OT:What our coaches should be doing:TCU coach to drug test players after spring break

[TheDudeWithTheJMUTat]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-...193008615.html

This is awesome. Rather than sweep the problems of the team under the rug and say that they're "internal" Gary Patterson is taking them head on. This isn't an attack on Mickey, although many of his die-hard backers will still find a way to be offended...but he should take some notes here. This is how you run a clean program.

[Ghost of Dukaholic]

I'd applaud it even more if it didn't take a drug scandal in order to make him take these measures.

It's quite possible that the AD or President has lit the fire under his butt. I'm not sure how religious TCU is, but you probably don't want a drug scandal at a "Christian University."

I certainly wouldn't be against this at JMU. Of course, I worry about alcohol just as much as drugs.

[Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes]

I don't like it or agree with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have absolutely NO IDEA why athletes even get tested for non performance enhancing drugs. If they get tested, every student should. There's nothing about smoking a joint that helps you play football so why do they test for it? I've yet to see an explanation to this question that makes any sense. I'm not saying I want our players to do it by any means, but to me it's invasive, unnecessary, and unfair.

[DolleyMadison]

I don't like it or agree with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have absolutely NO IDEA why athletes even get tested for non performance enhancing drugs. If they get tested, every student should. There's nothing about smoking a joint that helps you play football so why do they test for it? I've yet to see an explanation to this question that makes any sense. I'm not saying I want our players to do it by any means, but to me it's invasive, unnecessary, and unfair.

- Not every student is getting paid to go to school

- The students getting athletic scholarships are under the condition that you will keep your body at peak performance in order to do what the school is paying you to do

- As student athletes, any actions that they commit that are illegal, reflect poorly on the perception of the university. Since one of the purposes of athletics at a school is to promote the branding of the school, then they should be held accountable for illegal substances

- And finally, the NCAA and the school should be able to make any rules they want. They run the show. Don't want to live by them, thats fine, but you wont be playing collegiate athletics

Is that enough for you?

[TheDudeWithTheJMUTat]

Duuukes, usually I am in the small minority of people who agree with 99% of what you have to say, but this time I don't. I'd rather have an invasive program than have my QB suspended 5 games because of NUMEROUS mishaps with drugs. This isn't the government...this is college athletics. They are getting free money. The school can and should do whatever is best for the University.

[Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes]

- Not every student is getting paid to go to school

- The students getting athletic scholarships are under the condition that you will keep your body at peak performance in order to do what the school is paying you to do

- As student athletes, any actions that they commit that are illegal, reflect poorly on the perception of the university. Since one of the purposes of athletics at a school is to promote the branding of the school, then they should be held accountable for illegal substances

- And finally, the NCAA and the school should be able to make any rules they want. They run the show. Don't want to live by them, thats fine, but you wont be playing collegiate athletics

Is that enough for you?

No. Honestly, it's all bull****.

[Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes]

Duuukes, usually I am in the small minority of people who agree with 99% of what you have to say, but this time I don't. I'd rather have an invasive program than have my QB suspended 5 games because of NUMEROUS mishaps with drugs. This isn't the government...this is college athletics. They are getting free money. The school can and should do whatever is best for the University.

The next time you think they're getting free money, wake up and go to the weight room at 5am each morning. Go take some of the hits they take. It's nowhere close to free. I believe you walked on at some point if memory serves. Ask any senior how much they had to work to play football. It's a TON of commitment and hard work. They aren't getting some free pass and I have no clue what Dolley is talking about them getting paid. They get a couple of peanuts to get by. You know how broke most of these guys are?

[19Duke97]

The next time you think they're getting free money, wake up and go to the weight room at 5am each morning. Go take some of the hits they take. It's nowhere close to free. I believe you walked on at some point if memory serves. Ask any senior how much they had to work to play football. It's a TON of commitment and hard work. They aren't getting some free pass and I have no clue what Dolley is talking about them getting paid. They get a couple of peanuts to get by. You know how broke most of these guys are?

Well Duuukes in the case of the TCU football players, they can always quit the team and pay for school like the rest of us did and then smoke all the weed they want. In fact some of us played sports at JMU and received no schlolarship funding. I'm sorry, but receiving a free education to play <insert sport> sounds like a good deal for most of us. Yes, there certainly is a huge commitment level involved, but no one forced these individuals to accept the scolarship, and the rules that come along with that commitment. A cousin of mine plays for TCU, next time I see him I'll ask about it and see what his thoughts are - he's a walk on fwiw....

[DolleyMadison]

No. Honestly, it's all bull****.

Ok, well your response does not allow for any kind of rational discussion...

But I will try to give you one more chance. If you were the AD or coach of a collegiate athletic team and you were emailed pictures of your athletes partaking in [insert illegal drug here] and found out your star player had recently been admitted to the hospital one weekend for alcohol poisoning, you wouldnt have a problem with that because...as you stated...its not performance enhancing.

No regard to the fact that you are paying a kid thousands of dollars to perform at a level few athletes in this country can obtain...as long as they are not using enhancing drugs, you could care less if they are doing harm to themselves...

???

[Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes]

But how do the rules make any sense at all? You can say "the rules are the rules" and I agree that an intelligent young man or woman should realize the opportunity he/she has been given but what is the point of the rule in the first place? That's the part I don't get. A kid smokes some weed on spring break in college almost 6 months before they're going to compete in anything and I'm supposed to get worked up about it? Who cares? Scholarships aren't guarantees. If a coach feels as though a player isn't fulfilling a commitment that he/she expects, they have the right to revoke the scholarship. So if it comes to that point, so be it. Otherwise, it's just going after a non-issue.