More trouble for Todd Dodge and the Mean Green

[orange machine]

Fifteen North Texas football players failed drug tests conducted this fall at the request of coach Todd Dodge.

Eighty-six players were tested from Sept. 24-Oct. 15. They were chosen by the coaching staff and were considered regular contributors to the team. The results of the testing were first reported by the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The school normally tests athletes at random, and the NCAA tested 20 players separately late last month. North Texas hasn’t received results of the NCAA tests.

Dodge said at his weekly news conference that he couldn’t specify the types of drugs, but later referred to them generally as “street drugs.”

“All I did was what any Division I coach has the right to do,” Dodge said. “When you’ve been around the business long enough, you look at consistency, you put two and two together and you come up with some ideas. It was time to send a message to say, ‘No.”’

North Texas (0-8) is off to the worst start in school history and tied with Washington for the nation’s longest losing streak at nine games.

Dodge, a wildly successful high school coach in the Dallas area when he took the UNT job, is 2-18 with four games remaining in his second season on the Denton campus.

According to the school’s student policy manual, athletes who fail a drug test must attend drug counseling and are subject to additional tests.

A second offense results in a suspension, additional testing and counseling. A third leads to a suspension from the team while the player undergoes a rehabilitation program. With a fourth positive test, the player is dismissed from the team and the player’s scholarship is revoked, the policy says.

[JR2004]

You should post the link when you post a news article.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/colleges/topstories/stories/102908dnspountfolo.345fd6a.html

09:05 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 28, 2008
By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle
bvito@dentonrc.com

DENTON – North Texas football coach Todd Dodge acknowledged Tuesday that 15 members of his team tested positive for recreational substances.

Dodge tested 86 members of his team from Sept. 24 through Oct. 15, a step he said he took for the good of his players and the program.

"I feel like I have pretty good intuition about things that are going on with my team," Dodge said. "If I feel like I have a problem and have the ability to do something about it, I am going to do it."

The players who tested positive were put on probation for one year, must attend substance counseling and are subject to additional testing at Dodge's discretion. Additional positive tests could cause a player to be placed in a rehabilitation program or eventually be dismissed from the team.

Dodge has met with each of the players who failed tests. Each has fulfilled the requirements of UNT's drug treatment program thus far and will be available for the Mean Green's game at Western Kentucky on Saturday.

UNT policy prohibits the school from releasing the names of the players who failed tests. The results from an unrelated NCAA drug test of 20 players are still pending, although Dodge said he is not worried that any of those tests will come back positive.

"The NCAA tests for performance-enhancing drugs," Dodge said. "We test for performance 'de-hancing' drugs. The stuff that we tested for is not performance or life enhancing."

UNT will continue to test the entire team for drugs in the future in addition to randomly testing the players who are now in the school's drug program, Dodge said.

UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal declined to comment on the test results Monday and was not available Tuesday.

University president Gretchen Bataille said that she supports the decision to test the team and Dodge's plans to continue testing.

"I think any policy for our students and athletes that shows that we care about their health is a good policy," Bataille said.

The positive tests are the latest blow for a UNT team that is 0-8 on the season and has lost nine straight games dating to last season.

"I don't worry about distractions," UNT senior wide receiver Brock Stickler said. "We can only control what we can control."

[JR2004]

I feel bad for WR Brock Stickler. He's the kid quoted at the end of the second article. He's from Lampasas (He and record setting West Texas A&M QB Keith Null were high school teammates) and I don't like to see that his senior season at UNT has turned out like this. Hopefully they get this mess cleaned up quickly.

[Bullaholic]

I applaud Todd Dodge. He has had to suffer with mediocre talent at best, and his problems have been compounded by deep bad character issues of many of his players. I think he would be better off playing with 22 dedicated players who want to play football rather than put up with the roster he has now. It will be a long way up for Todd Dodge and UNT--from as low as a college program can get---to a little sunshine. I wish him all the luck in the world and I hope he is able to stick around to see it happen.

[Daddy D 11]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
I applaud Todd Dodge.

Agreed. I like what he did:clap:

[bigYoe]

Todd Dodge made a name for himself as a high school football coach, hell he even coached here in Cameron for a few years. He's a good coach thats in the Routine of Winning. Look at what he did with Soutlake Carroll and look at their team after they left. They're not bad but not as good as they were. Feel bad for such a great football coach that has to put up with BS like this.

[cameron91]

I also like what he did.a group of old men was talking about this today here in plfugerville over breakfast.man , you could've heard some of the b/s they was sayin about TD.one guy looked at me and asked me what I thought about it. IMO , I said , Todd has only been at UNT for 2 years , last year was his only full recruiting class . so these players that failed this drug test may not be his recruites.so give him another year or two before we judge him.

[bigYoe]

NO these guys were not his recruits. We will all know the athletes that Todd Dodge pick. He picks guys with Class and pride. He also recruits kids with talent. So far i dont believe those kids are showing the talent they have.

[OnceABucJr]

So the school's policy is FOUR strikes and your out?

[bigwood33]

Originally posted by OnceABucJr
So the school's policy is FOUR strikes and your out?
It is my understanding that the 4 strike rule is an NCAA rule, not an UNT rule.