Trouble Bruin in the Pac-12 - & it Ain't UCLA!

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by VaTerp

I don't disagree with any of that.

I've heard all kinds of colorful comments behind closed doors as well. And I'm the type of person who enjoys them.

But sometimes colorful comments can go wrong when they fall on the wrong ears. Unfortunately for Rush, he had a rat in the room.

The bottom line is that Rush repeatedly targeted a coach in his comments repeatedly and then that coach gets his first T of the year and only the 2nd T for any coach in the BCS conference tournys and rightly or wrongly, that T is going to be scrutinized.

And when that scrutiny publicly leads to calling into question the integrity and impartiality of the officials then I think there was no other result but for Rush to go.

All true and someone will find out who that "rat" is and people will not trust that person either. Even doing what you feel is right can have consequence. It would be one thing is the comment was taken seriously and the T was totally unwarranted, but there is a way to prove that and the Pac-12 did not see much to the claim as I am sure Miller was told why he got the T. You notice he is not talking about that much? Maybe he is not talking because he would be exposed for what he really did and said and the other events in the game.

Also keep in mind that it is very possible that other coaches and programs complained about the treatment of other coaches. Arizona most of the year was highly ranked and I would not be surprised that other coaches that did get Ts or were reprimanded might have pointed to the top program's leader as an example. I would not be surprised if Rush's comments about Miller were a culmination of other correspondence to Rush and he tried to get a point across in another way. I guess I am a realist, I just never think a supervisor makes these comments without some provocation in their role. Rush had a boss to listen to as well.

Peace

[dahoopref]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

You notice he is not talking about that much? Maybe he is not talking because he would be exposed for what he really did and said and the other events in the game.

Peace

I know for a fact that Miller was fined for what he did & said to someone as he stepped off the podium after the press conference.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by dahoopref

I know for a fact that Miller was fined for what he did & said to someone as he stepped off the podium after the press conference.

Are you saying he was not fined (only) for his comments about the T in the press conference?

Peace

[dahoopref]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Are you saying he was not fined (only) for his comments about the T in the press conference?

Peace

From what I was told, he was fined not for his comments but what he did & said to a person after the press conference in front of some higher-ups from the conference office. It might be the reason why Miller hasn't said much about being fined.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by dahoopref

From what I was told, he was fined not for his comments but what he did & said to a person after the press conference in front of some higher-ups from the conference office. It might be the reason why Miller hasn't said much about being fined.

Gotcha.

Peace

[Blindolbat]

Seems like Rush is taking all the heat and in my opinion he deserves it. I wonder why the ref that called the T isn't receiving just as much. Is he? I mean essentially people are saying that he called a T to get $5k. Does he make it through this unscathed?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Blindolbat

Seems like Rush is taking all the heat and in my opinion he deserves it. I wonder why the ref that called the T isn't receiving just as much. Is he? I mean essentially people are saying that he called a T to get $5k. Does he make it through this unscathed?

People who claim they want integrity really do not know what that means. They are outraged, but only focus on a comment, but not the other complicated elements of this or any issue. I have said this before, Sports Journalism is probably the laziest of all Journalism on the planet.

Peace

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Blindolbat

Seems like Rush is taking all the heat and in my opinion he deserves it. I wonder why the ref that called the T isn't receiving just as much. Is he? I mean essentially people are saying that he called a T to get $5k. Does he make it through this unscathed?

Because the T was warranted.

He never thought he was getting $5k. Nor did anyone else.

[TheOracle]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

All true and someone will find out who that "rat" is and people will not trust that person either. Even doing what you feel is right can have consequence. It would be one thing is the comment was taken seriously and the T was totally unwarranted, but there is a way to prove that and the Pac-12 did not see much to the claim as I am sure Miller was told why he got the T. You notice he is not talking about that much? Maybe he is not talking because he would be exposed for what he really did and said and the other events in the game.

