Can the assistant coach address the Ump?

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Jun 20, 2015
848
93
i knew i wasn't crazy when i had attended all these plate meetings and umps kept telling me 'only talking to head coaches about any questions during games".

Sure the MSU rule book is alive and well, but not on that one.
 
Dec 15, 2018
809
93
CT
It is pretty evident, despite the sloppy writing, the "the coach" is always reference to the head coach in the USSSA rulebook. I don't think there is much room for interpretation.

Fun fact: the term "head coach" appears in the USSSA rulebook 9 times. 8 of those are in reference to ejecting the head coach. USSSA hates head coaches.

Wouldn't it be nice though, if it didn't have to be "pretty evident", if it was just written clearly and consistently? I've never been in a rules committee meeting, so I have no idea how difficult it is to get things like this cleaned up. But, to an outsider, it doesn't seem all that hard.

I imagine it going like this at the meeting:

Me: Um, in various places we have "coach", "a coach", "the coach", "the Coach", "head coach" which is the only defined term, and "any coach". Can we, um, clarify who we're talking about?

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Everyone knows what we mean.

Me: You would literally just have to type four letters in a few places.

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Too hard. Happy hour starts in 4 hours. We have a jewelry discussion that will take at least that long.

Me: Maybe next year?

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Maybe not.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Too hard. Happy hour starts in 4 hours. We have a jewelry discussion that will take at least that long.
And at happy hour they have to hand out the plaques for the umps that stopped the most games to Freak Out about faux diamond studs and $7 chokers.

I have seen with my own eyes in the college game what this results in. Players blowing ACL’s after tripping on decapitated heads. Players impaled on crucifixes. Fingers dangling by a sliver of skin. Ears. Ripped. Off. Of. Heads. Mad Max type stuff. Oh, the humanity.

Then the lawsuits. Estate Of Suzy Softball Player vs. 212 Year Old Umpire. Not good. Not good at all, people.
 
Last edited:
Aug 25, 2019
1,066
113
I have no problem talking to an assistant coach if he saw something that need ed to be addressed. Sounds like a waste of time for that coach to call time out, discuss what they saw to the head cosch, then have the head coach talk to me about it. As long as I speak to one coach only, it's good by me.
 
Feb 13, 2021
880
93
MI
As long as I speak to one coach only, it's good by me.
^^THIS^^ As long as I am SPEAKING with ONE coach at a time, I will talk with an AC who has a question. As I said earlier in this thread, he is on a shorter leash than his HC would be, and once his question is answered, that is the end of it. Head coaches are expected to know the rules (see NFHS Coaches Code of Ethics Appendix F to the 2022 rule book), so if there is a question of a misapplied rule, I would expect that the HC is also aware of anything an AC knows (or thinks he knows) and will want to be the one to discuss it with an umpire in the first place, so all an AC is really doing is making sure the umpire doesn't allow play to continue before the HC can get there to take up any discussion.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Anything in rules about ejecting umpire? 😁
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May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Don't get me wrong ... I am not saying "don't ever talk to assistant coaches." Maybe don't put them in your mouth (you never know where they've been) and don't feed them after midnight or get them wet.

I'm saying there is indeed a rule-based support (in some codes, maybe not all) for an umpire who says the head coach is the one who needs to come to me with any issues.

Trust me, there are plenty of ACs I would rather talk to. But I'm not going to listen to nearly as much chirping from the King of the Hill line in the dugout.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
i knew i wasn't crazy when i had attended all these plate meetings and umps kept telling me 'only talking to head coaches about any questions during games".

Sure the MSU rule book is alive and well, but not on that one.

Just because you were correct doesn't mean you aren't crazy. ;)
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Wouldn't it be nice though, if it didn't have to be "pretty evident", if it was just written clearly and consistently? I've never been in a rules committee meeting, so I have no idea how difficult it is to get things like this cleaned up. But, to an outsider, it doesn't seem all that hard.

I imagine it going like this at the meeting:

Me: Um, in various places we have "coach", "a coach", "the coach", "the Coach", "head coach" which is the only defined term, and "any coach". Can we, um, clarify who we're talking about?

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Everyone knows what we mean.

Me: You would literally just have to type four letters in a few places.

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Too hard. Happy hour starts in 4 hours. We have a jewelry discussion that will take at least that long.

Me: Maybe next year?

Grumpy USSSA rules guy: Maybe not.

I cannot speak for other codes' processes, but there is an umpire on another forum I read who was on the NFHS baseball rules committee. It actually is a horribly drawn out process to get a rule changed. Sadly, this is why we get interpretations that don't always match up with the rules. They can issue interps without much of a process and will use this as a band-aid or end-around.

I absolutely agree @Greatdaytobeawildcat , the USSSA rule book is one of the worst written rulebooks. They all have issues (conflicts, inconsistencies, and unclear language), but U-Trip's is the worst (of the ones I use). MLB's Official Rules of Baseball is actually pretty bad, too. In my opinion, cleaning up the rule book is NOT changing rules and should be done.
 

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