grudges so in the long run his style is more beneficial to the team I think.
most of the major mistakes get overturned these days and well the others were judgement calls.


As a fan am I going to still yell at them, absolutely .

This should be the default reaction anytime the refs get involved.

https://i.imgur.com/wQd3Rl6.gif

I think you politely point out the error on close calls against your team, and you politely acknowledge all calls against the other team. If you argue against all calls against your team, then you lose credibility, and if you acknowledge only close calls against the other team, then you're acknowledging that they were close, which may have some competitive disadvantage on a makeup call or something.

I would also politely argue my case on replays, but only if I felt that I had a good argument. Again, you don't want to lose credibility by advocating something that's obviously incorrect. You want the officials to take it to heart when you point something out, because they know that you're probably right.

Classic Kelce.

just ignore them...

I try not to get too upset with people who are incompetent to begin with.

I coached a couple of flag football teams this past season and I made it a point to never complain about calls. I thought it was a bad look to the kids.


But parents would act like fools and it always seemed like more bad calls started after that.

Hell I thought I was going to come to blows with 2 of my own players parents during the championship game when they were trying to fight the refs (who are all just kids).

coaching kids is a no win situation when their parents are shitheads.
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Dude...


Making it even more difficult was we were an out of town team playing in their league. Yelling at those kids whose brothers were on the teams we were playing against wasn't going to help at all.


What really ground my gears was the fact that out of 18 kids no one would coach a team and I had a right hand in a cast. But I agreed to coach a team, ended up coaching BOTH teams and then they had the ball to show up and act like assholes.

They would show up to about every third practice and try to get involved and I put an end to that really quick.

I don't think constantly berating refs actually helps. Picking your battles and being selectively vocal seems like it would be more effective.

I liked to use the style of mentioning it between plays just to the ref. Just politely asking if what happened was a penalty, or pointing out what were penalties and asking them to just keep an eye out.

I have never in all my years of watching football at all levels ever seen a coach attack an official with verbal abuse and have that official pick up the flag and wave off the penalty. So why bother with it? And, everybody knows it all evens out anyway.

Refs don't give a shit about who wins or loses, they do their best.

Generally this was the case with me when coaching my son's team last season. Except during the end of season tourney... The team we were playing was getting physical, using stiff arms, etc (all not allowed) so I brought that call the refs over at halftime to discuss it. First play of the second half my son is coming up to pull a flag, the worst offender on the other team literally puts a right cross on his cheek/eye. No call. I am close to losing it at this point, ref says he didn't see it. Again, I tell him what is happening and "would you keep an eye on it?" 2-3 plays later it happens again, no call. The parents are losing it, the kids are a losing it. I bring both refs over again showing them the already bruised face. Their response, "how do I know that isn't a sun burn?"

It was pretty absurd.

Edit: my answer should have been strongly arguing close calls. I think I tends to apply more to basketball than football, but I frequently see the coaches riding the officials getting calls.

coached my twin sons team for 6 years before i quit and let someone else take over. then my wife started coaching the daughters softball team and had me help w/that. i made 4 games and this one girl wouldn't stop w/this, "my dad says we need to do this," and "my dad says we need to do that". **** it...i was done. let her dad put up w/that shit.
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Yeah, our championship game was terrible.

One of my teams (out of towners) was undefeated and playing their team who was also undefeated and hasn't lost a game in a couple years. First they pulled a ref from another small town and put in a ref from their town who had a little brother on the team. I knew we were probably ****ed right then.
We had 5 players depantsed in the first half and if those parents hadn't been acting like such assholes I probably would have ended up blowing my top.

the good thing about my guys was I think they realized their dads were douchebags

My sons hockey coach (age -12) argues or complains after every call and it is even worse when his kid (he's an idiot) gets one even though he deserved them, he calls the ref over to the bench repeatedly and eventually the calls get worse for us, never better. It is also extremely embarrassing as a parent and assume for the kids.

I like Andy's style, and would try to mimic it in some fashion. He seems to take the approach that "what's done is done, let's move on to a play for the down / distance"....I like that. In reality, the call isn't going to change, so why dwell on it. Call the best play you have for the new down / distance, and focus on what's happening next.

I also think that, instead of arguing, I'd be asking the official what they saw on the play. So, instead of arguing, you're trying to understand why something did, or did not get called. But either way, I think the refs probably understand that you weren't happy with how that turned around, but in a more productive way...

For instance: A PI call you thought should have been made against the other team could sound something like this: "Hey ref, I thought I saw their guy their early, what did you see....", and let the ref explain their side. At the end of the day, the call wasn't made, won't change, but without pissing anyone off, you got your point across, and also allowed them the opportunity to respond as well.....

Of course, all of that is easier said than done, because I constantly yell at the refs while watching!

I generally like Reids approach, he only gets real fired up on super close/ticky tack stuff... hollering at the refs as a general practice seems counter-productive

But that's for the coach, with Mahomes I'm all in favor of him urgently but politely arguing a call/non call because all QB's do it

I liked that in flag you're on the field with the team and coaches. Made it easy to make the point but keep it low key

If you build a rapport with an official and treat them with respect then you can sometimes get the benefit of doubt and can even point out penalties occurring against you. But if you berate and admonish officials then they're may ignore your calls for penalties on the other team.

I bet Andy says a lot more to officials that we don't see, but he isn't blowing his top and probably does a lot of his communication prior to the game. But Andy also isn't a hot head and is usually pretty damn level throughout games.

Treating people with respect is always the best route to take.

Just once I'd love to see some ref knock a big mouth coach on his ass. Surprised we haven't seen that by now.

He remembers though. See the LA game. He got some digs in on that game well after it was over.

Some coaches know how to work the refs. They are nice to them, they yell at them. They know just what to do to push them into giving their team a slight edge when it comes to penalties. It also depends on how respected the coach, how good the team.

Just like in other sports, the winners get a bit of an edge.

The Michael Jordan rule etc

In baseball, the great pitchers get the strikes and balls.
In basketball, the great players get foul calls.
In football, the great teams get the 50/50 calls.