UI football players subject to 3 rounds of drug testing

University of Iowa football players are subject to three levels of random drug testing in a given year, according to the athletics department.

The university tests the athletes, as does the Big Ten and NCAA.

"Iowa has one of the most aggressive testing programs in the Big Ten Conference," according to a news release by the UI sports information department. "Throughout the course of a year, virtually every student-athlete is tested at least once . . . some more than one time."

Cost of the program is around $70,000 and administered by University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Here are some other facts:

•  The University of Iowa conducted drug tests on 940 student-athletes in fiscal year 2007 and less than 1 percent came back positive.
• Every student-athlete is tested randomly by university officials once per year
• The school tests for 8 different street drugs and multiple forms of steroids and masking agents. School officials declined to release which drugs were found, citing the results "confidential." If an athlete tests positive for one or more banned drugs noted by the NCAA, he/she is ineligible
• In 2008, 25 Iowa graduate students in medical fields, two certified trainers and one former coach conduct the tests
• UI social services administers a counseling program consisting of testing and education for athletes who test positive for drugs or are arrested for drug or alcohol offenses. All athletes who test positive need to score at least 75 percent through their program or they must retake it.
• The NCAA and the Big Ten also test random student-athletes. On the week a story was written, 27 male student-athletes were tested, including 12 football players and four wrestlers
• At a 2008 Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting, Professor Betsy Altmaier, the PCA's faculty representative and liaison to the Big Ten and NCAA, touted Iowa's drug-testing program as the Big Ten's best. "The Big Ten program is just a drop in the bucket," she said. "They'll catch somebody by chance."

Fred Mims, Iowa's associate athletics director for compliance and student services, said the department has a three-strike policy for offenders. First-time offenders are put on notice, their records are kept within the department, they must go through the  program and perform community service.

An athlete receiving a ticket for underage possession of alcohol must perform six to eight hours of alcohol education. A second possession ticket or a first-offense alcohol arrest results in a first strike in a three-strike program. A first strike means the student-athlete must complete an alcohol education program, be put on notice and perform 20 hours of community service. A second strike means automatic suspension pending a full alcoholism assessment and 30 hours of community service. 

"On the third strike, you're done," Mims said.

Each team can impose additional penalties, Mims said.