Tips on Talking to and "Working" Referees
(Continued from About.Com)

By Melissa Barlow, WNBA & Naismith Award Winning Referee


Please don’t recite foul counts to me - I am paid to know the foul counts and I do. Incidentally, just because the foul count is not equal does not mean it is not right and reflective of the kind of game that we have going. Sometimes, the style and tempo of the game has more to do with determining the foul count that referees do. A team that is using a very active full court deny press vs. a team that sits back in a zone and forces long-range jump shots is the type of game that can lead to lopsided foul counts.

One of the funniest things that ever happened to me in a game had to do with foul counts. I was working an NCAA game at Fresno State and the home team was committing quite a few fouls on the visiting team. I called yet another foul on Fresno State and ended up near the scorer’s table, the position you take after you’ve called a shooting foul. As her player was attempting her free throws, the visiting coach marched right up to me and exclaimed in a loud voice "Melissa, the fouls are ten to two. Ten to two!!" I could not understand why she was making this point so I looked up at the scoreboard again just to double check and then told her, "I see that Coach, but the other team is the one with ten fouls, not you. You only have two fouls." She stopped momentarily and then without missing a beat said "I know. What I mean to say is that the fouls should be 15-2." Well, I couldn’t help myself. I just looked at her and smiled that smile that says, "Are you kidding me?" The look on her face was so funny that I then started to laugh. Her assistant coaches heard this exchange as well and they started to laugh, as did some of the players on the bench. About the only one not laughing was the head coach but she took it pretty well and finally sat down.

I will admit when I make a mistake - so please don’t keep harping on it for the entire game! It is really not in my best interest to make a mistake. I am judged on my performance just like you are. I had a game at UCLA about three or four years ago when Baylor came to visit. This was a big game and it had barely started and I made just a really bad call on a Baylor player and I knew it. I could see the Baylor coach get up out of her seat and get ready to blast me. As I ran by, she yelled, "Melissa that was horrible! I can’t believe you made that call!" I was not happy with myself and knew she was right. As luck would have it, I also had the next call, which put me right in front of her. I knew it was coming and she let me have it. "That was the worst call I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t believe you called that. You are usually better than that!" Before I even realized what came out of my mouth, I said, "Coach, you’re right. But don’t give up on me yet - there’s a lot of game left." She didn’t say anything at first and I thought, "Wow that was a stupid thing to say because now you’ve given her even more angles to come at you even harder." As I was bracing for the next volley, she sat down and simply said, "Okay girl." I appreciated that chance and I didn’t have any more foul ups that game.

Don’t carry over a play or perceived "bad call" from one game to the next. You wouldn’t like it if I did that. Neither coaches nor referees should carry over the events of one game to the next. Here’s the longest carry over ever!

Quite a few years ago, I had Hawaii in the WAC tournament against Rice, with both teams vying for the conference’s lone automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. It was a great game, close the whole time and went down to the wire. At the end of the game, the star Hawaii player went up for a shot right in front of me. I did not have a foul on the play and Hawaii lost a heartbreaker. I looked at a lot of videotape of that game (yes, referees watch videotape also!) and still never did see a foul. Well, about three years later, I am working a game for the same coach and he didn’t like a no-call that I had and let me know about it. So he says, "That was just like the WAC Final three years ago!" Now, I am not one to give out many technical fouls (I only had one last season in about 70 games), but this was probably one of my fastest technical fouls ever!

Enough advice on what "not to do," here are some suggestions on things that you can do to try and secure a better outcome from officials at every level of the game.

You can and should ask questions when there are things going on that you don’t understand or that require further clarification. But when you ask a question, give the official a chance to answer it before you are on to the next one. The coaches who are really effective at this will let me talk. Like I’ve said before, coaches are generally much better at "verbal sparring" than I am so they usually will let me talk because I may say something that they can actually use against me to try and win their argument. Leon Barmore, who is now retired and had a successful career at Louisiana Tech was excellent at this. I always try to be careful with my words but with Leon, I knew that if I had an off night in that area, I would be spending most of the game eating those words.

I would also advise coaches and players to "pick their battles" about referee’s calls. I am not going to get every call right but I am not going to miss every one either. Coaches and players who criticize every play and call are easier for me to ignore. (see Aesop’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf) There are coaches who pick their spots very well and you know what? When they jump up and start asking about a play when they haven’t done it all game, my first thought is usually "Oh no, what did we miss?" Kathy Marpe, the longtime coach at the University of San Diego who is now retired was definitely one that fit into that category. She did not say much but when she did ask about a play, chances were good that I would later see on the videotape that she was right. There are coaches that have this reputation of "When they complain, you know that you’ve likely missed something" and conversely, those who don’t. Which one do you think is more effective?

Throughout the game, you can talk to me and get just as much impact as yelling. Trust me, I take you just as seriously if you are talking vs. yelling, maybe even more so. Generally, when coaches are talking to me, they are going to want some feedback from me so I have to think more. When all I hear is yelling, I know that you just want to vent and aren’t really looking for comments from me and again, it is easier for me to ignore.

Again, I know that I will get some calls wrong because I am human. If I make a good one every now and then, you can let me know that also. That reminds me too that you are human. And, you may just knock me off guard for a moment… Have a great season!


Editor's Note: This article by Melissa Barlow was originally published as a special feature in the all-new, Better Basketball Online Magazine. Please click here to view the Online Magazine's daily features, including downloadable video instruction on all aspects of basketball improvement.