SEC says basketball ref resigns amid suit by other SEC

<p>The Southeastern Conference says a basketball referee has resigned in the wake of legal action filed by the other SEC _ the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commmission.</p><p>A civil action filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas, claims Travis Correll of Atlanta and others ran a fraudulent investment scheme that raised more than $36 million since July 2004.</p><p>"He has resigned and will no longer officiate in the Southeastern Conference," SEC commissioner Mike Slive told the Knoxville News Sentinel. "If he had not resigned, he would have been prevented from officiating in this league."</p><p>Slive said he received a letter of resignation from Correll on Monday, the same day Slive said he became aware of the government agency's action.</p><p>Correll was among a pool of 65 to 70 individuals that the conference coordinator of officials can call upon to officiate SEC basketball games, associate commissioner Charles Bloom said Wednesday.</p><p>The coordinator, John Guthrie, told the newspaper that he had spoken with Correll, who was in his second year as an SEC official. Guthrie said Correll told him he didn't want the allegations to become a distraction to the conference.</p><p>But Wednesday, Slive announced that Guthrie has been replaced by longtime conference official Gerald Boudreaux, who will serve on an interim basis until a full-time coordinator of officials is hired.</p><p>Guthrie, who was head men's basketball coach at Georgia from 1974-78, told the News Sentinel that he was "terminated."</p><p>"I was asked to resign but I did not. You can quote me on that," he said, adding his termination had nothing to do with Correll's resignation. Guthrie, who worked from his home in Atlanta, said he had been the coordinator of conference officials since 1981.</p><p>Slive declined to say anything more.</p><p>"This is a personnel matter that the conference will have no further comment on," the commissioner said.</p>