Everything seemed to be improving for the Texas Christian University football team. However, the school and the team is now mired in serious drug-related trouble.
In a follow up to a blog on members of the TCU football team being arrested in Texas for dealing drugs, we will look at how bad the drug problem is at TCU. Is TCU different from other colleges?
If you listen to TCU football players, drug use was widespread among the team. Four players from the team were arrested for selling drugs, a blow to one of the most respected programs in college football and one expected to contend for the Big 12 title in its first season in the league. The four players — linebacker Tanner Brock, defensive lineman D.J. Yendrey, offensive tackle Ty Horn and cornerback Devin Johnson — sold marijuana to students and football players. They have been kicked off the team.
The 18 people arrested, 15 of them students, were caught making "hand-to-hand" sales of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs to undercover officers.
It all started when coach Gary Patterson sprung a surprise drug test on the football team on Feb. 1, National Signing Day, and that Brock later told an undercover officer that there "would be about 60 people being screwed" as a result of the test.
Caught by a Recruit
It is interesting to note that Patterson ordered the drug test after a prize recruit told him that he would not attend TCU because of drug use by players.
According to Johnson, 82-players failed the drug test.
Brock led the team in tackles during the Frogs’ 13-0 Rose Bowl season in 2010.
Yendrey, a defensive tackle from Edna High School, started 18 games the last two seasons, including the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 21. Johnson, from Moore High School in Oklahoma, had eight career starts, including the bowl game. Yendrey and Johnson would have been seniors next season.
Just When Things Were Going Well
The football team has never been better. TCU has received almost universal positive media coverage for years as Patterson built the program into a perennial power. The Frogs are 47-5 over the last four seasons, including 11-2 in 2011.
Academically, TCU has one of the top programs in the country with respect to its athletes. In December, TCU ranked third in the "Academic BCS," a list by researchers at the New America Foundation’s Higher Ed Watch blog that ranks football teams based on their graduation rates and how well players are working toward their degrees.
Its Academic Progress Rate score of 972 was fourth among the Top 25 schools in the final 2010 BCS standings. APR is a measure of eligibility and retention used by the NCAA to see how successful teams are in the classroom.
The American Football Coaches Association has recognized TCU for its high graduation rates for four consecutive years. All but one of TCU’s 19 seniors on the 2011 roster have already earned his degree or is on track to graduate by May.
Last year, TCU was highlighted in a "Sports Illustrated" article as the only Top 25 football team in 2010 with no players on its roster with criminal records. The article stated that TCU and Oklahoma were the only two schools in the Top 25 that perform criminal background checks on their recruits.
It is a shame to see something like this happen. With so much at stake these student-athletes may not get another chance for an education. The school also is to blame. They should more closely monitor their student-athletes and provide them with mandatory drug and alcohol classes.
Source: www.bostonherald.com