Ed Rush resigns as Pac-12 coordinator of officials

There really was only one way this could end.

Three days after news broke that Ed Rush had offered a (joking?) bounty to any referee who would give Arizona coach Sean Miller a technical foul or ejection in the conference tournament, the Pac-12's coordinator of officiating resigned his position.

Rush said, "My first and highest concerns have always been the integrity of the game of basketball and the honor of the craft of officiating. While I am proud of what we have accomplished, my decision to resign reflects my strong desire to see the Pac-12 officiating program continue to grow and thrive."

That's not all.

ESPN's Andy Katz spent some time talking to a number of officials, none of whom seemed to be shedding a tear at Rush heading out the door.

Officials confirmed that Rush went into the meeting before the UCLA-Arizona game and was banging a chair up an down, demanding the officials perform at a higher level. And then, according to the officials, Rush hurled a boxed lunch against the wall after the game, nearly hitting one of the officials in the head.

"It was absolutely a form of bullying," said one official.

One official said that officials were worried if Rush had stayed on that there credibility would have been called into question because of the perception that they were being told what to do by Rush.

"The integrity of the game was being messed with," said one official. "There is stuff you don't do. There was no joking about it. He was managing by intimidation."

There's more, and you should go read it. We'll never know if Rush resigned of his own accord or if Scott forced him into it, but the end result is the proper one -- a removal of the questions surrounding the integrity of Pac-12 officiating.

Now, if we can just keep working on that whole "incompetence" thing.