Keeping a group of grown men or women in line can be a tough job for anyone, especially in a college scene.

Each of Iowa State’s athletic coaches have a set of team rules in place to help ease the responsibility.

Men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy said he has several rules to which his team adheres.

“Our general rule is: Don’t do anything that’s going to embarrass yourself, this team or this university,” Eustachy said. “That really covers everything.”

Each coach and team may develop their own list of team rules for the season. According to the Iowa State University Student-Athlete Handbook, these rules are presented to the athletics director for approval each fall and a summary of the rules is given to the Athletic Council.

But it’s not just team rules that the student-athletes must follow. Athletic Council chairman Dick Horton said the National Collegiate Athletic Association has a rulebook for all of its members that measures four to five inches thick. The Big 12 Conference and each individual university also comprises regulations for student-athletes.

Barb Licklider, the ISU faculty athletics representative, noted that some policies at Iowa State go beyond those required by the NCAA. If an athlete is arrested for any act of violence or anything dealing with street drugs, the athlete is automatically suspended until the situation is resolved in a court of law, Licklider said.

So how do student-athletes at Iowa State handle coping with three sets of rules hanging over their heads?

Eustachy said it starts right off the bat in the recruiting process.

“You recruit character,” he said. “You explain how it is and you continue to tell them. We work hard at it.”

With all the rules coaches enforce, they take on somewhat of a parental role with their athletes.

That may be true to some extent, but Eustachy said he remembers what it’s like to be in college. He expects his players to follow the rules while enjoying school.

“I don’t expect them to go to their dorm rooms and go lockdown every night,” he said. “We never want to take the fun out of the college experience.”

Eustachy, who played college ball at Citrus College in California, said he stresses to his players that they are in a “fishbowl” while attending Iowa State.

“If you’re underage, drinking beer and you’re 6’10”, they’re probably going to grab you,” he said.

Despite the constant attention that a high-level program brings, Eustachy isn’t worried about any trouble with his group. The commitment to recruit character at Iowa State and the constant education the players receive about the rules is a continuing effort, he said.

“Our guys are just great guys,” he said. “They know right from wrong.”