Coin Toss Mistake- DI Football

You've got to walk kids through that entire sequence several times over so you know they have. Otherwise they'll have a surprise for you when you ask them "so what was it?" The rotating captain for the week that goes out never speaks to the officials. He has not been instructed as to how the whole process takes place. He's there purely for show. It's a recognition thing for the week of practice but he does not call the toss or speak to the officials at all. The speaking captain will call the flip and respond to the official when asked questions. Fortunately, we have not had issues with this. We send pretty smart kids out and I go over with the one I want speaking how the entire exchange will go and what the various options are. I couldn't imagine how disheartening that would feel to not receive a kick at the start of either half. You have certainly created an uphill climb just from a simple exchange with the officials before the start of the game. Thankfully in this case it was the University of Nebraska. Bo Pelini must've come unglued about this. Somebody better run and hide or like Roy Helu did rush for 300+ yards to get out of coach's dog house.

kids who play NCAA and Madden think that if you kick, you receive automatically because that is the way it works on the game. We make sure we coach up all the kids on the 4 choices and what they mean in a game.

We tell our kids simply that if we win the toss, we will defer. If we lose the toss, we really don't care what goal we are going to defend.

As far as choosing a goal to defend, what do you guys base that on?

wind
away from their fans
towards our fans
field conditions

Anyone ever kicked in both intentionally because it was a blowout in your favor?

when choosing ends, shouldn't the elements always come into play? sun, wind, etc. sounds like the coach was thinking.

curious why people feel the need to "face the clock" in the 4th... what does that give you - over the elements factors? there should be a 25 second clock on both ends. if not, the official will raise his hand to indicate 10 seconds remaining on play clock - facing the scoreboard isn't necessary for that.

I make this simple

I tell the kids "If you win the toss, we want the ball, if we lose the toss, we want the ball, if the refs tell you you can't have the ball then say we want the ball in the 2nd half....and when the refs say yes, you will get the ball in the 2nd half, now which side do you want to defend? I tell them to say they want the ball"

Yes, I'm a little paranoid. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but kids do the stupdest things.

Seriously, I make sure of my 4 captains, one is the smartest kid on the team, and he does all the talking.

I always have a coach keep the play clock on the sidelines in the 4th quarter of close games.

Every season, I get at least one game where we receive both kickoffs. Why? Because a coach screwed up in giving instruction. It's always priceless to see their faces when the second half starts, and they figure out that they have to kick again.

It's really simple - if it is our choice, we defer. If it's their choice, and they defer to us, we MUST take the ball. Not that complicated, and every week I have the same kid do the talking so we don't have any mixups.

how about you write it down on a small index card... hand to the captain prior to the coin toss... now, he's been told, and he's got it written down. tell him to show it to the official then read it to the official....

happened to us two weeks ago..we practice this every week...we decided to let a soph be a game captain for one week so the other guys decided on their own to let him talk..nice gesture ..I was furious

Only one speaking captain (NFHS Rule 3-2-2 and I think NCAA is similar). It is an idea, but only one designated spokesman.

I instruct the umpire to go through the options of if they win the toss and if they need to designate the side of field and I do the same. Usually if a team kicks, they will defend the scoreboard/clock, but other conditions may affect their choice. It is not just for the players, but also the coaches. Elements may dictate otherwise, but it is the default option for most teams.

After the coin toss, I ask the winning captain: "Do you want to receive the ball?" I pause. Then I ask: "Do you want to defer to the second half?" At this time, the captain has usually heard what their coach instructed. If I know the captain wants to defer, I will start by asking: "Do you want to defer to the second half?" I find asking in this way minimizes the chance for mistakes as opposed to asking: "You won the toss, what would you like to do?" or quickly giving the options like: "Do you want to receive, defer, kick, or defend a goal?"

Just like with penalty options, I tend to give the captain's the obvious choice first if there is an obvious choice. I make it difficult for the captains to make a mistake. At some point, if the captain is insistent, we have to go with what the captain wants. If a captain insists he wants to kick, it is out of our hands.

ROFLMFAO.

wow, yeah, pretty crappy deal there. Almost like going for it on 4th down and throwing an incomplete pass...and the ref just giving you the first down because "you meant to run the ball here"