Coach, AD meet media to talk about players, drug tests

The bags under Coach Kirk Ferentz's eyes said a lot.

Nearly a week after the drug arrest of wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and a day after a player suspension and transfer, Ferentz and Athletics Director Gary Barta discussed what they'd learned. Or what has kept them from a good night's sleep the last seven days.

They said they don't anticipate more suspensions for the Insight Bowl, but that was only a sliver of Tuesday's news conference.

“Learned of some phone calls that were placed to some of our parents, some of the alarming content, just ridiculous questions they were asked,” said Ferentz, Iowa's football coach. “I'm not a huge fan of the social networks, but so much misinformation out there.”

Monday, Iowa announced that running back Jewel Hampton left school and decided to transfer. Ferentz said the decision was “mutual” and that the conversation took place Sunday night. Iowa also announced running back Adam Robinson was suspended for Iowa's Insight Bowl game Dec. 28 against Missouri.

Hampton had been out since tearing an ACL Sept. 18 at Arizona.

“Everybody has choices to make,” Ferentz said. “We're pretty firm in what we want to do, how we conduct our business. Sometimes it's not comfortable for a player to stay with the program. I don't want to speak for Jewel, but talking in broad-based terms, those are decisions players have to make.”

Robinson, the leading rusher the last two seasons, was previously suspended for the first quarter of the Ohio State game Nov. 20. Ferentz anticipates Robinson will return to the team in January.

“We have a lot of good guys on the team. Adam Robinson is a good guy,” Ferentz said. “He just has not been taking care of business the way I expect him to.”

But front and center Tuesday was Iowa's drug testing policy.

Upon his arrest Dec. 7, Johnson-Koulianos submitted a urine test that came back positive for cocaine and marijuana.

“One of the things we did last week was go back and make sure the protocols and procedures were all in line,” Barta said. “We did learn that there were some flaws and inconsistencies.

“Now, we didn't catch anyone cheating on the test. ... We did find pretty strong evidence that there are a couple ways that our student-athletes probably have - and most likely have at some point gotten around the test in some way.”

Barta and Ferentz went to great lengths to discuss procedures and protocols. Athletes are tested by the NCAA, Big Ten and Iowa, even though the school isn't mandated to do so.

The school started testing in 1988 because it wanted to be proactive, Barta said. When Ferentz arrived in 1999, he ramped up drug testing for his program.

“One of my fears has always been that players don't always have to do a lot around here. All you have to do is be on the team and you're a celebrity,” Ferentz said. “ ... I'm not going to put my head in the sand. We want to be proactive, get out ahead of things. If a player does have an issue, I would like to think we know things on the front end so we can shape a change.

“We're in the game of education, trying to help people along and grow. There is a drug culture on every college campus. If someone is involved in that, we want to know ahead of time so we don't have an incident like we did last week. That's a bad result. ... We're not going to win them all, as hard as you can try. We're not going to turn our head, turn away, hope nothing comes along. That's never been our approach.”

Dr. Del Miller, a psychiatry professor who began overseeing Iowa's drug testing two years ago, said Johnson-Koulianos' arrest is a reason to review the program, which administered between 800 and 900 tests last year on 700 athletes.

Iowa tests for performance-enhancing drugs, alcohol, street drugs and masking agents. When an athlete first tests positive, it's not an automatic suspension but team rules come into play.

According to the code of conduct, a first offense earns an assessment and the student-athlete is put on notice. A second offense is a suspension. Third is dismissal. A refusal to take a test is considered a positive result.

“Over the year, every student-athlete is tested, either by us, the NCAA or the Big Ten,” Miller said.