Oregon Looking Into Random Drug Testing for Student-Athletes – Should the Pac-12 Follow Suit?

The Oregon Ducks have been dealing with a tarnished image from boosted egos recently. Mostly, this new and dwindling reputation has been squarely upon the shoulders of their elite football team, as several players in the past 3 or 4 seasons have been busted for or rumored to have consumed some sort of “recreational drug” while in school. These players include the high profile names of Darron Thomas, Jeremiah Masoli and Cliff Harris making the news in a big, bad way. But UO is working on doing something about it.

I learned of this development through our friend Mark Knight at Husky Haul, who wrote a superb article on the situation and specifically mentioned Washington State as another school that should look into something of this nature, dealing with random drug testing. Sadly, he is absolutely right. In fact ESPN has also come out with a quality article that I highly recommend called “We Smoked It All” by Sam Alipour. The article explains weed use in college football and the “social bonding” that it incurs. It also mentions that according to former U of O players (including current pros) 40-60% of Oregon football players use or have used “recreational drugs”, in particular Marijuana, while on campus. Mark Knight has filled us in on what is currently developing at Nike University:

"The University of Oregon is looking at a policy that would allow them to randomly test their student-athletes for both performance enhancing drugs and recreational drugs according to the Register Guard. The new policy would allow administrators to select at random, based on a number system, players to submit urine samples to be tested."

Make no mistake though, Oregon is not the only team with these issues. This is quite simply, necessary across the country. Why we haven’t been doing this for a decade, I don’t know. There is a “reasonable assumption” rule for most universities, in which if coaches or administrators have “reasonable cause” to assume you have been on drugs, they can test you. The problem is that most coaches are just going to overlook that and so most players that should be tested, aren’t. It doesn’t mean that most coaches don’t run clean programs… to their knowledge. It’s the nature of the beast. Most coaches are generally going to “assume” the best, unless it is directly brought to their attention. I say most because there are those that do care as well, more than the average. Oddly enough, Chip Kelly at Oregon is one of those guys. According to Duck players he attends some classes with guys and will test for drugs when study hall is missed as a precaution.

To be fair, reasonable cause is a very loose term and if a coach isn’t 100% positive they are not required to police their kids, so they don’t. Most coaches would not agree with that statement, but let’s be real, it’s a serious problem all over America. In the most recent study, it was found that 22.6% of all athletes, and nearly 27% of college football players have been toking-up. It’s an issue and I’ll say it again, it’s not required of coaches to police their kids… and they don’t! So hey, let’s DO require this of them.

College football is not the only culprit either, as college basketball players everywhere have been getting busted and WSU is definitely not immune there either. It’s far too easy to get away with using these days because nobody checks on the players unless a tip is given by a tattler in an adjacent apartment complex or something. But in general, people just would rather not cause waves and therefore don’t say anything. So the only way to make sure it’s being checked on is … duh duh duh duuuuuuuuuuh! Random drug testing. Thank you Oregon!

Finally, a school more interested in cleaning up the problem than sweeping it under the rug. It’s not anything that’s been finalized but the fact that they are considering this is very big. Yes, WSU has been proactive here too, as Mike Leach has taken a “no-tolerance” stance on the issue. If you are even around the stuff, you’re likely to be out of a scholarship for his team, the two previous starting linebackers are proof of that. If I were Larry Scott (Pac-12 Commissioner), I might capitalize on this and make the Pac-12 the first complete conference to institute this policy or something very similar that allows and more specifically mandates schools to randomly check their student-athletes. Take Oregon and WSU out of the negative spotlight (especially in the case-by-case discipline stance that coaches are having to take) and build up the conferences reputation right now. If we are innovators here, we not only gain credibility with the NCAA and parents everywhere, but we also set the standard for the entire country when it comes to running a clean ship.

Let’s admit it, Oregon was only caught because they are a top dog in an isolated location and the NCAA is out to set an example by publicly humiliating the top dogs around the country right now. Eugene is easy to pinpoint, because of it’s already highly active drug use problems. I’m not saying the NCAA is wrong in their pursuit of this at all, it’s what needs to happen, just like with the situations at Ohio State, just like Penn State, just like USC. According to the aforementioned ESPN article drugs has been a major problem at the University of Oregon for at least 15 years! But the reality is the “big boys” are not the only violators here (further backed up by the fact that it was an untreated problem at UO before they began their reign on the Pac-12). They do however, just happen to be the only ones people care about on the large scale.

So yes, I think Oregon is doing the right thing being proactive and yes I think Washington State should do the exact same thing. Ultimately, I think that just because those two were the only two schools to have been caught recently within the conference doesn’t mean that they’re the only ones who should look at the issue. The Pac-12 as a conference needs to jump on this right now and be the leaders for a national scale change, and to clean up each of their programs. Even those currently not in the spotlight.