Background Investigations on the way for NCAA Referees

When or if the NCAA and its member conferences become more scrupulous in performing background investigations on referees, longtime basketball official and Albany resident John Cahill can understand why.
"In this climate, they have to be extremely careful," Cahill said.

An FBI investigation revealed this past summer that NBA referee Tim Donaghy wagered on games that he officiated, prompting NCAA conferences to scrutinize or even change their procedures for performing background investigations on officials.

The Big Ten and Conference USA plan to expand on their previous policies. And Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Silve told reporters in July that his conference may soon begin performing background investigations.

The NCAA also screens all referees who work Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments, Division I bowl games, the Frozen Four and the College World Series. Those procedures have been in place since 1999.

Cahill said the subject figures to come up again in October when referees converge in Philadelphia for meetings. Cahill said he would support even more exhaustive background investigations but added referees also police themselves.

"We're a pretty close fraternity," said Cahill, a 25-year veteran official who has worked six Final Fours. "We take pride in what we do, and we realize the integrity of the game is at stake. If something came up that would lend to some questioning, we would bring it to the proper parties."

While extensive background investigations might become more common in major conferences, mid-majors such as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, America East and Northeast Conference plan to rely on their bigger brethren rather than instituting their own screening procedures.

In basketball, most officials who work MAAC and America East games also referee games in conferences that require background investigations. So the smaller conferences see no reason to duplicate the process.

"You could say we rely on the kindness of strangers," MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor said. "Our resources aren't in a position where we can do all these checks."

Also, some football and basketball games played in the MAAC and Northeast Conference receive no odds from the Las Vegas casinos. So without a betting pool, the conferences lack much reason to worry about a wayward official affecting the outcome of a game for the sake of a wager.

"We haven't found that there is a tremendous gambling pool out there, so it hasn't been a problem," said Brenda Weare, commissioner of the Northeast Conference, in which the University at Albany football team competes. "We talk to the officials, and we have everyone complete information. We rely on that."

Cahill and Ensor, who was subject to an NCAA background investigation when he served on a women's basketball committee, said the screenings are exhaustive. Both were given copies of the information the checks uncovered. Ensor said his numbered 15 pages.

"The NCAA was ahead of the curve on this," Cahill said. "They know just about everything you're doing."