http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21989633


EyeOn
College Basketball
Jeff Goodman
College Basketball Insider
Pac-12 head of officials investigated for targeting Arizona's Sean Miller
April 1, 2013 6:09 pm ET

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said the league's head of officials made inappropriate comments about Arizona's Sean Miller. (Getty Images) Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said the league's head of officials made inappropriate comments about Arizona's Sean Miller, above. (Getty Images)

Pac-12 coordinator of basketball officials and former NBA referee Ed Rush has been investigated by the Pac-12 for comments made about Arizona coach Sean Miller in meetings that included several Pac-12 referees.

Rush, according to a source within the Pac-12 officiating group, told a group of referees on the Thursday of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas that he would give them $5,000 or a trip to Cancun if they either "rang him up" or "ran him," meaning hit Miller with a technical or toss him out of the game. Rush then reiterated during a Friday morning meeting, according to one referee in attendance, that officials should take similar action against Miller if he did anything on Friday in the Pac-12 semifinals against UCLA.

"He was emphatic about not dealing with him (Miller)," the ref told CBSSports.com. "He made that perfectly clear."

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott issued a statement to CBSSports.com:

"Based on the review, we have concluded that while Rush made inappropriate comments that he now regrets during internal meetings that referenced rewards, he made the comments in jest and the officials in the room realized they were not serious offers," Scott told CBSSports.com. "Following our review, we have discussed the matter with Rush, taken steps to ensure it does not happen again, and communicated our findings to all of our officials."

Referee Michael Irving -- who sources confirmed was in the room with Rush on Friday -- hit Miller with a controversial technical with 4:37 left in the Pac-12 semifinals against UCLA. The Bruins wound up winning the game, 66-64. Miller was upset about a double-dribble call on Arizona point guard Mark Lyons, arguing that a UCLA player had gotten his hand on the ball before Lyons picked it up.

Miller later claimed he did not direct any profanities at Irving or any of the other officials at the time. The technical was his first of the season.

“The reason I got the technical foul is because I said, ‘He touched the ball. He touched the ball. He touched the ball. He touched the ball. He touched the ball,'" Miller said immediately after the loss. Miller was reprimanded by the Pac-12 and fined $25,000 by the league for confronting a game official after the game had concluded, as well as for acting inappropriately toward a Pac-12 staffer in the hallway of the arena.

"They don't talk to me," he said of the officials. "If I cuss and I'm out of control and I've been warned, shame on me. When I say, 'He touched the ball, he touched the ball' because I thought the two of them could have maybe gotten together and explained that, in fact, he did touch the ball."

The source said the technical foul call was out of character for Irving.

"That's not Michael (Irving)'s mentality as a ref," said the source, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing assignments within the Pac-12. "He's a really good ref and manages situations without using technicals. It was absolutely because of what was said in the meeting. There's no doubt in my mind. It's a bad position to be put in."

"As a basketball referee, it's a horrible position to be put in by your supervisor," he continued. "If you don't do anything, you probably won't get any good games down the road -- or you may not get any games at all. That leaves us in a tough spot."

Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne issued this statement Monday night:

"On Sunday, March 17, we first learned of the allegation of the events that occurred during the Conference Tournament. Due to the serious implications, we immediately shared our concerns with Commissioner Scott and the Conference office. We know that an investigation was held and any further issue is a matter for the Pac-12 office."

Rush was a longtime NBA official who was also the NBA's director of officiating from 1998-2003. He replaced Bill McCabe as the Pac-12's supervisor of officials in 2012, after McCabe retired.

"He's a bully," the referee said of Rush. "He just bullies everyone. That was his whole tenor of the meeting on Friday. We're all afraid of him. He's the most respected basketball officiating person on the West Coast and he's been given all the juice."

Ed Rush did not wish to comment further, telling CBSSports.com, "Larry's made a statement. I'm in concert with what he said. We're going to move on from there."

Been saying this for years, but especially this year.

They need to make major changes.

but if you are then you're aware that the pac-12 consistently has the worst official.

i'd honestly be curious if DIII refs wouldn't be better.

what's really bad about this is that if he took the money (i'm sure they are looking into it) then that's BAD. what's also bad is that i assume it was a 2 shot technical and UCLA won by two (i dunno know if they made those free throws or not)

i also hope like hell they give miller his fine money back if it's been paid.

That was the same time this went down:

(from Tim Donaghy's wiki page)

On June 10, 2008, Donaghy's attorney filed a court document alleging, among other things, that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings was fixed by two referees. The letter states that Donaghy "learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men', always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series." The Lakers won Game 6, attempting 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter, and went on to win the 2002 NBA Finals. The teams were not named, but the Western Conference Finals was the only seven-game series that year. The document claimed that Donaghy told federal agents that to increase television ratings and ticket sales, "top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees". It also said that NBA officials would tell referees to not call technical fouls on certain players, and states that a referee was privately reprimanded by the league for ejecting a star player in the first quarter of a January 2000 game. Stern denied the accusations, calling Donaghy a "singing, cooperating witness".

I need a new sports scandal to keep up with.

He tweeted this today:

"Not surprised.. It will get worse.. Ed Rush Pac-12 head of officials investigated for targeting Arizona's Sean Miller"

He was also quoted in 2002 and fined 500k for saying, "Ed Rush might have been a great ref, but I wouldn't hire him to manage a Dairy Queen. His interest is not in the integrity of the game or improving the officiating."

Hmmmm......

The lakers vs lakers comment should be damning enough(real serious shit is often said as a joke).

They flat out cheated the Kimgs out of a finals appearance.

>"Based on the review, we have concluded that while Rush made
>inappropriate comments that he now regrets during internal
>meetings that referenced rewards, he made the comments in jest
>and the officials in the room realized they were not serious
>offers," Scott told CBSSports.com. "Following our review, we
>have discussed the matter with Rush, taken steps to ensure it
>does not happen again, and communicated our findings to all of
>our officials."

nice job by leadership to admit their entire conference is irrelevant.

However, at a minimum he has shown he can't seem to fix the officiating issues that embarrass this conference and this shows that perhaps he doesn't even care to fix this problem, while letting it expand to men's basketball.

Football officiating has been a joke for the last 15 years and now men's basketball is not only catching up to its football reputation but is trying to surpass football.

Glasses guy and Rush should both be fired immediately.

for years.

the football decisions just ring louder because they were in important games.

but on a game to game basis, pac-12 hoops officiating is a fucking joke.

and throughout every conference has gotten bad over the years so in that sense while PAC 12 officiating hasn't been great, it also hasn't been any worse than the Big East, ACC or any other big conference.

When it comes to Pac 12 football the officiating is so bad that it stands out when compared to all the other conferences and is a national joke.

this is down right dirty shame

i mean, they HAVE to fire him.

how could any coach trust the refs if he wasn't, let alone Sean Miller.