The Bounty on Arizona Coach Sean Miller

T-ing Him Up

         There were 4 minutes and 37 seconds left in the Pac-12 tournament men’s basketball semifinals. The Arizona Wildcats were up two against the UCLA Bruins with a trip to the conference tournament finals on the line. Arizona point guard Mark Lyons was called for a controversial double dribble and their coach Sean Miller repeated to the ref “He touched the ball, he touched the ball,” referring to the Bruins’ defender who put his hand on the ball as Lyons picked up his dribble and then dropped the ball again, a play that calls for a play-on, not a double dribble. Miller was given a technical foul by referee Michael Irving for his comments, UCLA’s Jordan Adams made both technical free throws, and UCLA ended up winning the game by two, 66-64.

         In the press conference after the game, Miller stated that he used no curse words nor did he act in a condescending way towards the referees after the double dribble call, essentially, there was no
reaction on his part to warrant a technical foul. And in case you were wondering if Miller’s past record may have played a role in the quick technical (after all, there are some coaches prone to getting rung up by refs because of their quick tempers) it was Miller’s first technical foul of the season.

         For Miller’s comments condemning the actions of the referee as well as confronting him after the game, he was fined $25,000 by the Pac-12.

The Bounty on His Head

         In a story that would explain the quick T that arguably cost Arizona the game, it was reported that the Pac-12 coordinator of basketball officials, Ed Rush, told a group of Pac-12 referees, including those reffing the Arizona/UCLA game, that he would give $5,000 or a trip to Cancun to the referee who gave Sean Miller a technical foul.

         Ed Rush has not, and looks like he will not, be punished for his offer made. The Pac-12 asserts that his comments were made in jest. But does the evidence point the other way? Even if it was a joke, does that make it OK?

Ed Rush Should Be Fired

         It is absolutely absurd that Ed Rush still has a job. Let’s say best-case scenario, his comments were a joke. It is completely inappropriate for a man in his position of power to even joke about being preferential towards one team or another. He is in charge of all of the referees in the Pac-12 and for him to even mention a reward for showing bias on the court against one of the coaches should not be tolerated.

         If the comments were not made in jest, or even if one ref did not see it as a joke, the integrity of the entire semifinal game is in jeopardy, not just that one play that led to the technical foul. If the refs did believe the bounty to be true, they will have made any excuse to give a technical foul to Sean Miller. That means that they could have very well be consciously making bad calls the whole game that went against the Wildcats in order to get a reaction out of Miller to find an excuse to give him a technical. That brings to question the entire game and result of the Pac-12 tournament, which saw UCLA lose to Oregon in the finals.

         The bottom line is, Ed Rush needs to be fired. As a man of his stature, he is a former NBA ref, He should know better than to even joke about compensating a referee for helping change the outcome of the game. The ref’s job is to essentially be invisible, but when the refs try to put the outcome of the game in their own hands it is both selfish and immoral.

            Teams work hard year round in preparation for the NCAA basketball season. From training in the offseason to practices and preparation during the season, for any team to have their Pac-12 season, and in the case of the seniors, their college careers, end because of a bounty put in place on their team’s coach is unfair to the players, coaches, and fans as well as completely disgraceful on behalf of everyone part of Pac-12 officiating. If there is no punishment given to Rush, what is stopping such offers from happening again? If they do, simply say it was another joke. Just because something might have been said jokingly does not make it allowable or endurable. Ed Rush’s actions were unacceptable and should not be tolerated. He needs to be fired. If he is not then the Pac-12 as an organization loses credibility both on and off the court.