The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 26, 1988, Page 8, Image 8
Pep Tall
By Kevin Adams
Chaikin xtnrv i
about disciplin
The Tommy Ghaikin story is a sad
and shocking one.
But is it true?
Only Chaikin and the USC football
players and coaches know for
sure. And, expectedly, their versions
clash.
Chaikin claims that USC coaches
were aware of and even indirectly encouraged
his use of illegal,
performance-enhancing steroids. He
also estimates that up to half of the
Gamecock football team was using
steroids, and up to a third of his
teammates were using cocaine.
USC head coach Joe Morrison
says Chaikin's claims are "sensationalism"
and "exaggerated" and
that coaches had heard rumors of
steroid use by team members, but
had no hard facts. Morrison also says
Chaikin had had numerous problems
since he arrived at USC, citing events
in Chaikin's dorm room, the
cafeteria and the weight room.
So which version should we
believe?
Probably a combination of the
two. Some of Chaikin's story is fact.
Much of it is probably exaggerated
fact. And some of it probably isn't
fact at all. It's hard to fathom Morrison
and his coaching staff
deliberately promoting the use of illegal
drugs which could possibly get
the program in trouble with the
NCAA.
But whether true or not, Chaikin's
story raises some serious questions
about Morrison's theories of
discipline.
Morrison admits after learning
Chaikin had been stabbed in a bar
fight before the team's first game
against The Citadel in 1984,
Chaikin's freshman year, that he told
Chaikin not to tell anyone of the incident,
saying, "It's not what we want
to talk to the press about."
That in itself is understandable
enough. Obviously, had the story
made it to the public, it would have
proved a big distraction to a team
preparing for a season opener.
What is particularly disturbing,
nowever, is tne ract tnat unaiKin was
allowed to play in the game. What
kind of message does it send to a
youngster when a coach covers up
such an incident before your first college
game and allows you to go ahead
and play despite being drunk and getting
in a fight only five nights earlier?
Chaikin obviously got the idea that
those type of actions would be
tolerated to a certain extent and that
severe punishment would not be forthcoming
if similar actions were to
occur in the future.
The case of Ryan Bethea is strikingly
similar to Chaikin's.
Bethea was arrested several times
for various charges during his career
at USC, the last time in January for
possession of cocaine, yet he was
never suspended for a game because
of his criminal actions.
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e on USC team
Bethea's first arrest, for breaking
into a car and attempting to steal a
radar detector, also came in his
freshman year.
Bethea, recently signed by the National
Football League's Minnesota
Vikings, was finally suspended from
the USC squad this past summer
after it was learned he had accepted |
money from an agent in violation of ,
NCAA rules. He had been accepted
back on the squad after the cocaine i
charges were dropped because a i
police informant denied making the \
tip which led to Bethea's arrest. ;
Time after time, Bethea made bad i
headlines. And time after time,
Bethea was accepted back to the USC <
squad.
There have been other cases of <
discipline problems by Gamecock 1
football players during Morrison's
tenure, the most recent one two
Saturdays ago when three members
of the team were arrested for public
drunkenness and disorderly conduct t
after allegedly harassing, spitting on 3
wiiu uixvai-wiiiiig tkj iapt a v^uiuiiiuict \
woman in Five Points. One player
has been charged with assault after >
allegedly hitting the woman. For 4
their efforts, the two eligible players
have been suspended for one game, I
against N.C. State this Saturday, and J
all three have been placed on
disciplinary probation and will
receive counseling.
Joe Morrison certainly doesn't encourage
these sort of actions among
his players. If anything, he simply |
wishes that these things didn't hap- ft
pen, that he could simply concentrate p
on coaching football. And he tries to
give his players who have made m
mistakes chances to redeem H
themselves, an admirable quality in 1
any man. But somewhere, a line must
be drawn. "|jj
As Morrison himself said Monday
of Tommy Chaikin, "I would think 1
that if we are guilty of anything, then
we are guilty of hanging with an in- g
dividual too long and giving him that 1
second and third chance to pursue his JP
education, to change his way of life
and to be able to go out and take his
place in society."
It's a tough thing to be guilty of, $
but who's to say what would have |
happened had Morrison sat Chaikin
down that night in 1984, instead of
sending the message that actions such
as Chaikin's would be condoned? I
The key is to adequately discipline
wrong actions when they occur the
first time, not on the second and
third. And telling a freshman to suit ||
up with a stab wound incurred five &
nights earlier in a bar fieht is not ade
quate discipline.
I, like Morrison, wish that USC
football would make its news on the
playing field instead of off.
But that won't entirely happen
unless the players know that actions
such as the above won't be tolerated. (
So far, they have been. I
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Coaches c
By KEVIN ADAMS
Sports editor
USC head football coach Joe Morrison anc
defensive line coach Jim Washburn said Monday
that former USC player Tommy Chaikin had had
several problems at USC and that the Gamecock
coaching staff probably gave Chaikin too many
opportunities to redeem himself.
In the Oct. 24 issue of Sports Illustrated,
Chaikin, who was a member of the Gamecock
football squad from 1983-1987, said in a firstperson
article that he was a heavy user of steroids
during his career at USC and that Morrison and
other coaches knew of and overlooked his steroid
abuse.
Chaikin also estimated that half of the 1986 USC
football team was on steroids and that up to a third
was using cocaine and other street drugs.
"The more I look at this, I think here was an individual
that we recruited out of high school, and
He came to the University of South Carolina," said
Morrison of Chaikin. "Off and on, we had had
some problems with him in the dormitory, some
problems in the weight room, some problems in the
dining hall.
