Coaches have a profound influence upon the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of student athletes. As leaders, coaches have a specific responsibility to contribute to the physical, moral, spiritual and emotional development of their students. The collaborative network of communication between coaches and student athletes provides an important network for preventing the problem of substance abuse in collegiate athletics (Tricker and Connolly, 1996). According to Harding, Ringhofer et al., (1994), coaches should be ready to use opportunities to educate their student athletes about substances abuse. Harding and Ringhofer, 1996, suggest that coaches use the following guidelines for educating members of their team:

Be confident of your expertise (when talking about drug use)
Coaches should communicate a clear philosophy about drug use and clearly communicate their position to student athletes.

Be willing to talk about both sides of the issue
Discuss with students the negative and positive effects of drugs. Accurate information about benefits and negative effects of drugs can help students to more clearly evaluate information they get from other sources.

Create active learners
It is important to involve student athletes in discussions about drugs. Discussions about drug use should take place in a relaxed atmosphere to promote open and honest sharing of information.

Be one of many messengers
Encourage student athletes to seek other credible sources of information e.g. from appropriate university or college teachers, students, counselors, health educators, and law enforcement personnel.

Avoid mixed messages
Student athletes get mixed messages about drugs from many different sources; media, others adults, perhaps family members. It is important for coaches to be aware of mixed messages and help student athletes to clarify their understanding about drugs.

Avoid scare tactics
Researchers have reported that "scare tactics" influence only a small percentage of individuals, especially when used without providing any form of positive reinforcement or positive alternatives.

Be prepared to repeat messages on a regular basis
As with any form of skills learning, repetition is important. Therefore, reinforcement is an important component of the learning process. It is important to take advantage of teachable moments and provide positive messages about not using drugs to student athletes.