Chip Kelly believes pot not a problem

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Despite what ESPN The Magazine says, Chip Kelly believes that pot is not a problem with his athletes.

Ok Chip, whatever you say bud. Players admitted that about 40-60 percent of the team has or is smoking pot regularly.

The ESPN article cited 19 current or former players that gave the estimates.

“I know how many kids have been tested, and that hasn’t shown up,” the UO coach said after practice this morning. “But the other thing I’ll tell you: The single biggest determining factor on sports performance is central nervousness readiness – i.e., your brain. And if we had that many kids doing it, we wouldn’t be 34-6 (the past three seasons).”

“If we had 60 percent of our kids doing that, we wouldn’t be 34-6 [the past three years] and play in three straight BCS games,” Kelly told reporters after practice this morning, while also lamenting the fact that random testing of players is not allowed under state law.

“I think it’s a [problem] on every campus right now,” Kelly said. “Our responsibility as coaches is to educate our guys on what the dangers are, and that’s what we continue to do… You’re coaching 18- to 22-year-old kids. They’re in the mistake-making phase of their lives. I think no one goes through life without making a mistake, but I think the biggest thing is to learn from the mistake.

“It’s not just ‘don’t do it because if you get caught, here are the ramifications.’ But ‘you shouldn’t be doing it because of, really, the effects that it has on you.’”

ESPN’s report cited NCAA data from 2009 suggesting that 22.6 percent of all athletes had used marijuana in the previous year. The 2009 data also said that 26.7 percent of football players acknowledged smoking, the highest of any sport.

Is anyone really surprised by this?

ESPN said there’s a “code” that exists among players, to shield their marijuana use from being detected, and also to protect from having it affect the team on the field.

Kelly said of the player that smoked pot in front of the report

“We can’t [discipline that player], because you guys never give up your source,” Kelly said. “I’d love to find out who it is, so if you guys can get me it, give me the name. We’ll test him.”

No kidding Chip. Why would ESPN give up an athlete for a future story?

The pot usage didn’t prevent LSU from having problems during their previous season even though the Tigers had 3 players, supposedly, suspended for smoking the ganja.