Tom Gadd, former South Carolina assistant football...

Tom Gadd, former South Carolina assistant football coach, went on trial in Columbia, S.C., on charges that he conspired to distribute steroids to athletes at the school.

Gadd, an assistant at South Carolina from 1982 to 1986, was charged with conspiring to conduct a “program of prohibited steroid use by members of the South Carolina athletic community and particularly its football team.”

In a related trial, John L. Carter of Bethesda, Md., pleaded guilty in federal court to giving steroids to former Gamecock football player Tommy Chaikin.

As part of a plea bargain, three other counts were dropped, including charges that Carter gave steroids to three other former Gamecocks, George Hyder, David Poinsett and Woody Myers.

In that same trial, Jim Washburn, another former South Carolina assistant coach, testified that he became worried in the mid-1980s that the use of steroids by players “had gotten out of hand.” Washburn also said he and Gadd had arranged for a Gamecock player to obtain steroids.

A story co-written by Chaikin in Sports Illustrated last fall led to the indictments of Carter, Gadd and three other former Gamecock coaches. Chaikin said he and other players, including about half the 1986 team, used steroids. Chaikin played for the school from 1983 to 1987.

Carter, who will be sentenced in four to six weeks, faces a maximum of two years in prison and $200,000 in fines under the plea bargain.