It's widely known that drinking encompasses a large part of DePauw's culture. But bearing another responsibility, student-athletes must constantly toe the line between the commitment to their team and DePauw's "other" endeavors. When athletes break established rules at DePauw, they must answer to both the administration and their coaches.
DePauw's coaches have autonomy when it comes to the drug and alcohol policies applied to their respective teams. DePauw states in the athletic code of conduct that "DePauw student-athletes and coaches do not condone the illegal or irresponsible use of alcohol or drugs." Coaches are given the responsibility to apply rules that adhere to this standard and, if needed, administer punishment for student-athletes that behave in opposition.
"I think [coaches] have a lot of leeway," Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson said.
Baker-Watson stresses that coaches have much of the responsibility to determine the course of the action to take against a player.
"Each coach does have autonomy to say ‘these are my standards' and the base line is we want everyone to be successful. We want everyone to follow the law."
Failure to uphold team standards and respond to violations of policies can result in larger problems for programs as a whole.
Recently, the Syracuse men's basketball team has come under fire for information leaked that at least ten players since 2001 have tested positive for banned substances and still been allowed to practice and play at times they should have been ineligible. If accurate, these charges could activate the NCAA's Willful Violator's clause, which according to a Yahoo! News report, "Allows the (NCAA) to bypass its four-year statute of limitations in favor of levying sanctions as far back as the first in a series of continued infractions." This means the possible sanctions upon the Syracuse basketball program could extend back to the team's 2002-03 national championship.
DePauw does not have the national athletic reputation as a Div. I program like Syracuse, but appliance to the university's own rules is important if only for the safety and success of the student-athletes.
The freedom for coaches to create their own policies is reflected by the athletic teams. Some teams require a "dry period" before athletic competition. In the case of men's and women's golf, head coach Vince Lazar requires his players to sustain from alcohol consumption for at least 72-hours prior to competition. Players also agree to random drug screenings, though these are uncommon.
Men and women's track and field head coach Kori Stoffregen does not have an official policy in place, but emphasizes that responsibility is required of his athletes.
"We do lay down rules in terms of appropriate behavior," Stoffregen said. "But there is not set alcohol policy that is set by me other than the fact that we want (the athletes) to act like professionals and do what is appropriate."
And still, for some teams, the policies are very straight forward. Men's soccer head coach Brad Hauter expects players of legal age to remain dry for the entire season; although he understands his team does not always fully heed to his expectations. Hauter feels that it is not specific rules, but rather players that will make the difference.
"Ultimately, it will lie at the feet of our recruiting," Hauter said. "Do we bring in players who want the ‘college experience' or do we bring in players who want to win conference titles and challenge for national championships?"
Baker-Watson stressed that there is no uniform response to drug and alcohol violations. Each student-athlete is handled case by case from a sport to sport basis.
"Saying you get one game in football and get one game in softball, isn't fair," Baker-Watson said.
Baker-Watson understands that mistakes will be made from a campus composed of 18 to 22-year olds. The key then is to make sure lessons are learned from these experiences.
"I think it's always good when an individual feels repentance for actions," Baker-Watson said. "I don't believe anybody does this on purpose, though. I don't believe they go out and try to embarrass themselves or their teammates or DePauw."
One of Baker-Watson's initiatives as she begins her new role as athletic director is to foster more communication between coaches and herself about philosophy and how to respond to specific situations.
"One of the things we're doing as a staff is starting to meet with just the head coaches and myself on a weekly basis," Baker-Watson said. "Folks haven't necessarily known the rules on other squads."
These meetings will serve as a way for coaches to communicate issues they might usually internalize instead of using the experience of others to help the work through a situation.
"I think that they might find some commonalities amongst themselves to say, this type of behavior is okay; this type of behavior isn't okay," Baker-Watson said. "And then what that does is really set a true community standard as what's acceptable at DPU athletics and what's not."