The Florida Gators issued 406 drug tests in 2013 to football players and have already issued 300 drug tests to players this year. According to The Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, the Gators are easily on pace for over 400 drug tests within the football program this year.
The numbers from the Florida football program were gathered by the Orlando-based columnist after reading a report this week detailing the number of drug tests issued by the University of Texas to football players since the hiring of Charlie Strong as head coach. As reported earlier this week, Texas has administered 188 drug tests in the eight months since Strong has been in charge of the program. That is already well ahead of the combined number of drug tests administered in the four years prior under Mack Brown.
The point of Bianchi’s column is there is no uniformity throughout the NCAA when it comes time to drug testing. Should there be?
Each school and conference handles drug testing differently, but there is no NCAA standard to cover the issue. According to information from the NCAA website on drug testing policies, 90 percent of Division 1, 65 percent of Division 2 and 21 percent of Division 3 schools conduct their own drug-testing programs as a supplement to the NCAA’s program. The NCAA operates its drug testing program at championship events and leaves schools with the responsibility for the rest of the year, for the most part. Schools are also left to determine the penalties for drug violations, but the NCAA requires schools to enforce their policies.