Sports Illustrated addressed drug issues in the Oklahoma State football program in a story that appeared Thursday on SI.com.
Five months earlier, during spring drills, head coach Mike Gundy was asked about OSU's drug policy during a question-and-answer session with beat writers.
“We’ve had many discussions (that included) myself and (athletic director Mike) Holder and our doctors and medical staff and students. What I’ve learned is there is no perfect answer in place,” Gundy said.
“But we have a system here in place, we have a drug policy here in place, and that policy is in place to help a student-athlete if they have a problem. Most of what you see, in my opinion, out there is a social use. It’s just knuckleheads.
“Have there been issues with chronic users? Yes.
We try to rehabilitate them in the proper way and keep them in the flow of school, academics and being a part of their team. That rate of success here has been pretty good, and I think the reason why is because myself and my bosses, we’re on the same page. We work very well together in those situations.
“And essentially, what our people do, they say, ‘listen, here’s our policy,’ and then our coaches have to follow it. Then it’s up to (the head coach). So football falls on me. Then if there’s an issue, a discussion, we sit down, we talk about it, we try to make the best decision on what we think is good for the individual, the team and the university and then we move forward. It’s really that simple.”
Gundy also was asked in the spring how the drug policy is different than when he was a player.
“Well, we didn’t even test. The one time we tested was once a year at the bowl game, and I think that was for steroids,” he said.
“(Testing} costs money, so we weren’t going to waste any money back then on drug testing.”
Gundy said in the spring he thinks there has to be some common sense applied to drug-related issues.
Said the coach, “We, the people that make the decisions, have to be able to say, ‘look, this young man’s got an issue’ or ‘this young lady has a serious issue.’ It has nothing to do with football or it has nothing to do with girls' basketball.
“It’s got something to do with this person that’s got a serious problem with drugs. That’s a whole different category. We don’t have many of those. Most of what we deal with is social users, guys out there doing stupid stuff, and we get it cleaned up really fast.
“Sometimes we have issues and it goes a little further than what I would like, but that’s part of the job. We have to deal with it, and most of the time we get it corrected really quick. But it’s out there. It’s never going to go away. Anybody that thinks it’s going to go away has lost their mind.”
Gundy said he is not big on suspending players as a way of disciplining them.
“I don’t suspend guys a lot,” he said. “I give them chances to be a part of the team and compete and we work through it. And then, ultimately, if they don’t buy in, then I usually don’t allow them to play here anymore. I’m not big on one-game suspensions or three games or whatever. I just don’t believe in that. That’s just my own opinion.”
Gundy said during the same interview session that if a guy has got “something going on” the absolute worst thing you can do is take that person away from the normal daily routine of being a student-athlete.
“They say, ‘well, he’s suspended. He can’t practice.’ Well, what good is that gonna do for him? (And) I’m just giving you my opinion. It doesn’t mean it’s right.
“I want him up. I want him lifting weights. I want him going to class. I want him going to study hall. I want him over here in meetings. I want him practicing with me.”
Gundy said he believes OSU has been fairly successful -- then he corrected himself to say “very successful” -- in rehabilitating student-athletes who are social drug users and rehabilitating players who have had issues off the field “because ultimately that’s what we should do.”
College Football
There's not enough evidence yet to declare that the defense has arrived, but evidence thus far is promising.
