This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis details the adoption of the larger sideline coaching box for basketball.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Coaching Box Expansion - Listen

There’s one very visible change coming to the basketball court this year in Michigan. The sideline coaching box has been expanded from 14 feet to 28 feet. The expansion was allowed by national playing rules for individual state association adoption a year ago, but the change was announced too late for Michigan to opt for the larger box.

Even though the box size has changed, other rules for behavior inside the box have not. Only the head coach is allowed to stand up in the box as allowed by rule; once the coaching box is lost due to a technical foul, there is no way to get the coaching box back; and all other related rules restrictions apply.

The change brings the game in Michigan full circle from when the old “seat belt” rule was created in the 1980s. Hopefully, common sense will prevail, and the coaching box will be used for just that – coaching.