By Jeffrey O’tooleThe Diamondback (U. Maryland)03/15/2006

(CSTV U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Rachel Martinez probably never considered herself a playmate. So it’s understandable that the senior Terrapin gymnast was surprised when earlier this month a friend told Martinez her picture was featured on www.playboy.com’s “College Bar of the Month” section along with fellow gymnast Mandy Pascual.

“I don’t really know when that’s from,” Martinez said. “A girl from home came up to visit, and we had dinner.”

At the same time Santa Fe Cafe was “honored” with the distinction, the gymnasts had to deal with the effects of the picture’s exposure on the Web site and possible punishment by her coaches.

While Martinez and Pascual haven’t been punished and likely won’t be, the athletic department is taking notice of situations similar to this and warning student athletes of the dangers of allowing their pictures or personal information to be posted on Internet sites such as Facebook.com.

However, unlike Martinez’s situation, many athletes were voluntarily posting similar pictures in their personal profiles.

Two months ago there were pictures of a men’s lacrosse player sitting in an apartment with beers in both hands and women’s soccer players at the bar. They were just part of a large collection of pictures on Facebook showing Terrapin athletes of all ages drinking.

But about a month ago, a large majority of the pictures were no longer posted online.

The changes happened after Senior Athletic Director Michael Lipitz and other administrators spoke with coaches about protecting athletes’ personal information and about the ramifications of such pictures in a monthly coaches’ meeting.

The burden was put on coaches to instruct their athletes of the potential harms of online personality profiles. Each coach was also given the responsibility of handing out punishment for any pictures or information they consider inappropriate, as is the policy with most situations regarding student athletes and pending discipline.

“From a coaching standpoint, as much as we want them to do the right thing, they are still kids, and they’re still learning,” gymnastics coach Bob Nelligan said. “The athletic department speaks through the coaches. Anything you put on Facebook is public record, and anyone can see it. It can cause embarrassment to your family, to the team or to the athletic department of the school.”

In the athletes’ code of conduct, failure to comply with new rules about online postings could eventually result in the loss of an athlete’s scholarship.

“We’re talking about them making good decisions,” Lipitz said. “We want them to represent themselves appropriately and their teams and the university.”

For the numerous athletes who have cleaned up their Facebook accounts or even taken them down, it hasn’t been much of a problem.

“They can do that. I really don’t care,” sophomore lacrosse player Jeff Reynolds said. “It shouldn’t affect us. I personally think, ‘Just take the pictures down or whatever and stay out of trouble,’ but it’s not a big deal to me.”

Senior basketball player Sterling Lebdetter, who lists interests including: “sippin a lil somethin … Whatevers fun!!!!!!,” regards having an account on Facebookas part of his personal life. He said men’s basketball coach Gary Williams did not speak to the team about their Facebook profiles.

“Facebook, that’s just something that people do in their personal lives. Some people do it, some people don’t,” Ledbetter said. “That’s personal life.”

The administration’s biggest concern, according to Lipitz, was the availability of athletes’ personal information and the possibility of identity theft across the Internet, not the harm or damage of incriminating or inappropriate material.

The timing of the decision to talk to the coaches and athletes about Internet safety and inappropriate material coincides with recent problems at universities concerning many of the same issues.

Martinez and Pascual’s situation will be handled like most instances regarding student-athlete discipline, and Nelligan has taken the responsibility of any punishment. Their pictures on www.playboy.com have recently been replaced with those of track runners Katie Purcell, Cori Koch and Matt Sanders.

But there was no alcohol or any inappropriate material in the photographs. The only problem was their location on the Internet. Either way, Martinez, Pascual, Koch and Purcell are all over 21.

“There’s no good, clean fun,” said men’s lacrosse coach Dave Cottle, who said he’s never been on Facebook and doesn’t want to look.

“What we’ve tried to tell our guys, to educate them, is that there are other people who look at these things, and if you’re not representing yourself, or your parents or the things that you stand for, then maybe you should take a look at removing that.”

These views do not neccessarily reflect those of The Maroon.