
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152700
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

NFL COMMISSIONER PAUL TAGLIABUE'S WHIRLWIND

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's whirlwind makeover of the league he took over in late October continued Wednesday when he took aim at two major trouble spots - steroids and the lack of a labor agreement.

He also took a little time on the side to try to lessen the gap between coaches and officials.

Steroids he attacked head-on, implementing a tough new policy that calls for year-round random testing.

"Most experts agree that the way to eliminate steroids is to test on an unscheduled basis," Tagliabue said in announcing the new plan, which replaces one instituted last year by his predecessor, Pete Rozelle. That plan called for tests only in training camp and resulted in 13 four-week supsensions.

This one, developed with the aid of Atlanta Falcons guard Bill Fralic, an outspoken opponent of the body-building substances, calls for tests in training camp and four times during the regular season, as well as in the offseason. Players will be selected at random.

"If a player knows he's going to be tested, he'll have to stay off them," Tagliabue said.

In a letter to Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Association executive director, announcing that he was unilaterally implementing the the random testing, Tagliabue wrote:

"I want to assure that the revised program will be responsive to player support for `putting teeth' into the existing policy on steroids."

As for labor, the commissioner intensified his effort to breach the 2 1/2-year gap between the owners and the NFLPA by appointing a new committee of working club executives, rather than owners, to tackle the problem.

The five-man committee will be headed by Jack Donlan, executive director of the NFL Management Council. In the past, Donlan has headed the negotiating team under the direction of an executive committee consisting primarily of owners.

"These people are familiar with the day-to-day problems of dealing with the union and with the players," Tagliabue said in explaining the reason for the change.

He also disclosed he met three times with Upshaw in an effort to set a framework for a new labor contract by settling the antitrust suit filed by the union at the end of the 24-day strike in 1987.

Asked the status of the union, Tagliabue replied, "The union is a union, which is in hiding."

Tagliabue also oversaw meetings between a group of five officials and the 27 head coaches present, the first such meetings ever. "I think we answered a lot of questions about issues that separate us," said referee Jerry Markbreit, the head of the officials' delegation.

Keywords:
FOOTBALL

by CNB