Michigan State officials had little choice but to review their football program for steroids, after media speculation blew up around mammoth offensive tackle Tony Mandarich, who added as much as 50 pounds of mass at the school. During the latter 1980s Mandarich repeatedly denied steroid use—and passed drug tests—while appearing on an SI cover shockingly buff at 6-foot-6, 315 pounds, clad only in shorts, sneakers, and a ball cap. Mandarich ran 40 yards in 4.65 seconds, broad-jumped 10 feet, and bench-pressed 225 upwards of 40 reps—his max reportedly was 600—thrilling NFL scouts who labeled him the greatest O-line prospect in history. Sports Illustrated headlined the balding 22-year-old as “THE INCREDIBLE BULK.” SI reporter Rick Telander, assigned to the story, called Mandarich “a creature.”

            Rebuking steroid accusations was George Perles, Michigan State football head coach, who denied Mandarich was a user. The coach attributed the player's leaps of size and strength to increased lifting and eating. Perles, a former Steelers assistant, also evoked the explanation of genetic wonder, telling media that Mandarich weighed 13 pounds at birth in Canada. “This is a different player,” Perles told a skeptical Telander. “We'll never see another.” The Packers picked Mandarich second overall in the 1989 NFL draft, behind only UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman, chosen first by the Cowboys, and, after a highly publicized holdout, Mandarich signed the richest deal ever for a lineman, $4.4 million over four years. 

Steroid suspicion clung to Mandarich, however, and in March 1990 the Detroit News quoted former college teammates alleging he had not only been a user at MSU but a supplier on the team. Mandarich was part of a larger probe by The News into rumors of steroids in Spartans football under Perles. “The newspaper... found widespread steroid use during the 1987 season and that the problem, while it may have abated, is by no means gone,” reported United Press International. Several Spartans beat steroid testing by both MSU and the NCAA, players alleged. The newspaper reported players injected each other with steroids, regularly discussed the drugs, and shared an underground pamphlet detailing chemical combinations for maximum potency. 

Perles caught heat from Gary Hostetler, father of a player who transferred from MSU. Hostetler charged that Perles made unreasonable strength demands of players and failed to prevent steroid abuse in the program. Hostetler, a police officer in Ohio who played pro football in Canada, said he once called Perles because his son, Lance, was struggling to get playing time at offensive center. “George says, ‘Well, he can’t even bench-press 400 pounds,’ ” Hostetler told The News. “I said, ‘Do you know how hard that is?’ He [Perles] said, ‘We have 13 or 14 players who can bench-press 400.’ I said, ‘He can play football.’ George said, ‘Not ’til he’s stronger.’ ” 

Michigan State officials immediately denied the accusations, declaring they had no knowledge of widespread steroid use in football or any other sport on campus. University spokesman Terry Denbow said the accuracy of such allegation was “highly unlikely,” and he blamed individual athletes for “a few isolated specifics.” Dr. David Hough, sport medicine director, said the school had determined only a handful of athletes used steroids, through testing and “reasonable cause” methods such as observing behavior changes or personal problems. “We can pick them out—we're getting better at it,” Hough said. “The numbers are not that large.”

Perles categorically denied knowing of use on his football team. “No. No,” he said. “I'm honest, I answer them all honestly. N-O, no, underlined, period. Truth.” Perles, stressing players’ health to be his foremost concern, acknowledged that a college coach whose job depended on winning could look the other way from steroids. “It might be tempting,” he said. “I hope to God it's not on my conscience or any of the other coaches in [the Big Ten]. I don't think it would happen in our conference.”

Denbow said an MSU coach found to be ignoring steroid use would be fired. The university opened an internal investigation of its steroid testing and oversight, headed by athletics administrator Robert Wilkinson, who promised “a fair and thorough review.” Wilkinson also said MSU officials essentially dismissed, already, the notion of a systematic problem in the football program. “Some recent media accounts, it is clear, have raised in the minds of some the possibility of ‘widespread steroid use,’ ” Wilkinson stated. “As we have said, there are allegations afoot that we feel encourage inappropriate generalizations based on a few isolated specifics.” Perles said any problem rested with media who disliked him personally, and Mandarich emerged after a couple weeks to deny the latest allegations against him.

Eight months later, Michigan State announced its probe uncovered no evidence of widespread doping. “We know that there is some steroid use, but it is very, very small,” said James Studer, assistant vice president for student affairs. “We're very confident that MSU has a low usage. It's not anywhere near the national average.”

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References

Zagaroli, L. (1990, March 13). Michigan State officials say drug guidelines work.  The Associated Press  [Online].