SDSU’s Hill Would Rather Be a Trend Setter With Drug Testing

San Diego State Athletic Director Mary Alice Hill said a recent NCAA study indicated 52% of college athletes have used alcohol and 10% have used cocaine.

Hill, a member of the NCAA Council, uses those statistics to further emphasize the need for a drug and alcohol testing program for all student athletes at SDSU.

She has said that starting later this spring, urine tests will be given to all SDSU athletes to detect drug and alcohol abuse.

The tests will be conducted by the McDonald Center for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Treatment at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

Athletes who refuse to give urine samples will be forbidden from playing with their teams, but will be allowed to keep their athletic scholarships.

“One is naive to think it’s (alcohol and drug abuse) not in college athletics,” Hill said.

“We’ve had a drug education program for two years, and have been thinking about testing for six months. The procedure we decided upon was approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.”

Hill said that the NCAA will probably institute a mandatory drug testing program for athletes before they participate in championship events. She expects that to go into effect in the spring of 1986.

She said the NCAA is also considering setting up a surveillance system that would keep a close eye on the testing of athletes.

According to Hill, many colleges have already set up their own testing programs. Some of them just deal with drug testing and some deal with both drug testing and substance abuse.

Hill wants to set up a program at SDSU before the NCAA hands down its verdict. She believes it’s better to set a trend, rather than follow one.

Hill hopes the program will serve as more of a deterrent and more of a way to help someone who needs rehabilitation than as a policing agent.

That’s the way the coaches view it, but some of the players see it as an infringement on their rights.

“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” football Coach Doug Scovil said. “I don’t think we have a big problem on our team, and if we do, it will be very small.

“We haven’t asked for any names. We do try to look for little signs, but the head coach is often the last person to know.”

Aztec wide receiver Vince Warren, who will complete his fourth year of eligibility next season, agrees that the testing is probably a good idea. But . . .

“I know that drugs are bad, but I don’t think that it’s anybody’s business unless it affects a player’s performance on the field,” he said. “People should be allowed to do what they want behind closed doors.”

Sophomore defensive back Chuck Nixon looks at the matter differently.

“They’re paying money for us to go to school, and they have a right to know what’s going on,” he said. “It shouldn’t be an infringement on your rights.

“A few guys on the team talk about it (new testing system), and I kind of wonder about them.”

Creon Dorsey, a junior guard on the basketball team, believes that players on drugs are destructive forces to their teammates. Therefore, he feels the testing will help the athletic program.

“Nobody wants a drug addict on the team,” Dorsey said. “You shouldn’t be playing if you have to get high to play . . . A lot of friends of mine have had their careers halted by drugs. Maybe they would have stopped if this had been in effect.”

Women’s volleyball Coach Rudy Suwara said the first question some of his players asked him was whether this was legal.

“I think they (the school) have a right to know,” said Shelley Haight, a sophomore volleyball player. “But some players feel their rights are being infringed.

“I think that if they’re guilty, they should be caught.”

Assistant basketball Coach Michael Brunker approves of the new testing plan, but says that he feels the problem really starts at the junior high and high school level. Not at the college or professional level.

“But it’s good they’re cracking down at the collegiate level because if an athlete knew a school had a mandatory testing program, maybe he wouldn’t come if he was on drugs,” he said. “That would be great.”

By the time a college athlete is hooked, Brunker said he has often found a way to play effectively while drinking or taking drugs.

“The way we practice and the way we run,” Brunker said, “the really scary thought for a coach is that a player could run the risk of dying if he is playing high.”

The three coaches interviewed all agree that no coach knows his players well enough to always be able to detect a problem.

“This new rule might put something in young people’s minds,” Brunker said. “If you mess with that snake, you’re going to get bit.”