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Texas football: Drug testing has doubled under Charlie Strong

By Andrew Coppens

Sep 13, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong on the field before the game against the UCLA Bruins at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 13, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong on the field before the game against the UCLA Bruins at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Charlie Strong hasn’t even been the Texas Longhorns head coach for a year, but there’s little doubt that things are going to be done his way or the highway. Just last week Strong dismissed the eighth player from the Longhorns since he arrived, dismissing offensive tackle Kennedy Estelle for a failure to live up to the terms of a drug rehab program.

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It shouldn’t serve as much of a surprise then to find out that Strong has doubled the amount of drug testing done on Longhorn players over his predecessor. That’s because according a report in the Austin American-Statesmen, Strong has already administered 188 drug tests to players.

That total is well above the 104 drug tests administered by previous head coach Mack Brown in his final years as a head coach at Texas. According to the report, Brown gave out just 104 total drug tests from 2010 to 2013.

Clearly, Strong is serious about the five core values of his program, and one of them is no drugs.

“You have 95 percent of the guys that’s doing it right, and then you have a small faction of guys that just feel like, ‘Hey, this is the way I’m going to do it whether you like it or not,’” Strong said Tuesday night, after practice according to the Austin American-Statesmen. “I just tell them there are other teams out there, but this isn’t the school for you.”

It’s not just the amount of testing that’s being done, but also the timing of the tests. According to the report in the Austin-American Statesmen, Strong has not been afraid to test at just about any time.

He’s tested the Texas players in the offseason, during training camp, before the season opener and during the regular season.

It may take time for Strong to get the on field results where he wants them, but there’s little doubt that he’s establishing a culture of accountability quickly at Texas.

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