Academics and football

[PaladinFan]

Just read this. So often we get wrapped up in the "athlete" aspect and forget the "student" part. Proud to say my team can put this feather in their cap. Congrats to the other schools and other teams that earned the same.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The NCAA has honored seven Furman University athletic teams with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, the organization has announced.

Furman's football team was among a group of only 26 NCAA Division I football programs to earn recognition.

With seven cited sports, Furman paced all South Carolina institutions, ahead of Wofford (4), South Carolina State (3), and College of Charleston (1).

Among Southern Conference schools, Furman trailed only Davidson, which had 11 of its league sponsored sports honored. Wofford, Elon (3), Appalachian State (2), and College of Charleston were the only other conference schools to earn sport citations.

An academic version of an RPI that rewards eligibility, retention and graduation, and penalizes academically under-performing teams, the APR, developed by the NCAA's Committee on Academic Performance as part the organization's move toward academic reform, offers a real-time snapshot of every team's academic performance at a given time.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced Wednesday (May 2). The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.

[Seawolf97]

Way to GO!xthumbsupx xrulesx

[Seawolf97]

Sorry hit the wrong icon -fat finger issue

[ngineer]

Congrats to the Paladins football. While our football team didn't achieve that honor 13 of our other intercollegiate teams did.xthumbsupx

[UNHWILDCATS05]

HaHa, funny, I came on to post a similar story and found this thread... Congrats to all of those 26 football schools!!!


INDIANAPOLIS--The NCAA is honoring more than 800 Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores. The University of New Hampshire fared well with a total of six teams honored including: football, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s soccer, and women’s indoor and outdoor track.
The Wildcat football team was one of just a few state schools that were honored. In all there were just 26 teams on the list, including mostly Ivy League and Patriot League schools.

Link (http://www.unhwildcats.com/index.cfm?id=CA1D6500-9C14-9F72-F17E60B7B6771786&pid=4980513B-A5C1-AE4D-3180007E0503B490&archive=0)

[WMTribe90]

William and Mary placed 13 of its intercollegiate teams on the list, including the football team. Congrats to all the teams and especially the schools that are fulfilling their academic mission AND competing at the DI level.

[appfan2008]

congrats furman... quality institution

[OL FU]

Today we find out who gets punished for not making progressxeyebrowx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I have a problem with some of the theories regarding their methodology.


Academic Progress Rate (APR). The APR is the fulcrum upon which the entire academic-reform structure rests. Developed as a more real-time assessment of teams' academic performance than the six-year graduation-rate calculation provides, the APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible.

0-for-2. This term is the equivalent of a four-letter-word when it comes to reform. An "0-for-2" student-athlete is one who is neither academically eligible nor remains with the institution. An 0-for-2 player might be one who transfers, leaves the institution for personal reasons or leaves to turn pro and would not have been academically eligible had he or she returned. Obviously, these are the types of situations the academic-reform structure is most meant to address since they are the most damaging to a team's APR. While teams cannot always control the reasons student-athletes leave, the contemporaneous penalty holds them accountable for at least making sure student-athletes are academically eligible during their college tenures.

So, student X would like to try his hand at the NFL, and drops out his final semester to attend all the combines and stuff. Even though he's a fine student (and there's nothing stopping him from finishing his education later should he choose), he becomes a 1-for-2. Same with a kid who (say) has something happen to his family, and drops out. 1-for-2.

Is it really fair to apply the rules so forcefully for institutions of our size? It's easy to see that they are trying to punish BCS-type schools that aren't adhering to minimum requirements of academics. But a hell of a lot more than 26 football teams have fine academics that aren't "passing grade". Something's wrong.

[Death Dealer]

I've always been very pleased to see how high our academic standards are in athletics and we consistently perform well in all sports.xhurrayx xnodx