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Ed T Rush, Larry Scott and the Need for Accountability

Goose

Hoops Moderator
Club Member
Junta Member
Two years ago when our beloved Colorado Buffaloes left the horrible Big XII Conference for the new beautiful Pac-12 conference I was excited. We were headed to a land of like-minded schools. No longer would we be dealing with purely agricultural schools who offered majors in field turf management as we were going to the conference of champions. We were headed to Cali, to Phoenix, to Seattle and to gorgeous places that people actually WANTED to go on road trips to (see: not Lincoln, NE). We were leaving Dan Beebe behind and getting a visionary in Larry Scott.

It was perfect.

And on a personal level, I was excited because I thought I was headed to a land of decent officiating. No longer would the Clete Blakeman’s of the world screw us over as we played Nebraska. No longer would we have to deal with the constant moving screens from white seven footers wearing Kansas jerseys that would never be whistled. I had heard complaints about how Pac-12 officials were bad, but figured that it was just complaints from people who always complain about the refs their team has to deal with. I mean the refs couldn’t be worse than Blakeman, could they?

They could. And they are. And that’s terrifying.

And that is the worst part of the news that came out yesterday that Ed Rush put a bounty on Sean Miller during the Pac-12 tournament. Joking or not, it’s the worst possible thing that could have come out about Pac-12 officials. If you asked people nationwide to comment on Pac-12 basketball, I’m willing to bet that one of the top three most common responses would be something about bad officiating. It’s an absolute joke, and it has to be fixed. The Rush news is bad. No one can argue that. But I honestly believe that if this came out about the Big East or the Big Ten – conferences that don’t seem to have national problems with officiating – then it might be something that you could ignore. But to combine it with the image issues that the Pac-12 has already is death. Quite simply, the Pac-12 doesn’t have a choice in this matter.

At lunch today I caught Jeff Goodman being interviewed on Sportscenter and he made the comment – repeatedly – that Pac-12 officials are scared of Ed Rush. He said they felt “bullied” by him and they were all terrified for their jobs. Now this could be revisionist history or an incident where people are piling on, but with Rush’s background it makes it a lot easier to believe. He was the head of NBA officiating for one of the worst eras in NBA history. He was in charge during both the Tim Donaghy gambling scandal and the infamous 2003 Kings-Lakers playoff game. Mark Cuban famously called him out. He was notoriously hard to deal with, and the NBA and Rush finally decided to go separate ways.

When the Pac-12 brought Rush in, he decided to implement more of an NBA style of officiating in the conference. I will give him credit for one thing, and that’s the lack of ticky tack fouls that plagued Pac-12 games in the past. That toughness showed in the tournament as the Pac-12 went 3-2 in the opening round and had two Sweet 16 teams – a much better showing than last year’s tournament in which the Buffs were the leaders of the conference by making the round of 32. But he also brought the bad aspects of NBA officiating to the college level. Another point that Goodman made in his interview was that Rush didn’t like the coaches talking to the refs – something that is paramount on the college level. College refs don’t want to be listening to a 19 year old whining to them, so they deal with the coaches more. This makes sense to pretty much everyone that bothers to think about things – which sadly rules out Rush from understanding it. The fact that Miller is so vocal apparently did not endear him to Rush, so Ed Rush decided to make an example.

And now the Pac-12 is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

All this said, I still believe in Larry Scott. I ultimately believe that he’s going to realize that this is a huge problem and he’s going to have to address it sooner rather than later. The drumbeats are getting louder. As Andy Glockner said, what’s going to happen the first time Arizona gets a questionable call that goes against them? What about a questionable call that goes in their favor? Everyone is going to let that doubt creep in the back of their mind, chants of “Can-cun” are going to fill the arena, and that’s the last thing that anyone wants. Scott has to get rid of Rush.

At this point, it’s becoming obvious that Scott is a visionary. He’s phenomenal at the big picture, but as Adam has put it, he gets distracted by the shiny things. Unfortunately, this is causing some of the day to day details to fall through the cracks, and the little problems are starting to add up. No matter how you view it, the Pac-12 blew it with DirecTV. I’m fairly confident that they’ll get a deal done this summer, but this first year is unforgivable. Both sides need to realize that they have a lot to do to make it up to their fans. This situation with Rush is the second thing that Scott has blown. It honestly appears that he thought there would be a slight brouhaha and then it would blow over. That’s a gross miscalculation, and one that Scott is going to have to pay for. Honestly, if I were Larry, I’d be looking for a strong second-in-command to hire. Someone who has the gravitas to stand up to Larry and tell him he’s being naïve about the situation. Having Scott as commissioner is like having a truly amazing big man. You’re going to win a lot of games with him, and you’re going to pull off some unbelievable moments, but you’re also going to blow a few of them unless you have a solid PG who can keep the train running smoothly. The Pac-12 doesn’t have that point guard right now, and that’s something they need to look in to.

Hopefully, that second in command makes it so that the only Rush that will be appearing at Pac-12 events next year will be the badass hard rocking trio from Canada.
 
Fresh perspective here.

P12 officials have long been thought of as soft and ticky tack. This sheds a new light on all officials however but again, I'm going down the current dialogue.

Goose brings up Scott's strengths as a leader. He's demonstrated great pioneership (not sure that's a word). But has failed at logistics. It's not OK... but it is. He can stick to his strengths and needs to do a better job in delegating the other parts. Reigning in the ideas with process.
 
Allsome post... until the very end where you lost all credibility.
 
Goose knocked it out of the park. Totally agree.

Scott does so many good things but he needs an Adam Silver. David Stern respects him, gives him responsibility to act without consulting him on everything and lets him deal with a lot of the day to day minutia that visionaries (i.e. scott) often gloss over.
 
Goose knocked it out of the park. Totally agree.

