NCAA Intern Michael Fly sets the record straight about drug testing.

After reading a recent editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune about drug testing and the NCAA, I knew I had to do some research and set the record straight.

The author???s insinuates that not hearing about steroid use in a particular sport has more to do with inadequate testing than the honesty of athletes. That is a flawed argument. By making such a claim, the author was calling into question the drug testing policies of not only the NCAA but the NBA, the NBDL, the NHL, MLS, and countless other sports organizations around the country and internationally. Did the author not stop to think that not hearing about steroid use in a particular sport might mean that athletes in that sport were not using steroids? Never mind that many athletes respect the sanctity of the games but do you think that a point guard would want to gain so much muscle mass by using steroids that he was unable to defend his man full court, beat a press off the dribble, or penetrate into the lane and finish?

The editorial blasted the NCAA for having a ???sporadic, inconsistent, ineffective, and random drug testing program that allowed most steroid users to go undetected and their cheating go unpunished.??? The editorial stated that college testing programs varied from school to school, conference to conference, and sport to sport. What the author conveniently left out for sake of the argument was whether he or she was talking about institutional drug testing programs or that of the NCAA. Institutions have the autonomy to partake in their own drug testing program and if they choose to do so, the NCAA will provide guidance, and schools and conferences can seek consulting services from the National Center for Drug Free Sport, the NCAA third party drug-testing administrator. Therefore, drug testing will vary from school to school, sport to sport, and conference to conference.

Whether an institution chooses to individually test or not, all NCAA member institutions must adhere to the two phases of the NCAA Drug Testing Program. The first phase mandates that all Division I and Division II football and baseball programs be tested on campus because research dictates these sports are the most likely candidates for steroid use. The program also calls for year-round testing for all Division I and Division II sports based on data to determine which sports are at the highest risk for steroid use. The long standing belief has been that Division III athletics have had no incentive to test due to the lack of athletic scholarships and the fact that statically DIII is the least likely to use, however a 2-year pilot drug education and testing program is currently in the works.

In addition, the author claimed that the NCAA Drug Testing Program was random, ineffective, and that only 4 percent of college athletes were tested in their careers. The testing protocol is in fact random, but not in the sense that athletes are able to use steroids without being caught. In contrast, the drug testing program protocol includes little or no notice about testing and the random selection of schools ensures no athlete can assume that there is ever a ???safe??? time to use banned substances.

The only figure that the editorial managed to get right was that the NCAA does in fact spend $4 million a year on its drug testing program. However, due to the lack of information provided by the author, that number does not take into account any of the money spent by individual schools that choose to test.