Also keep in mind that it is very possible that other coaches and programs complained about the treatment of other coaches. Arizona most of the year was highly ranked and I would not be surprised that other coaches that did get Ts or were reprimanded might have pointed to the top program's leader as an example. I would not be surprised if Rush's comments about Miller were a culmination of other correspondence to Rush and he tried to get a point across in another way. I guess I am a realist, I just never think a supervisor makes these comments without some provocation in their role. Rush had a boss to listen to as well.

Peace

Jeff, you are the smartest and most articulate guy in here, but you are way to narrow on this. In this instance, it's hard to defend the official or Rush. Miller does not have a reputation for being difficult to deal with, or profane on he bench. From what I have been told by folks who worked his games at Xavier, he is high-energy who asks questions--exactly what officials should want. You have to take him at his word when he feels he got screwed getting T'd for trying to get Irving to ask a partner if the ball was touched or not. Second, Rush got upset with Miller earlier this year, because when a crew of Rush's favorites made a mess of the ASU-UA game this year, Miller was cryptically critical of the officials, to where mockery was evident. His ego is too big,always has been, and he got pinched.

There were 13 (10 edit) guys in the room. Several of the conferences' top officials were not working the tournament--some by their own decision. It is probably known who went to the media, and I'd bet several of the 13 (10) are just fine with it. Many of them are now commenting and mentioning "mutiny" if Rush stayed. Life goes on.

The higher you go, the quicker the fall is if you are unprofessional towards coaches or ADs and you get pinched for it. No Pac-12 guys working this weekend. They'll be better for Rush resigning.

[JRutledge]

I have no idea what Miller's background is or actual reputation in the officiating community. So I would not take his word for anything without knowing him in detail. I just know coaches say things that are not true. On the baseball board there was a situation where a coach apparently misrepresented a conversation with an umpire to the media. So forgive me if I am a little skeptical of a coach telling the entire truth in a press conference. And I really am skeptical when the person says, "All I did was say...he hit the ball....he hit the ball....he hit the ball..." I am sure more went on in that conversation. And we also know coaches that ask questions that are unreasonable or silly. Now maybe he is a great guy, but that also does not mean that someone was not happy with his behavior. Again jealousy is just as much of a problem in the coaching ranks as it is with fellow officials. I just think there is a lot to this and Rush was made to be the fall guy for what might have been going on with many other levels.

Peace

[Raymond]

The person who got me into officiating told me Wednesday that an extremely high profile official said this story will get worse. Now I just heard on late night radio that more officials are coming out against Rush and that he was not joking.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

The person who got me into officiating told me Wednesday that an extremely high profile official said this story will get worse.

Yeah, well, my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night, soooo....

[JetMetFan]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Former Pac-12 Conference coordinator of officials Ed Rush says he was just trying to "lighten the mood" in a tense locker room when he "jokingly" made offers of $5,000 or a trip to Mexico for any referee who called a technical foul on Arizona coach Sean Miller during the league tournament.

In his first interview since reports surfaced of the incident that forced his resignation, Rush told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the comments were "absolutely, 100 percent said in jest." He believes the remarks were leaked out by officials who were unhappy with his overall handling of the Pac-12 program and wanted to tarnish his reputation.

Rush said his remarks were part of an overall "point of emphasis" to crack down on coach misconduct on the sideline after Arizona's win over Colorado in the Pac-12 quarterfinal. In the course of that presentation, Rush said he cracked down on the officials who worked the game - Verne Harris, Michael Reed and Rodrick Dixon - for not disciplining either Miller or Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle for their behavior.

"I said, 'The game cried out for a bench warning. It would have been very simple to take care of that. It cried out for bench warnings,'" Rush said in a phone interview with the AP. "Another crew was waiting in there, getting ready for the next game. I would say there was a level of tension in the locker room, just because the disappointment that they worked this game but they didn't take care of something that was a point of emphasis.

