All have undergone what commissioner John Swofford terms an extensive character check by an investigative service hired by the conference.

Yet Swofford worries.

Amid allegations that NBA official Tim Donaghy is the subject of an FBI gambling probe, these are restless days in the sports world. Donaghy is the son of former ACC basketball official Gerald Donaghy.

"It scares you to death," Swofford said. "You hope and pray, and do everything humanly possible to try to get the very best, most upright people you can. The integrity of sports rests with the people in charge of presiding over the games and in charge of making sure it's a fair game.

"It's one of the worst things you would have to deal with as the commissioner of any league. And sometimes, all the background checks in the world don't work. I'm sure the NBA's background checks are very extensive."

Georgia Tech football coach Chan Gailey said he had little knowledge of the Donaghy story but said that the thought of a gambling scandal of any sort is something that has scared coaches for years.

"You do all you can do as a coach when dealing with the players, whether it's the NFL or college or anything else," Gailey said. "It's one of those topics you cannot possibly overemphasize. But people sometimes make bad decisions."

A point-shaving scandal that involved players in the late 1950s and early '60s almost ruined the basketball programs at North Carolina and N.C. State and led to the demise of the Dixie Classic holiday tournament in Raleigh.

The ACC otherwise has been able to avoid such trouble, but Swofford said there's little comfort in a clean track record.

"We've got to be diligent and do everything we can all the time," he said. "You do as much as you can at the beginning and then follow up with the checks to see if there are red flags -- if there are things in an individual's life that might that make the individual vulnerable to those type of things, and then you can't be afraid to discuss it and address it."

The ACC makes a big financial investment in its officials. Game pay per official is $1,100, plus travel expenses. On a busy football weekend, the total tab can run more than $50,000.

Virginia's Al Groh, who previously coached in the NFL, said he believes the ACC's officiating is sound.

"I think the league is aggressive in educating the officials and the coaches,'' Groh said. "You want fair people making fair judgments, and that's all you can really ask."

The league will be under a new officiating direction this season. Long-time director Tommy Hunt of Durham recently retired from the job. His replacement, Doug Rhoads, met with the coaches Monday.

"We're in good hands, as we have been all along," Groh said.

But the risk factor in football is high simply because the lure is high.

While there's a lot of money wagered on the outcomes of basketball games, professional and college football are the unquestioned leaders in popularity among gamblers. In football, one dirty official can change a game with the drop of a single yellow handkerchief.