Watch Out for APR, New from NCAA

[DKW 86 6,939]

From NCAA Site

ESPN Article (Easier Read)

ESPN & Associated Press

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The NCAA approved the first phase of a landmark academic reform package Monday under which about 30 percent of Division I football teams would have lost scholarships had it been implemented immediately.

Key points: Academic Performance Program

The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term.

The program applies to every men's and women's sport.

Teams that fall under a minimum APR will lose scholarships when players who are academically ineligible leave the school.

Confiscated scholarships can't be re-awarded for a year.

There is a 10-percent cap on the number of scholarships teams could lose.

"Historical penalties" will be more severe and directed at schools with continued problems; they are yet to be approved.

Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

On the last day of the NCAA convention, the Division I Board of Directors approved the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the standard teams in every sport must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year to avoid scholarship reductions.

Schools will receive warning reports in the next few weeks that let them know which of their teams fall below the APR set by the Division I Committee on Academic Performance. The rate is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

The Academic Performance Program applies to every men's and women's sport -- more than 5,000 teams at the 325 Division I schools.

University of Hartford president and committee chairman Walter Harrison said the biggest problems were in football (about 30 percent of teams), baseball (25 percent) and men's basketball (20 percent).

"Our hope, of course, is not the penalty," Harrison said. "We hope it encourages different kinds of behavior so that the numbers will be lower."

The so-called "contemporaneous penalties" are considered rehabilitative in nature and expected to serve as warnings for teams with poor academic performance. Such penalties could begin after December 2005.

Another phase of the program will be historical penalties, which will be more severe and directed at schools with continued problems. Harrison's committee is still working on the penalties, and they will have to be approved by NCAA directors later.

Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway, the chairman of the NCAA board, said the board has already endorsed those tougher penalties.

Academic reform has been a centerpiece issue for Myles Brand since he became NCAA president two years ago. In his state of the association address Saturday, he said the measures "will change the culture of college sports."

The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term. There will also be a longer-term graduation success rate.

Beginning next fall, teams that fall under a minimum APR will lose scholarships when players who are academically ineligible leave the school. Such scholarships can't be re-awarded for a year.

"This is a very strong standard," Brand said Monday. "Implementing these rules is taking a position to reinforce the idea that student-athletes are students first and are expected to make continued progress toward graduation."

The committee did put a 10-percent cap on the number of scholarships teams could lose.

Based on 85 total scholarships, I-A football teams could lose no more than nine scholarships in any one year. Both men's and women's basketball could only lose up to two scholarships.

Teams that continue to have problems will be subject to the more severe penalties once the "historical penalties" are put into place.

Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

"Certainly, our hope is that would be a strong enough penalty that no one would ever reach that plateau," Harrison said.

[tiger88 934]

Au is in good shape. They said that next year we should have a 76% on pace rate. Fortunately we have already been headed in the right direction. Some schools are crapping their pants, I'm sure.

One bad thing about this, it will make it very hard for an athlete to switch majors and stay on his rates.

[DKW 86 6,939]

Au is in good shape. They said that next year we should have a 76% on pace rate. Fortunately we have already been headed in the right direction. Some schools are crapping their pants, I'm sure.

One bad thing about this, it will make it very hard for an athlete to switch majors and stay on his rates.

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Where did you hear this? Link?

[tiger88 934]

either on pondscum, or conference call I can't remember, but I promise you that I heard it and it was a talk with someone from AU. They said last year we were at 68% and this year it was looking like 76%. It's kinda hard to focus sometimes when you're doing 70 down a country highway :huh: .

[Auburn85 415]

Odd, but I think if a player is to walk on the team and earn a scolarship, by him graduating, it won't be counted toward the graduation rate. Same goes for transfers I think.

But I could be wrong, but it seems that I read this or heard this somewhere.

[WAR EAGLE!!! 0]

So do teams get penalized for players leaving early to go to the pros????

That would stink!!!

[vatz22au 117]

Why cant they concentrate more on the whole BCS mess than trying to do what schools are SUPPOSED to do anyways? (give the kid an education)...

[DKW 86 6,939]

I am very happy that they will concentrate on academics. I for one and tired of these semi-pro uneducated football teams winning. Who cares if you win?

Is it fair for team A to go out and do it right and team B to cheat its way to the top because they will turn a blind eye to everything in order to win?

If you go over the top cheating, I realize everyone does cheat at some level, what is the point of the game? Is it fair? Would that not just end up being "TO THE BIGGEST CHEAT GO THE SPOILS?" Who would care about that?

So no, I am happy about this. Wish it would have come down earlier though. Besides. the schools can just lower the academic achievement into the dirt and still cheat just the same.

It's what cheaters do...