"So in an effort just to lighten the mood, I said to them, 'Hey, guys. What's it going to take? Do you think we could give you a trip to Cancun or maybe $5,000? Or who wants what? And now they're all laughing, which is basically what I wanted to do. So I said, 'I know you guys, you probably want $5,000, you want the money, you won't take the trip to Cancun. So I'm going around, 'What would you take?' At that point, I said, 'By the way, you know my wife's not going to go for this. I'm going to have to pull this off the table.' They all laughed, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, bud.' That was it, and I walked out."

An investigation done by the Pac-12's head of enforcement, Ron Barker, found that every official interviewed confirmed "nobody thought they were getting a reward," Scott said. But Rush couldn't survive the constant swarm of criticism from fans and media this week once the comments became public in a CBSSports.com report.

The 70-year-old Rush, a longtime NBA referee and the league's former director of officiating, had been a consultant to the Pac-12 since 2007 before becoming conference coordinator of officials last May. He said he offered his resignation to Scott by phone Thursday afternoon once it became clear it was going to be "difficult to rebuild trust" of coaches, players and the public.

ESPN.com, citing anonymous sources, also reported officials did not believe Rush was joking. In response, Rush told the AP some officials were unhappy with his overhaul of the official program, especially when he told veterans that assignments in the league tournament would be based on merit instead of seniority.

"That was wrong place, wrong time, wrong audience," Rush said. "See, where I come from, in the NBA, there's a code that you definitely follow. You never, ever take the conversations in that locker room outside. I learned that code in 1966. Mendy Rudolph taught me that. You talk to the NBA officials, they all follow the code.

"There's a few guys (in the Pac-12) who didn't follow that code. They missed that part, and that's a shame. That's a very important part of the bond and the profession. Shame on me for not knowing that, but I used poor judgment. So that's my regret. Other than that, we got after it. We spent a lot of time. We definitely made some inroads in the right direction."

[Brad]

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

"So in an effort just to lighten the mood, I said to them, 'Hey, guys. What's it going to take? Do you think we could give you a trip to Cancun or maybe $5,000? Or who wants what? And now they're all laughing, which is basically what I wanted to do. So I said, 'I know you guys, you probably want $5,000, you want the money, you won't take the trip to Cancun. So I'm going around, 'What would you take?' At that point, I said, 'By the way, you know my wife's not going to go for this. I'm going to have to pull this off the table.' They all laughed, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, bud.' That was it, and I walked out."

This is exactly the spirit in which I imagined it being said. Of course, it went from one official to another, then to another, and by the time it reached the sports media it was a "BOUNTY"

Give me a break. There is nothing to this story, but the sports media made it into something to serve their own purposes. And officiating is worse off because of it.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

"That was wrong place, wrong time, wrong audience," Rush said. "See, where I come from, in the NBA, there's a code that you definitely follow. You never, ever take the conversations in that locker room outside. I learned that code in 1966. Mendy Rudolph taught me that. You talk to the NBA officials, they all follow the code.

"There's a few guys (in the Pac-12) who didn't follow that code. They missed that part, and that's a shame. That's a very important part of the bond and the profession. Shame on me for not knowing that, but I used poor judgment. So that's my regret. Other than that, we got after it. We spent a lot of time. We definitely made some inroads in the right direction."

CODE??? What a bunch of BS! This is the core reason why Rush needed to get out of officiating. It's not 1966 anymore. The college game has become a BIG time money maker for universities and coaches. How people involved with officiating conduct themselves and what they say is held to a different standard than a couple of generations ago.
Code??? That is nothing more than a way to say cover-up. It is a shame that some of these old-timers don't understand that the society of today doesn't adhere to their past ways of doing things secretly in back rooms, but insist that people be accountable for what they say and how they act in the context of their professional duties.
What Rush advocates above and the way that he thinks is sad. It would be like saying that those at Rutgers shouldn't have spoken up about the treatment from the coaches and instead should have kept it in-house. His way of thinking is the problem here. The mentality IS the good ole boy network of protecting others within the circle without question, even when they are wrong.