Pac-12 officiating for men, women top priority

Published Oct. 22, 2014 4:02 p.m. ET

foxsports

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott says efforts to continually improve officiating in the conference for both men's and women's basketball remain a top priority.

It's been more than a year since the Pac-12 teamed with the Mountain West Conference to form a men's basketball officiating alliance to better coordinate the two leagues' officiating, putting longtime Mountain West coordinator Bobby Dibler in charge of the programs and of managing a pool of top national and regional officials.

It became a more urgent strategy after the Pac-12's officiating system came under scrutiny during the March 2013 conference tournament in Las Vegas, where former officiating coordinator Ed Rush had offered bounties - $5,000 or a trip to Mexico - for any official who disciplined Arizona coach Sean Miller.

While Rush has said he wasn't serious and was ''jokingly'' trying to ''lighten the mood'' in the locker room, he resigned shortly thereafter.