3-5-2a head coach (or HC's designee)

[refjeff]

The book says a time-out can be requested by the head coach or his designee.  Some of us were taught that is one person.  I believe Redding says that it is two.  If it's two, can it be more than that?

[bama_stripes]

Im of the opinion that only one non-player at a time is authorized to call time out.  The HC can designate who that is in the event that he can’t or doesn’t want to.  He can change that designation during the game if he likes.  Allowing multiple designees could lead to a major disaster for us.

I always ask the HC during the pregame if he will be calling TOs.

[Ralph Damren]

INHO, thw 'two' refered to is the head coach and his assignee IN CASE THE HEAD COACH ISN'T AVAILABLE. This can be asked in pre-game. Such a request could be worded : 

"COACH, JUST IN CASE YOU GET SICK OR I GET SICK OF YOU, WHO CAN CALL TIME OUTS  ?"

[lawdog]

its two different people but 2 can't be authorized to do it at the same time.  That's what "OR" tells us.

[ncwingman]

In my experience, any time Not The Head Coach is authorized to call a time out, it's because the HC has delegated one side of the ball to assistant coaches. For example, the HC calls plays on offense, then lets the defensive coordinator take over when they don't have the ball. The HC is then busy looking at film/talking to the QB when they're on defense. In that situation, there's only ever one "active" coach that can/will call a timeout.

If they ever try to designate multiple coaches/players/water boys, then I'm just going to grant any request for "Timeout" that I hear behind me -- and if that means the HC is HACKED off for using a time out when he didn't want to, well, that's his problem for not controlling his sideline. That's not "by the book" legal, but it's a good way for the coach to understand the rule in a very "malicious compliance" manner.