After back-to-back losses to BYU and UCLA, it doesn't appear the Texas Longhorns will be any better this year under new coach Charlie Strong than they were at the end of the Mack Brown era.
But Strong is apparently making certain that drugs aren't part of the problem.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, drug testing in the Texas football program has increased significantly under Strong, who is well on his way to more than doubling Brown's last four-year average. The school, in response to an open records request, revealed data indicating that Brown's last four Texas teams were drug tested an average of 104 times per year. Including walk-ons, that's roughly once per player per year, slightly more than that if only scholarship players were tested. But in just eight months under Strong, the Longhorns have been subjected to 188 tests -- a pace for more than double Brown's average.
The school did not provide statistics on how many players tested positive, or for what substance. According to the report, Texas drug tests for substances banned by the NCAA, including stimulants, anabolic steroids, street drugs, diuretics and other masking agents.
Credit Strong for adding some teeth to the school's existing policy. He has dismissed nine players from the program and two more are currently under suspension, but it is unclear how many, if any, of those disciplinary actions are related to positive drug tests.
Strong's challenge at Texas is a huge one.
Expectations are high, realistic expectations aren't so high, and Texas A&M has become an in-state recruiting force as a member of the SEC that it never was as part of the Big 12. Players are adjusting to new coaches, new schemes, and a new culture that Strong hasn't fully had a chance to instill.
One thing players certainly know by now, however, is that Strong is willing to weed out any drug users.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
