The NCAA Council will recommend year-round drug...

The NCAA Council will recommend year-round drug testing for college athletes and stiffer penalties for those who test positive, especially for such banned substances as steroids.

The NCAA Council, which includes 22 representatives from the NCAA’s Division I schools and 11 each from Divisions II and III, ended three days of closed-door meetings Wednesday. The meetings set the agenda of proposals it will sponsor at the full NCAA convention at Dallas Jan. 7-10.

NCAA President Albert Witte, a law professor at the University of Arkansas, said the council unanimously endorsed the concept of a year-round drug testing program, although no details of the plan or how it would be implemented have been formulated. The NCAA now tests only before its championship events and football bowl games, but many schools conduct in-season testing for athletes.