"I would think that, if we are guilty of anything,
then we are guilty of hanging with an individual
too long and giving him that second or third chance
to pursue his education, to change his way of life
and to be able to go out and take his place in society,"
he said.
Morrison refused to go into detail about
Chaikin's previous problems.
At his own press conference Monday, Washburn
said he agreed with Morrison that Chaikin had problems
while at USC.
"I had a sense that something was wrong with
Tommy," Washburn said. "There was no question
Tom was having problems."
Washburn responded to Chaikin's claim that he
old Chaikin, "Do what you have to do, take what
rou have to take," a statement Chaiken said he inerpreted
as indirect encouragement to use steroids.
"Coaches have a lot of cliches, I guess,"
iVashburn told reporters. "One of them is,
Whatever it takes to get the job done.' What I
* *?'<r ?'* * *^?
&! * ' *'
USC's 17th-ranked football team will seek to rej
Georgia Tech in their last game, face the Wolfpac
p.m.
QESOLVI
HOMOSEXUA
SHOULD NOT
ALLOWED
TO ADOPT CHIL
Wednesday
October 26
7*7A nu
i?<fv riTi
m Room 302
A debate sponsored by
the Athenian Literary and Debatir
leny Chaiki
"...if we are guil- JF
I ty of anything, then M ^ 1
we are guilty of
r hanging with an in- m' 1
dividual too % ** . .
long..." \? V
Joe Morrison
USC football coach
Iv m> '
i
meant by that ? and you've got to take it in context
? was hard work, dedication, whatever it
takes within the law.
"I don't condone steroids," he said. "I don't
believe in them. Their only use is in the medical
community."
Morrison said he is equally opposed to the illicit
use of steroids.
"Anywhere coach Joe Morrison has been, they
know and I know that he has never condoned the
use of drugs in any way, in any form, in any
fashion," Morrison said. "And that certainly includes
at the University of South Carolina."
Morrison said that former strength coach Keith
Kephart had come to him during the 1985 season
with rumors of steroid use by Gamecock players
and that he gave Kephart the responsibility of dealing
with those rumors. Morrison said no names of
players were mentioned by Kephart in their
conversation.
"I did have a conversation with coach Kephart
about the rumors that there was steroid use on our
football team," he said. "I don't know how many
of you knew a great deal about steroids in 1985. I
didn't really know a whole lot about them then,
and I don't know much more about them today.
"We had that conversation, and I said, 'Coach
Kep, it seems to me that falls in your department.
If you handle that, I would appreciate it. If there is
anything I can do or that needs to be done, let me
know,"' he said.
Morrison said Kephart spoke with several
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the momentum it had when it defeated Georgia, 23:k
of North Carolina State in a nationally televised gam
f/m
STUDENT f
-Vl* For The At
V. N#
The Student Governm
will be eligible to buy
in the Student Govern
r? ...
[_;> halls.
RF
They will also post a
100 alternates and t
DREN I opportunity to pure 1
SCHEI
1500 primary students - Tl
First 100 alternates - Fri<
Second 100 alternates Fri
Third 100 alternates Fric
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Students must be a fu
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ig ociety. chasing a ticket.
vveuiiesaay, uciODer^b, 1988
in's claims
mAmkorc /-\P fUa P/>/\+Unl1 ^ 1 a1
niviiiuvi o ui niv lUUlUdll LVaill euiu unci CU mem
guidance, counseling and "whatever it took."
"And that was the end of it," he said. "I think
that all of our coaches in one form or another. . .
try to help our ball players. They try to help them
as individuals, they try to help them as players and
they certainly try to help them academically.
"Now you can try, but again, God gives
everyone the right to choose. You can choose
whatever you feel or whatever you want to do. I
feel the same holds true for drugs, and whether we
all want to admit it or not, it's not just football that
has the problem. It's society that has this
problem."
Morrison said he did not follow up on the conversation
with Kephart because, "We did not go on
rumor. We did not go up to anyone and accuse
them just because we felt we needed to accuse
someone."
Chaikin said in the article that team physician
Paul Akers told Morrison that Chaikin was on
steroids and that Morrison told Chaikin, "Don't
do it anymore."
But Morrison said he does not remember talking
to Akers or Chaikin.
"I'm not calling him a liar," Morrison said.
"I'm just saying I don't recall that conversation."
He called Chaikin's estimate that up to half the
team was using steroids during the 1986 season
"exaggerated." He cited as evidence the number of
players who made the Iron Cocks Club, which is
composed of the team's top weight lifters.
"In 1986, we had 21 members that made the Iron
Cocks Club," Morrison said. "If we had a great
deal of individuals on steroids, I think that number
would have been higher."
He also cited drug tests performed by the National
Collegiate Athletic Association before
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when only one player ? center Woody Myers ?
tested positive for steroids.
The NCAA tested the 22 Gamecock starters and
14 players chosen at random before the Gator
Bowl. Chaikin was not with the Gamecock squad
at that time, having left the team prior to the Clemson
game on Nov. 21.
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KENT BROOME/The Gamecock
10, Sept. 24. The Gamecocks, 34-0 losers against
le Saturday night in Raleigh. Kickoff is at 8:07
OOTBALL TICKET LOTTERY I
vay Clemson vs use Game
vember 19.1958
lent will post a list of those students who
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iment Office window ? various residence
list of the first 100 alternates, second
hird 100 alternates who will have the
tase any tickets remaining.
HJLE m TICKET SALES
'M a A D II u~ I -LL.
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day Oct. 28 - 9am-1 lam Russell House Lobby
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ill time, fee paying student and present
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