Is the head coach the only coach allowed to call a timeout from the bench in basketball? I'm getting conflicting answers on the internet and wonder if it is different from state to state. Some things show that a assistant can call one and others say head coach only.

Edited November 30, 201510 yr by oral32

Sorry for the misspelled word in header tried to correct it but won't let me.

Paging @Clyde.

Officials, in a good pre-game, will make sure that the Head Coach is who speaks. If an official accepts a time out from an assistant, that is not good game management.

 

Officials should not be taking requests from bench personnel, only Head Coaches

 

If a head coach allows an assistant to call a time out, shame on them...assistants are not game managers, they are coaches.

Officials, in a good pre-game, will make sure that the Head Coach is who speaks. If an official accepts a time out from an assistant, that is not good game management.

 

Officials should not be taking requests from bench personnel, only Head Coaches

 

If a head coach allows an assistant to call a time out, shame on them...assistants are not game managers, they are coaches.

 

Agreed. Technically, assistant coaches do not exist as far as officials are concerned. Rulebook says a timeout can be requested by the head coach or a player on the court.

 

With that said there are times when you hear a TO request but do not know if it's the head coach or the asst coach and yet you'll still grant it. Picture a scramble for a ball and Team A gains possession but is about to get tied up. You'll hear from behind you "time out" and you'll grant it as long as it was prior to the tie up. May have been the asst coach.

 

But as BirdBrain stated, the communication is always with the head coach.

Agreed. Technically, assistant coaches do not exist as far as officials are concerned. Rulebook says a timeout can be requested by the head coach or a player on the court.

 

With that said there are times when you hear a TO request but do not know if it's the head coach or the asst coach and yet you'll still grant it. Picture a scramble for a ball and Team A gains possession but is about to get tied up. You'll hear from behind you "time out" and you'll grant it as long as it was prior to the tie up. May have been the asst coach.

 

But as BirdBrain stated, the communication is always with the head coach.

 

NCAA has fixed this for the officials at that level, but the NFHS demands a little more from their high school officials and head coaches can still call time out on live ball situations.

 

For some reason the next level officials get the game "dumbed down" for them. First it was the half circle, now live ball bench time outs....

The restricted arc makes the game so much better. I wish it was adopted at the HS level.