More steroid tests in Boise State football’s future, By: Chadd Cripe

05-24-06, Idaho Statesman

Boise State football players can expect more steroid testing this fall, and fans can expect more clean tests, first-year coach Chris Petersen said.

Former coach Dan Hawkins implemented significant in-season steroid testing for the first time last fall, and Petersen says he will continue that program.

BSU ran about 30 steroid tests last fall and all came back clean, said departed strength coach Jeff Pitman, who ran the Broncos’ testing program before leaving for Colorado earlier this month.

Players also face steroid testing from the NCAA sometime during the school year (18 football players per school) and, for the first time this year, during summer conditioning (5-10 athletes per school, with emphasis on football and baseball).

“It’s just part of the deal,” said junior offensive lineman Tad Miller, who said he was tested by BSU last fall and the NCAA this spring. “That comes along with playing football. You’ve got to do it the right way, and steroids are not part of that. None of us are too worried about it.”

That includes Petersen, who figures that with the amount of time players spend with their position coaches, the strength coaches and each other that players don’t dare try steroids.

Hawkins predicted last summer that eventually a Bronco would test positive for steroids, but Petersen is more optimistic.

“We’re so on top of it that that’s not going to happen here,” Petersen said, “and if it does happen, the guy’s going to get nailed right away.”
Before last season, the Broncos tested for steroids sparingly -- usually when coaches were concerned about an athlete’s sudden physical development.

The cost of the tests -- up to $150 each -- were prohibitive. The school did test football players regularly for street drugs.

Hawkins secured funding last year to implement random steroid testing for football. The first players tested in August were the eight strongest players on the team.

“For peace of mind,” Pitman said.

A positive test at BSU would enter a player into the three-strikes system -- counseling, followed by suspension for 20 percent of the team’s games, followed by dismissal.

A positive test with the NCAA leads to a one-year ban on the first offense. The NCAA reported just 27 positive tests out of 4,792 in Division I football in 2003-04, the most recent data available.

Petersen says since steroids became a problem in football much earlier than baseball, and because everyone is so aware of the symptoms of steroid use, college football is less prone to a problem than people might think.

“You know when something is changing too fast,” he said. “We’ll just do what we need to do to feel like we’re on top of it.”