We are concerned. More concerned than Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins appears to be that 20 percent of recently drug-tested athletes failed. It's not unfortunate - it's a cry for stronger leadership, better help and stricter policies for athletes and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. If that test is representative of all Ball State University athletes, 80 of the almost 400 student-athletes would test positive.
Those numbers are appalling. The athletes, and the people in charge of them, need to shape up. It's not the coaches or Collins' fault the athletes took drugs, but they are responsible for setting policies and punishments that stop this type of behavior. The drug policy needs to be stricter and athletes shouldn't be allowed four positive tests before being permanently suspended.
These athletes are role models and representatives of the university. As such, they must be held to a higher standard than other students and behave in a way that reflects positively on Ball State. Doing drugs most certainly is not included in that, especially since all athletes are aware they can be randomly drug tested and caught.
Even more disturbing than the "unfortunate" response from Collins was his lack of familiarity with procedures and policies concerning athletes who test positive for drugs. During an interview Tuesday, he said he wasn't positive how athletes are chosen, what substances they are tested for, how they are informed of results or how many violations they are allowed. Collins needs to be as well-informed as the student-athletes are expected to be. Then again, this is an athletics director who wasn't well-informed about what his résumés said.
These tests are only further examples of how far the athletics department must go to clean up and become a program Ball State can be proud of. Right now, there are teams to be proud of: soccer is on the verge of winning a Mid-American Conference title, football will most likely make a bowl game and women's basketball is predicted to make the NCAA Tournament. However, the athletics department as a whole has become an embarrassment. A former coach is accusing the university of having a hostile work environment, investigations are being conducted to see if NCAA rules were violated and the department is on a two-year probation.
Collins isn't responsible for all these problems, but he's not doing his job in cleaning up the department to make it more respectable. It's time Collins turns the department around, or the university should find a new athletics director.
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