North Texas head coach Todd Dodge acknowledged Tuesday that 15 members of his team that failed drug tests earlier this fall tested positive for recreational substances.

Todd Dodge

Dodge tested 86 members of his team from Sept. 24 through Oct. 15, a decision he said he made for the good of his players and the program.

“I feel like I have pretty good intuition about things that are going on with my team,” Dodge said. “If I feel like I have a problem and have the ability to do something about it, I am going to do it.”

The players who tested positive were put on probation for one year, must attend drug/alcohol counseling and are also subject to additional testing at Dodge’s discretion. Additional positive tests could cause a player to be placed in a rehabilitation program or eventually be dismissed from the team following a fourth violation, according to university policy.

Dodge has already met with each of the players who failed tests. Each has fulfilled the requirements of UNT’s drug treatment program thus far and will be available for the Mean Green’s game at Western Kentucky on Saturday.

UNT policy prohibits the school from releasing the names of the players who failed tests. The results from an NCAA drug test of 20 players are still pending, although Dodge said he is not concerned with the results of those tests.

“The NCAA tests for performance enhancing drugs,” Dodge said. “We test for performance ‘de-hancing’ drugs. The stuff that we tested for is not performance or life enhancing.”

UNT will continue to test the entire team for drugs in the future in addition to randomly testing the players who are now in the school’s drug program.

“As long as I am the head coach here, we will continue to test,” Dodge said. “We will give them an opportunity when they are at a party to say no.”

UNT athletic director Rick Villar-real declined to comment on the results of the tests on Monday night and was not available Tuesday.

University president Gretchen Bataille said that she supports the decision to test the team and Dodge’s plans to continue testing in the future.

“I think any policy for our students and athletes that shows that we care about their health is a good policy,” Bataille said.

The positive tests are the latest blow for a UNT team that is 0-8 on the season and has lost nine straight games overall dating to last season.

“I don’t worry about distractions,” UNT senior wide receiver Brock Stickler said. “We can only control what we can control.”

UNT’s players will still have control over their future in the program, but will have to take the necessary steps to adhere to the school’s treatment program to continue playing for the team.

“They know how serious this is,” Dodge said. “Now they have a choice to leave the stuff alone or not. That is why we have this process, so that they have a reason to say no, and they need it. This is an opportunity for all the guys I deal with to say no to peer pressure, if playing football at this university and an approximately $100,000 scholarship is important to them.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .