Independent Investigation to Emerge From Pac-12 Into Ed Rush Controversy

Mar 15, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; General view of the Pac-12 basketball tournament logo at midcourt of the MGM Grand arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Pac-12 Presidents are going to look into the Ed Rush controversy independently, focusing mostly on the Pac-12 Tournament but branching into questions about the season and such as well. Pac-12 CEO Group Chairman and Oregon State President Edward J. Ray had this to say in a Pac-12 news release:

"After considering the matter, Commissioner Scott and I agree that an independent review is important to maintain the confidence of our members, and of the public, in the integrity of our competition. While the review will focus primarily on the tournament, we expect that it will inform a broader examination of our men’s basketball officiating and help us provide the best possible program."

People will likely read too much into this whole thing, but maybe that’s the point. The conference simply hasn’t been identified in a positive light for years now, from an officiating standpoint and it’s time to get this turned around. It’s pretty clear that the conference Presidents don’t want this to ruin the credibility of the group forever, so they’re making sure every step is taken to ensure that they make the best decision on their next nominee with all of the knowledge of the prior. If there is more that comes up, they’ll deal with it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re expecting to find anything as much as just cover the bases.

It also sounds like they might be making a group decision on the programs, or at least want to be more informed themselves about the programs being instituted by their Commissioner. There were of course vastly conflicting media reports over the past couple weeks about the comments of the much maligned Ed Rush and who read what into them. The bottom line was that Rush ended up resigning, even after the backing of his boss, Larry Scott. But he didn’t have the backing of the conference overall and tried to get out before it got worse.

Someone could think that Larry Scott is facing a little heat with this investigation, but I don’t think that’s the case. Just simply a reaffirmation that every step has been properly taken and a chance for more people to know exactly what happened for themselves, which I don’t have a problem with. This could take quite some time to get any kind of official finding though, as it took nearly 2 months to get any kind of finding on the Marquess Wilson situation last Fall. We’ll see what happens but I wonder if it will hold up the search for a new Director of Officials.