The CIAC Board of Control, at its February 25, 2010 meeting, unanimously passed regulations that sanction a coach who chooses to publicly criticize a game official(s). The Board took such action as a result of an increase in the number of incidents where a coach has made negative comments about the game official(s) in a public forum.

The CIAC has worked diligently over the past several years to establish standards of sportsmanship in all schools for players, coaches, spectators and officials among others. Clearly one of the major tenets of the CIAC sportsmanship effort is for everyone to show respect for the game officials and that coaches refrain from criticizing officials in the media or in other public forums. Furthermore, the coaching Code of Ethics clearly states that "public criticism of officials or players is unethical."

Consequently, the CIAC Board of Control has passed regulations which goes into effect immediately. Therefore, school officials need to inform their athletic director(s) and coaches of this policy. Member schools are expected to self-report any known or potential violations to the CIAC.

The complete policy can be viewed here.