SOURCE: The Dallas Morning News

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Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford said his league has not found evidence of impropriety by officials.

"We just simply want to do everything we can proactively to have that kind of integrity in our officials as well as our student-athletes," Swofford told reporters at the ACC media day.

Said Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany: "I've always said that if there's one issue that could bring intercollegiate athletics to its knees, it's the gambling issue, because it goes right to the integrity of the game."

Much of the collegiate focus until now had been educating athletes. Nearly all college gambling scandals have involved players, not officials or coaches.

Many of the top basketball programs of the early 1950s, including mighty Kentucky, were compromised. Tulane shut down its basketball program in the '80s because of gambling. Twice, gambling scandals have rocked Boston College athletics.

Even with the present safeguards, officials will experience more scrutiny and skepticism.

Now, more than ever, fans are likely to see ulterior motives where none exist.

Imagine the Oklahoma-Oregon replay fiasco of 2006 occurring in the current climate.

Most college officials say fixing a football game would be much more difficult than basketball. The crews are larger and instant replay could overturn an incorrect call. And because officials are graded on each call made, any deviation from the norm would be obvious.

The people closest to the action say they believe in the officials, even if they don't always agree with them. Unlike the NBA, college officials are employed on a part-time basis and usually hold other jobs.

"I think we have guys with a lot of integrity," SMU football coach Phil Bennett said. "Right now, gambling is so accepted and so prevalent that we have to be aware.

"I think by and large officials get into the game for the same reason we do — for the passion of football, and just the atmosphere and the pageantry and everything college football represents."

Gambling prevention

The Big 12 has taken three major steps to prevent an NBA-type gambling scandal among its officials:

— Official background checks on men's basketball and football officials, beginning this season

— Conflict of interest guidelines regarding officials and conference schools

— Use of a firm to monitor betting lines in football and men's basketball for unusual movement

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