While we watched a National Football League game many years ago, my now-deceased father asked me about some of the major differences that I observed between pro football and the high school games I covered.

Beyond the obvious disparity in talent, one difference that quickly came to mind at the time was the way coaches utilized timeouts. High school coaches of that era generally used them to made adjustments and allow their teams to regroup. Major college and pro coaches tended to hoard them for late-game situations.

Like most generalizations, there were exceptions to the rule at both the high school and professional levels.

Former Elma High School coach Jim Hill, an ex-Central Washington University quarterback, tended to preserve timeouts in the same manner as his college and professional counterparts — a philosophy that played an unsung role in a pair of come-from-behind Eagle playoff victories a couple of decades ago. An increasing number of prep coaches have followed suit in recent years, as high school football has evolved into more of a fast-paced, wide-open game.

Conversely, I’m not certain that contemporary pro coaches have been quite as shrewd as their predecessors in saving a full complement of timeouts for the closing moments of tight contests.

Until last Monday, I would have regarded Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll as one of the best in the NFL in timeout judgment. Clearly, the Hawks could not have pulled off their dramatic last-second win over the Houston Texans a few weeks ago had not Carroll retained his second-half timeouts for the closing moments. That’s not the only occasion in which the Seahawk coach has used timeouts wisely.

Against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, however, Carroll forgot two basic rules of Timeout Management 101: Second-half timeout strategy differs from that in the first half and teams that are trailing should hoard their timeouts at all costs. There are exceptions to the second rule, such as when a coach notices his defense has only 10 men on the field, but not many.

But with the Seahawks facing a two-score deficit in the third quarter against Atlanta, Carroll spent his first timeout of the half to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. In the NFL and major college football, a five-yard walkoff is almost inconsequential.

Later in the second half, Carroll called timeout No. 2 to challenge an official’s ruling that wide receiver Doug Baldwin had dropped a pass. The problem with this challenge was that replays clearly showed that the refs had gotten the call right.

Carroll later explained that Baldwin insisted that he had made the catch and his coaches stationed near the press box had not viewed the same replays available to the television audience (the latter assertion seems questionable). Given the circumstances, however, the reward from overturning the call didn’t match the risk of losing another timeout.

In any event, the Hawks were forced to begin their final drive with little time on the clock and no timeouts in their pockets.

Seattle placekicker Blair Walsh took his share of heat for coming up one yard short on a 52-yard field goal attempt as time expired. But had the Seahawks preserved even one of their misspent timeouts, the odds are pretty good that they would have at least sent the game into overtime.

To his credit, Carroll subsequently took responsibility for the poor time management. Anyone can have a bad day and the Seattle coach’s track record has been better than most.

Oddly, that was the second timeout controversy in Seattle within a 48-hour span.

University of Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was hammered by the Salt Lake press for calling time while his team was on defense in the final minute of what was then a tie game with Washington. The Huskies capitalized by kicking a last-second field goal for a dramatic 33-30 win.

The criticism of Whittingham, while understandable, was also a trifle unfair. Until that point, he had coached a terrific game —catching the Huskies napping on a successful onside kick and fake punt.

Washington coach Chris Petersen, incidentally, opted against testing one of my pet theories after the Huskies drew to within a point on a touchdown with about one minute remaining.

I’ve long believed in such a circumstance that the offensive team should consider trying a two-point conversion for the outright lead. The club on defense is often in a state of flux after allowing the late TD. Kicking for the tie allows it to regroup entering overtime.

Admittedly, my theory works best following a last-second Hail Mary pass rather than the sustained drive the Huskies put together. In any event, the Huskies kicked for the tie, then won in regulation anyway.

All of which illustrates why Chris Petersen makes big bucks coaching football and I earn a lesser sum writing about it.