Scott does so many good things but he needs an Adam Silver. David Stern respects him, gives him responsibility to act without consulting him on everything and lets him deal with a lot of the day to day minutia that visionaries (i.e. scott) often gloss over.

Silver is the perfect example. I don't know who Larry Scott's second in command is, but he's ****ing up royally. They've gotta get their house in order.
 
Silver is the perfect example. I don't know who Larry Scott's second in command is, but he's ****ing up royally. They've gotta get their house in order.

Exactly.

Scott's a strategist. He's going to lay out a grand scheme that will make everyone a ton of money while increasing the prominence of the brand.

That also means that he's not an implementer and administrator. Even if he has those skills (it's rare to be both), his more important role is to be a rainmaker for the conference. The expansion. The network. The deals with ESPN and Fox. The Pac-12 Tourney event in Vegas. That's where we need Scott to be focusing. He needs to be working on the Direct TV deal, expanding the cable deals with the locals, adding content, pushing the conference members to add sports like beach volleyball and lacrosse, etc., etc.
 
dude I'm speechless, this is better than anything I would read in the post or camera.
 
Scott's Second

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it Kevin Weiberg, the former Big 12 commish? Frankly, I was amazed Rush has survived the season with garbage like the Debacle in the Desert and the atrocious officiating in the ASU game at CEC. How one of those three did a game in the Sweet 16 is beyond me. This conference has a huge problem on its hands.
 
dude I'm speechless, this is better than anything I would read in the post or camera.

Let's not be so quick to damn Goose with faint praise. :wink2:

Seriously, though, Goose knows his ****. Among the local media, Thorburn's probably the only one who knows the first thing about basketball. And I'd put at least a half dozen of our regulars on AllBuffs up against him.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it Kevin Weiberg, the former Big 12 commish? Frankly, I was amazed Rush has survived the season with garbage like the Debacle in the Desert and the atrocious officiating in the ASU game at CEC. How one of those three did a game in the Sweet 16 is beyond me. This conference has a huge problem on its hands.

To say nothing of the night they lost control of the Cal-Furd game, among other refereeing atrocities in the Pac-12 this season.
 
I thought Kevin Weiberg was the #2 guy at the PAC 12. He should have enough pull to deal with this kind of stuff.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it Kevin Weiberg, the former Big 12 commish? Frankly, I was amazed Rush has survived the season with garbage like the Debacle in the Desert and the atrocious officiating in the ASU game at CEC. How one of those three did a game in the Sweet 16 is beyond me. This conference has a huge problem on its hands.

You're right.

Deputy Commissioner Kevin Weiberg has responsibility for all aspects of the Pac-12 Conference’s administrative operations. He has oversight responsibility for the Conference’s daily operations, including governance, enforcement, compliance, sport management, championships, football bowl relationships, officiating, and television administration.

Prior to joining the Pac-12, Weiberg was the Chief Executive Officer of iHoops from 2009 to 2010, a joint venture between the NCAA and NBA, formed to develop a structure and programs to improve the quality of youth basketball in the United States.

Weiberg has extensive experience in college athletics, as well. He served as vice president of university planning and development for the Big Ten Network from 2007-09. In addition, he served as deputy commissioner of the Big Ten Conference under Jim Delany from 1989 to 1998.

Weiberg served as commissioner of the Big 12 Conference from 1998 to 2007, overseeing its transformation into one of the most competitive and financially successful conferences in the country. Weiberg is a 1978 graduate of Kansas State University and earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1979.
 
Might we see Ed Rush "decide" to retire?

"We will decide at the end of the season how we continue with him or not as part of the normal review as part of the coordinators," Scott said. "There was no part of the investigation … that would rise to the level of him being fired, so he hasn't been fired."


http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...cks-ed-rush-regarding-controversy-sean-miller
Man, Rush has like 9 lives. Anyone else read that as hoping this all disappears in the next week or so?
 
There could be legal implications for firing him over this. Hoping that's the case.
 
Might we see Ed Rush "decide" to retire?

"We will decide at the end of the season how we continue with him or not as part of the normal review as part of the coordinators," Scott said. "There was no part of the investigation … that would rise to the level of him being fired, so he hasn't been fired."


http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...cks-ed-rush-regarding-controversy-sean-miller

Disgusting. Talk about kicking the can. Scott is showing an incredible lack of spine in this. Allowing Rush to "retire" will do nothing to repair the tarnished image of the officiating in the Pac 12.
 
Disgusting. Talk about kicking the can. Scott is showing an incredible lack of spine in this. Allowing Rush to "retire" will do nothing to repair the tarnished image of the officiating in the Pac 12.

Except that everyone will know why he's retiring.

I don't care how he leaves, I just want him gone.
 
If Larry Scott does not understand the need for action (i.e. the immediate termination of Ed Rush) in this matter, then it is time for Larry Scott to go, as well.
 
It'll be easier for Larry to either not renew his deal, or force him to resign, than to outright fire him. I doubt he'll still be employed by the Pac-12 come fall.
 
If Larry Scott does not understand the need for action (i.e. the immediate termination of Ed Rush) in this matter, then it is time for Larry Scott to go, as well.

Tap the brakes a bit there, cowboy. I think this caught Scott by surprise. He's never had to deal with something like this before. Frankly, he's out of his element when dealing with this stuff. This is a failing by Weiberg, IMO. And maybe Weiberg is dealing with it behind the scenes. It's premature to call for Scott's head over this. Having said that, it should be obvious to him that action is needed. You can't have that kind of cloud hanging over the conference officiating.
 
Tap the brakes a bit there, cowboy. I think this caught Scott by surprise. He's never had to deal with something like this before. Frankly, he's out of his element when dealing with this stuff.

walter.jpg
 
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