Erickson Answers Charges Seahawks Coach Denies Coverup Of Drug Tests While He Was At Miami

Reacting to published reports that he “covered up” positive drug tests while at the University of Miami, Seattle Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said Monday the school’s drug policy changed in the summer of 1993 and that football players wouldn’t be suspended for positive tests.

“There would no reason for me to ever hide a drug test with anybody because there was nothing I can gain from it,” Erickson said. “All that was involved was counseling. Now, if they didn’t go to counseling and didn’t do the things that they were supposed to do in counseling, then we dealt with that, and we never had that problem in the final two years.”

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported in its Sunday editions that Erickson withheld positive drug tests in the week before the 1995 Orange Bowl and didn’t suspend players who had positive tests in the past two years. Athletic director Paul Dee ordered an investigation of Erickson’s drug-testing actions and requested an independent testing laboratory to provide every players’ drug-testing records for the past five years.

Despite speculation that players might have tested positive before the Orange Bowl, no Miami player was suspended by the NCAA, which conducts separate random tests before each bowl game.

“All I know is what we did in the football department and that if someone tested positive in the last drug test that wouldn’t be dealt with in a counseling effort until the next semester,” Erickson said. “For them to say we were covering up for a bowl game, that’s ridiculous because there wasn’t anything there to cover up because there was no punishment as far as suspensions.”

He said he didn’t have to suspend a player for not attending a counseling session during the past two years. Prior to that, the university handled the program and had mandatory penalties.

Miami’s drug-testing program had been one of the most aggressive in the country. Established in the late 1980s, Miami asked all of its players in all sports to have drug tests. First-time offenders would receive counseling. Second-time offenders would be suspended for one game. Third-time offenders would be suspended for the season.

Erickson said legal concerns forced the university to review the policy and allowed each team to choose its own drug program. Doug Johnson, then the school’s rules-compliance officer, notified each coach at the university to establish a policy while the university reviewed its legal position on drug tests, Erickson said.

“In the summer of 1993, there was a re-evaluation of our drug policy because of legal things,” Erickson said. “That’s why a lot of universities - more than half - don’t even have drug policies. After that, I decided in our football program, we were going to continue to drug-test for one reason and one reason only, to help the players, to find out if any of our players had any kind of drug problem. With that, if anybody tested positive, they were to go to counseling, and that’s the extent of it.

“If they had a problem, we would send them to counseling. One, two, three, four … it didn’t make any difference. That’s what we did. There was never anything about suspensions. We did it because we wanted to help the athlete.”

Erickson also said former Hurricanes trainer Andy Clary didn’t leave the school because of a disagreement about the possible 1993 suspension of a “prominent player” who tested positive before the opening game against Boston College.

The Sun-Sentinel reported Clary insisted the one-game suspension be enforced.

“Andy was let go and resigned, but it had nothing to do with the drug deal,” Erickson said. “There were other things involved. It was more of a difference in philosophy, but it really didn’t have anything to do with the drug things. He was let go because I felt we needed a change to better ourselves in the training department. He felt that he wanted to go to another aspect in his life, too, which was physical therapy.”

Miami faces possible NCAA punishment if it is determined the school violated its drug policy - even if the policy is voluntary.

“The thing that upsets me is that we were out there trying to help our players, doing it better than most people in the country, yet we are getting criticized for that,” Erickson said. “All we did it for was trying to help the players.”