Drug Screening for College Football?

[ngineer]

In light of the Landis fiasco and all the media coverage with Bonds, and players getting ripped so quickly, does anyone know what the NCAA policy on testing football players for steroids and other prohibited drugs? Does is occur at all? Only during certain times of the season? What do ye all know?

[DFW HOYA]

Here's an article which discusses the program.

http://flathat.wm.edu/2004-12-03/story.php?type=5&aid=2

[Mr. C]

There definitely is drug testing after championship events, unless you are an athlete from Stanford. Stanford athletes challenged the NCAA on privacy grounds years ago and won a court case to prohibit the testing. It is quite annoying when you are needing to interview someone post-game and you find out that they are not available because of drug testing. There is so much that I absolutely hate about the NCAA.

Ironically, the NCAA tested some USC players recently and the results came out this week that one of the twin sons of Bay Area doctor Arthur Ting (Barry Bonds' orthopedic doctor, who did Bonds' surgeries last year) came up positive for steroids. Dr. Ting was just called before the grand jury in the Balco/Bonds case last week. He is supposedly a brilliant doctor, but is on probation in California for some shady stuff on writing prescriptions and record-keeping. Both of his sons quit the USC football program (they were reserves and special-teams performers) last week.

You don't hear of many positive drug tests at the I-AA level. App State had an offensive lineman arrested for possession a couple of years back. And Maine had the infamous Stephen Cooper incident in 2002. Cooper, an All-American linebacker now in the NFL, was arrested for possessing a large amount of steroids after a traffic stop. Maine's administrators and coaching staff hid the arrest until after Cooper had played in playoff games against Appalachian State (ASU's last home loss, 14-13, where Cooper turned the game by forcing an interceptions with the Black Bears trailing 13-0 in the second half) and Georgia Southern. After the Black Bears were eliminated, the story broke. Maine coach Jack Cosgrove and company got reprimanded for this fiasco.

[ngineer]

So testing only occurs if you're in the playoffs? I'm alway skeptical when I hear of players gaining a lot of weight and muscle from one year to another. PLus the huge size of lineman--even at the hs level is mind-boggling. I have to believe some of this is coming from more than just training table and lifting weights...

[UNH 40]

The NCAA tests the team at random twice a year. There is no notice from the NCAA about the test they just show up one day and select 25 players at random and tell the coaching staff that the 25 player selected have to be at the field house at 6:00 AM the following morning. I got tested 5 times during my career (all negative) at UNH and each time was when I least expected it. The NCAA does a good job of surprising the players, and coming in at random dates. In my experience they came in once in the fall and once in the spring or summer which is when steroids become very popular because players think they are in the clear.

They do also do drug testing for all players in the team prior to the national championship game.

[UNH 40]

You don't hear of many positive drug tests at the I-AA level. App State had an offensive lineman arrested for possession a couple of years back. And Maine had the infamous Stephen Cooper incident in 2002. Cooper, an All-American linebacker now in the NFL, was arrested for possessing a large amount of steroids after a traffic stop. Maine's administrators and coaching staff hid the arrest until after Cooper had played in playoff games against Appalachian State (ASU's last home loss, 14-13, where Cooper turned the game by forcing an interceptions with the Black Bears trailing 13-0 in the second half) and Georgia Southern. After the Black Bears were eliminated, the story broke. Maine coach Jack Cosgrove and company got reprimanded for this fiasco.


You know what drives me nuts about this story is the fact that the NFL new about this incident and completely overlooked it and then the Chargers drafted him anyways. It is an absolute joke that a kid that gets busted for possession of a massive amount of steroids gets a shot and a clean hardworking player probably doesn't get a shot because he might be half a step slower and refuses to cheat and cut corners.

[Mr. C]

You know what drives me nuts about this story is the fact that the NFL new about this incident and completely overlooked it and then the Chargers drafted him anyways. It is an absolute joke that a kid that gets busted for possession of a massive amount of steroids gets a shot and a clean hardworking player probably doesn't get a shot because he might be half a step slower and refuses to cheat and cut corners.
I heard a lot of stories about Cooper and "Roid Rage" too. He apparantly didn't have a very good reputation among opposing teams for some of his pre-game and on-field behavior.

Do you have any stories about this UNH 40?

[Mr. C]

So testing only occurs if you're in the playoffs? I'm alway skeptical when I hear of players gaining a lot of weight and muscle from one year to another. PLus the huge size of lineman--even at the hs level is mind-boggling. I have to believe some of this is coming from more than just training table and lifting weights...
I didn't mean to imply that the NCAA didn't test during the season, or off-season. I just didn't know the ins and outs of it. Good explanation by UNH 40.

[ngineer]

The NCAA tests the team at random twice a year. There is no notice from the NCAA about the test they just show up one day and select 25 players at random and tell the coaching staff that the 25 player selected have to be at the field house at 6:00 AM the following morning. I got tested 5 times during my career (all negative) at UNH and each time was when I least expected it. The NCAA does a good job of surprising the players, and coming in at random dates. In my experience they came in once in the fall and once in the spring or summer which is when steroids become very popular because players think they are in the clear.

They do also do drug testing for all players in the team prior to the national championship game.

Thanks for the info. I'm glad there is the random testing occuring during the year.