UNLV swaps tickets for tests

When the NCAA implemented drug testing in 1986, UNLV immediately wanted to get on board with its own program.

Paying for it was another issue -- and still is.

Senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie, who helped create and still oversees the school's program, believes strongly in testing even though the NCAA does not require athletic departments to run their own tests.

"We went to the community and said we would like to do drug testing," said Koloskie, who chairs the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. "But we didn't have the money to do it."

So UNLV decided to trade basketball and football season tickets for tests, creating a long-standing agreement with American Toxicology Institute, a local laboratory.

Bill Brady, UNLV's associate AD for development, said the lab receives 12 season tickets for men's basketball and 12 for football. With basketball season tickets at $450 each and football at $165 apiece, American Toxicology receives $7,380 worth of tickets.

UNLV also provides complementary advertising at basketball and football games.

Lab owner Dan Berkabile said because the agreement was reached when Jerry Tarkanian oversaw UNLV's basketball power, it was attractive to make the deal. American Toxicology has kept the agreement because it enjoys its relationship with the school and believes being known as UNLV's official lab makes good business sense.

"It's a reason, if not the reason, why we did it," Berkabile said. "But we like going to see the basketball games."

Koloskie said the athletic department would have to come up with $60,000 to $75,000 a year to test if it did not have this agreement. UNLV tests only for "street drugs" such as marijuana and cocaine because the NCAA conducts random tests for steroids. To include steroid testing, Koloskie said, would be another $10,000 to $15,000.

While it makes sound financial sense to trade tickets and advertising for tests, it could create second-guessing as to the validity of the results.

According to a study by The Salt Lake Tribune, UNLV and Oklahoma were the only schools found to use "trade-outs" rather than payments for testing services.

New York internist Gary Wadler, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List and Methods Sub-Committee, said doubts about a test's legitimacy should be erased no matter the costs.

"Perception is exquisitely important," Wadler said. "My own feeling is trade-outs are not the way to go, but they need to fund (the tests). They have to dig deep and find the funds."

But Koloskie said American Toxicology would risk losing its license if tests were compromised. Berkabile said the tests are assigned numbers rather than names, so athletes' identities are not known to the lab.

"We don't want to know the IDs," Berkabile said. "That's the way it should be done."

There is no movement by the NCAA to establish uniform standards by its schools. Mary Wilfert, NCAA associate director of education outreach, argues the organization's testing program is sufficient.

Penalties for positive NCAA tests contain much sharper teeth than those at most schools, including UNLV. A positive NCAA test results in a suspension for one calendar year as well as a loss of one year of eligibility. Athletes are banned for life for a second positive test, unless it is for a "street drug."

Koloskie said UNLV emphasizes education over punishment, especially for first-time offenders.

A UNLV athlete who tests positive the first time is referred to a university counseling program, in which the situation is handled case by case. Only in severe cases is the athlete suspended.

"Kids are going to be kids," Koloskie said. "We tell our student-athletes everybody makes mistakes. Many, if not 99 percent of, student-athletes don't test positive again. It's a red flag if they test positive a second time."

A second positive results in indefinite suspension decided by athletic director Mike Hamrick -- usually one-fifth of the season -- and a return to the counseling program.

The athlete is permanently barred from competition with a third positive but is allowed to remain in school.

"We're not looking to kick them out of school," Koloskie said. "We don't have a whole lot of those cases, but those are the ones that usually take care of themselves."

Koloskie said 5 percent to 6 percent of the tests for "street drugs" came back positive over roughly the first five years UNLV began testing. Since then, he said the figure is about 1 percent, which is in line with national averages.

No UNLV athlete, he said, has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug since the late 1980s. Koloskie said he believed two tested positive around that time.

About 1,300 athletes tested by the NCAA came up positive for performance enhancers and "street drugs" in the middle to late 1980s, but Koloskie said the number has dropped to fewer than 100.

Critics say the NCAA numbers are low because they don't test many athletes, but every Division I and II school is tested each year. Ten football players are randomly tested each year at schools that field a team and another eight athletes covering all other sports.

The NCAA returns to campuses for a second round of testing about 15 percent of the time.

Testing also is performed at NCAA championship events and bowl games. In all, 13,000 Division I and II athletes, or 31/2 percent of all college athletes, are tested each year.

While the numbers seem low, Wilfert said the strong penalties and randomness of tests gets athletes' attention.

"Student-athletes are always on notice," Wilfert said.

Some schools consider the NCAA tests their drug-prevention program. UNLV views it as supplemental, electing not to test for steroids.

One reason is the volume of testing within a limited amount of time. UNLV head trainer Kyle Wilson said about 200 tests are conducted among the school's approximately 500 athletes, a lower percentage than in 2000 when roughly 350 athletes wore Rebels uniforms.

Wilson said a two-hour early morning window is blocked to handle 12 to 15 tests at a time. Tests are conducted about every two weeks.

"We try not to get in a pattern," Wilson said.

But he said the school tries to be thorough, testing scholarship and walk-on athletes.

"There's no difference," Wilson said. "The total numbers are up, and it seems like the time constraint is up, too."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2914.