Steroid testing law to mirror NCAA, By: Josh Hixson & Andrew May

June 22, 2007

Little Elm High School student-athletes could face a random drug-testing program this fall similar to the NCAA’s, according to officials from Texas’ University Interscholastic League (UIL).

The steroid-testing legislation, which Gov. Rick Perry signed into law on Friday, received overwhelming support from Texas legislators, passing 27-3 in the Senate and 140-4 in the House.

Legislative budget planners set aside $3 million, allowing the UIL to test 20,000 to 25,000 of the state's estimated 740,000 student-athletes. Those tested will come from a randomly selected pool of 30 percent of the state's 1,246 public high schools. The initiative would make Texas' steroid-testing program the largest in the nation.

The UIL continues to search for labs to perform the testing, but the National Center for Drug Free Sport is one of the favorites to land the contract among many companies that have expressed interest, said Charles Breithaupt, UIL assistant director and director of athletics. Breithaupt said the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts drug testing and analysis for the NCAA, minor league baseball and most recently statewide high-school playoffs in New Jersey, is considered a “frontrunner” among the 50 other companies the UIL has been in conversation with.

Frank Uryasz, president of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Center for Drug Free Sport, described drug tests his company would offer the UIL as on par with NCAA and Olympic drug-testing programs.

“(The UIL) would get a steroid test that would be similar to what is conducted at the collegiate or Olympic level,” Uryasz said. “(We test) for a complete list of anabolic steroids banned by the NCAA. We also test for substances called masking agents or urine manipulators.” Breithaupt said while the UIL has yet to decide on a firm to implement the testing and analysis required by Senate Bill 8, the National Center For Drug Free Sport has the kind of experience on the state and national level the UIL is looking for.

“They have done all the NCAA testing and have done the testing for New Jersey,” Breithaupt said.

Cliff Odenwald, former Plano Independent School District athletics director and newly named associate athletic director for the UIL, will oversee implementation of the steroid testing program. Odenwald said schools will be chosen randomly to undergo testing by an agency other than the UIL.

“The testing companies will make that decision based on random selection,” Odenwald said.

Uryasz compared the future UIL program to current practices in the NCAA. The NCAA budget for drug testing averages to $300 an athlete for 15,000 to 16,000 athletes, Uryasz said.

“I am confident a testing program in Texas could be done for much less than that,” Uryasz said. “It would depend on the collection costs.”

Breithaupt agreed that some high schools in remote areas of Texas could drive the cost of a testing program higher.

“I think it will be hard for us to predict what it is going to cost. But we have to say it is adequate, because this is what we have,” Breithaupt said.

The UIL’s legislative council voted last Monday to ban athletes from UIL competition for 30 days after a positive test for steroids. A second failed test requires in a one-year ban, and a third would result in the athlete’s permanent ban from competition.

First or second time offenders will also have to pay for and submit an additional negative test before they can return. A positive test, however, would have to be confirmed through a subsequent test and all tests will be kept confidential between the athlete's family and school administrators. A steroid test can cost between $110 and $190, according to the UIL.

"This is something people have been calling for, and we've never been opposed," Breithaupt said. "We just needed the funding."

New Jersey became the first state to test high school athletes for steroids last year, but the athletes were tested on a smaller scale, only during championship events. Florida has enacted a one-year testing program beginning this fall, but only for athletes participating in baseball, football, and weightlifting.

In Texas, 127 public high schools already test for steroids, according to the UIL. Frisco ISD, which has tested its student-athletes for drugs and alcohol since 2000, began testing for steroids in 2005. In that two-year span, not a single test has come back positive, according to FISD Athletics Director David Kuykendall.

“There may or may not be someone who slips through the cracks periodically, but not over a long period of time,” said Kuykendall, who also serves as the District 9-4A football chair.

“We would be naïve to think kids aren’t experimenting because there is always going to be a small percentage that push the envelope regardless.”