University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Teams Post Strong APR Scores
5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
High-Performing Teams Dominate Gophers Academic Progress Report
University of Minnesota athletics programs will show overall improvement when the fifth round of Academic Progress Rate scores are reported by the NCAA on Wednesday, May 6, 2009.
According to the report, 23 of Minnesota’s 25 athletic teams scored higher than 950 in 2007-2008, including 22 that either met or exceeded a score of 965 to rank among what the NCAA considers to be “high performing” teams, giving the department its highest average team APR score ever 979.6.
A total of nine teams five women’s and four men’s recorded perfect scores of 1,000, with women’s tennis, women’s indoor track & field and women’s outdoor track & field receiving special NCAA Public Recognition Awards for ranking in the top 10 percent in their respective sports.
“Overall I am very pleased with the results in this APR report and the academic direction of the athletics department continues to be very promising,” said athletics director Joel Maturi. “Still, we need to continue to closely monitor both our student-athlete retention and graduation rates and be constantly aware of the academic progress of our student-athletes.”
Three men’s sports led the way in year-over-year improvement, headed by the men’s basketball program’s 80-point jump. Baseball (+53) and hockey (+50) were two other programs that recorded notable progress on the men’s side, while basketball (+29), hockey (+22) and softball (+22) posted the biggest year-over-year gains among the women’s teams.
Two programs that did experience drop offs in their 2007-2008 APR scores were football and wrestling. Football’s year-over-year total slipped from 927 to 887, while wrestling’s fell from 944 to 919. Though the reduction will not affect the scholarship situation with wrestling, whose multiyear rate remains above the 925 cutline, the same cannot be said for football, whose multiyear rate slipped to 915 in the wake of diminished retention levels following the 2007 staff changeover. As a result, the program lost three scholarships and will operate with a total of 82 during the 2009 season instead of the allowable maximum of 85.
According to Maturi, the football program factored the three-scholarship reduction into its 2009 recruiting class, signing three fewer student-athletes than it was allowed. As a result, the contemporaneous penalty will not affect future recruiting classes.
“We were certainly disappointed to learn that the multiyear APR score for football was going to fall below the 925 cutline and that the program was going to be subjected to a penalty,” Maturi said. “It’s certainly not a situation we want any of our teams to face and we have invested a lot of time, effort and money in our academic programs to ensure that our student-athletes have the very best opportunity to succeed.
“The good news is that the football program is back on solid academic footing. It had 29 Academic All-Big Ten performers last fall, which was the most in the conference last year, graduated all 12 of its seniors, and recorded a 957 APR for the fall semester, which is one of the program’s best single-semester scores since the NCAA instituted the APR system.”
The APR is determined by using the eligibility and retention for each student-athlete on scholarship during a particular academic year. Student-athletes are awarded one point for each semester they are enrolled and one point for each semester they are eligible for intercollegiate competition. A student-athlete can earn a maximum of four points during an academic year. Additional points are not given for student-athletes that graduate at the end of the semester, but rather the student-athlete is awarded one point for retention and one point for eligibility.
The APR figures that will be released next Wednesday by the NCAA include data from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years. It is calculated by taking the number of possible points for a particular sport for the four years and dividing that number by the total number of points earned from student-athlete retention and eligibility over the same period of time. The percentage is then multiplied by 1,000 to obtain the actual multiyear rate used in the report.
The purpose of the APR, according to the NCAA, is to provide a “real-time snapshot” of each team’s academic performance. The NCAA requires teams to maintain a minimum APR of 925 to avoid contemporaneous penalties that include the possibility of losing grant-in-aid for the period of one year if a student-athlete leaves school while academically ineligible. Institutions will not be allowed to award the grant-in-aid from the ineligible student-athlete to a different student-athlete. The contemporaneous penalties will only apply when a team below the 925 does not retain an academically ineligible student-athlete.
For more information on the APR, please visit the NCAA website at NCAA.org.
University of Minnesota Academic Progress Rate Report Spring 2009
Men’s Sports Multiyear Rate/2007-2008 Score
Baseball 952/1,000
Basketball 930/1,000
Cross Country 973/1,000
Football 915/887
Golf 951/ 971
Gymnastics 989/1,000
Hockey 964/1,000
Swimming & Diving 985/979
Tennis 990/955
Track & Field (indoor) 967/972
Track & Field (Outdoor) 967/970
Wrestling 926/919
Women’s Sports Multiyear Rate/2007-2008 Score
Women’s Basketball 939/979
Women’s Cross Country 989/980
Women’s Rowing 988/981
Women’s Golf 983/1,000
Women’s Gymnastics 990/ 1,000
Women’s Hockey 988/1,000
Women’s Softball 979/1,000
Women’s Soccer 977/986
Women’s Swimming & Diving 974/965
Women’s Tennis 1000/1,000
Women’s Track & Field (indoor) 995/979
Women’s Track & Field (Outdoor) 996/986
Women’s Volleyball 985/981
