Football: Another Waterloo player charged with trafficking

Another day, another damaging headline, you might say.

"Brandon Krukowski, 22, a 6-foot, 220-pound third-year linebacker with the Warriors, was charged Monday with several counts of possession and trafficking drugs.

"The charges relate to suspected anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs.

For anyone who needs a reminder:

" ... Waterloo Regional Police raided two Waterloo residences in March, seizing several stolen items, including computer equipment, electronics, machinery, sporting goods, clothing and jewelry. The alleged offences include theft of lawn furniture and breaking into UW’s School of Optometry. The incidents occurred between Feb. 1 and March 24.

" ... Police also found several types of anabolic steroids, including nandrolone, trenbolone, stanozolol and testosterone, along with a quantity of tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug sometimes used in conjunction with steroids to help reduce water retention."

The $100,000 question, to borrow from the article with proper attribution, is "how much the coaches on the Waterloo Warriors football team knew about steroid use among players."

It would not do to prejudge Waterloo coach Dennis McPhee, who has been placed on leave, but does anyone see how he comes out of this with anything other than a settlement on the remainder of his contract? At least one hometown recruit, inside receiver Brandon Eaket, is staying true to his school, at least for one year.

"Even with police laying new charges against a Warriors player, Eaket’s faith in the Waterloo coaching staff is unshaken. He says they are not to blame for the scandal.

" 'I believe they had nothing to do with it,' Eaket said. 'I coach the junior Preds. I’m not with them all the time. I can’t tell you what they do all day. Neither can these guys. How are you supposed to monitor guys when they’re at home studying and stuff like that?' "

Incidentally, the denizens of dot-org raised an interesting point. Waterloo claims to be taking a principled stand against "performance abuse" in sports. Well, what about performance abuse in academia?

It seems to be at least as commonplace, but elite universities don't seem to be doing a damn thing to see if it's a problem. Why? Because someone who isn't overdoing it on stimulants in order to write an exam on two hours' sleep and increase their mark by 10% is an underachieving slacker. You see the irony.

Related:
Another arrest in UW football drug case (Cherri Greeno, Waterloo Region Record)
Local recruit wants to stick with UW (Jeff Hicks, Waterloo Region Record)