With the admission that two Naval Academy football players tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and were subsequently suspended for the 2005 season also comes the revelation that there is no uniform policy for handling many similar cases.
According to NCAA rules, student-athletes can be randomly tested by the country?s main college athletics governing body and will be barred from competition for one calendar year for failing a test. However, no such uniform penalty exists for drug violations discovered by schools outside tests conducted by the NCAA.
Instead, it is up to the college or university to determine the appropriate penalty when violations are discovered outside the NCAA testing program, NCAA spokesman Crissy Schluep said. Though all Baltimore area schools, including Navy, provide education on banned substances, local institutions handle such cases in a number of ways.
At Navy, which has its own independent drugtesting program, the NCAA tested a combined 26 Midshipmen from the football and wrestling teams in January 2005, according to a statement released by a Naval Academy spokesman. Of those, two tested positive for a banned anabolic agent.
The Academy spokesman said those athletes were suspended for one year and were also dealt with by the Academy under the administrative conduct system. As part of an internal investigation, five other athletes were identified as having possibly having used a banned anabolic agent, but were tested and cleared of using the banned substances.
“I think we answered any questions and handled the thing exactly by the book,” Navy coach Paul Johnson said. “Neither of the young men were big contributors.”
Among other local schools, the University of Maryland Baltimore County and Coppin State confirmed that they administer random drug testing outside those required by the NCAA. The results of those tests are generally not used to suspend an athlete for a year like the NCAA-required test.
For example, UMBC conducts random tests when there is “cause for concern,” said senior associate athletic director Kathy Zerrlaut. When something is discovered, action ranging from increased testing to punishment can occur. But like other schools in the area, UMBC student-athletes are subject to sanctions in the general student-body?s code of conduct.
Towson University does not test its student-athletes other than when required by the NCAA. Instead, the school concentrates on drug education, spokesman Pete Schlehr said.
