Action: Pac-12 announces an independent review that will examine the officiating before and during the league tournament and take a broader examination of the officiating program.
Reaction I: An independent review is one thing. An independent review ordered up by the CEO Executive Committee? That’s an entirely different matter, folks. I can’t remember the last time the CEOs got involved in athletic business that wasn’t 1) expansion, 2) billion-dollar TV deals or 3) the college football playoff. The fact that the presidents and chancellors are interested in an issue that’s typically considered day-to-day conference business tells you just how how far RefGate rippled through the conference, from the home office in Walnut Creek to every campus and into the halls of power.
Reaction II: This is nothing more than a hunch, but I have to think Ann Weaver Hart, Arizona’s first-year president, was somehow involved in, or the force behind, the CEOs requesting the independent review (in concert with commissioner Larry Scott, of course). And if that’s the case, then good for Hart. Men’s basketball is an essential source of pride and revenue for her school, and Sean Miller is arguably the face of the university nationally. She has to do everything possible to protect the program and her coach — to make sure the Wildcats are being treated fairly and honestly.
Reaction III: The conference (i.e., Scott) already looks like it failed to respond appropriately to Ed Rush offering a bounty (jokingly or not) on Miller in Las Vegas. The league’s nightmare scenario is that the independent review uncovers more transgressions — that refs were bullied or comprised regularly, that the Pac-12 tourney bounty was not an isolated incident (whether directed at Miller or another coach). If Rush was still in charge, this would be an incredibly slippery slope for the Pac-12 — he was so reviled by old-guard referees that, one would think, they’d be eager to expose any corruption. While anything’s possible, Rush’s resignation might serve to mitigate the potential for damaging information to surface.
Reaction IV: The Scott tenure has been one huge success after another (yes, yes, yes: the Pac12Nets/DirecTV is a colossal issue, but it takes two to make that tango work). I’d argue that RefGate qualifies as the biggest misstep of the past three years — it’s far more significant, for instance, than the breakdown in the Pac-12/Big Ten scheduling collaboration. (Not adding the Oklahoma schools 18 months ago was the CEO’s decision, not Scott’s. Not adding Texas was smart business.) Whether Rush was joking or not … whether he pounded his fist on the table while uttering the word “Cancun” or was laughing like a drunk hyena … the “bounty” called the integrity of Pac-12 basketball into question for everyone who will watch or participate in a game next season: Is the product corrupted? Are the officials compromised? Scott has said repeatedly that he took the matter very seriously as soon as Rush’s comments reached his desk, and yet the league’s response wasn’t equal to the transgression or the monumental ramifications of the transgression. The independent review is a significant step in closing the gap.
