UF, FSU, UCF meet NCAA standards
Athletic teams at the 3 state schools perform above the threshold for receiving penalties.
Kyle Hightower |Sentinel Staff Writer
The
University of Florida,
Florida State and UCF all avoided scholarship losses after scoring above the penalty threshold in the latest
NCAA Academic Progress Rate numbers, released on Tuesday.
The APR scores for individual programs are based on the eligibility and retention of student-athletes. Any team receiving a score below 925 can lose scholarships. This year's numbers cover the four-years starting in the 2003-04 school year and ends with 2006-07.
The APR formula is intended to be a four-year snapshot, and 2008 is the first year without "confidence boundaries," which allowed schools to avoid penalties because the APR was less than four years old.
Teams lose a point if an athlete leaves the program. They lose another point when the same athlete would have been ineligible to compete the following semester, resulting in a double penalty.
The NCAA's annual academic progress report showed more than 700 teams fell short of the mandated cut score. But only 218 were penalized with warning letters, potential reductions in scholarships and practice time and warned they face possible postseason bans.
A full report is due out next week, but nearly 150 schools face possible scholarship losses next season and 26 are in danger of getting postseason sanctions if they don't get their numbers up next year.
The only two state schools hit with scholarships losses are Florida Atlantic and Florida International. FAU lost three scholarships in football, and a fraction in baseball. FIU really got whacked in five sports, and baseball now has practice time limited.
USF had its top three men's programs all score below the 925 mark, with basketball at just 904, football at 917 and baseball at 923. Its women's programs didn't have a program below 930, with basketball leading the way at 961.
The Miami men's cross country team had a perfect 1,000 while its basketball and football teams come in at 948 and 969, respectively. The women didn't have a team below 934, with women's hoops coming in at 980.
The NCAA has discretion on whether to take away scholarships from teams that are below 925. Leeway is given to programs that have consistently shown improvement in their APRs each school year since collection of data started in 2003-04. That is why UCF's soccer team -- the school's only program with an APR less than 930 (906) -- and the three USF teams aren't being penalized.
Nationally, the overall APR average was 961, or up a point from last year's numbers. For men's teams, the overall national average was also up a point at 951, while the women's teams fell a point to 969.
According to the report, 180 teams cited low resources as the reason for their poor scores, while 253 teams said they were hurt by the departures of academically ineligible players. Teams can cite more than one explanation for scores when filing the report with the NCAA.
At UCF, the men's golf and women's softball teams shared the highest score among UCF's teams at 980. The Knights' football and basketball teams had APRs of 937 and 931, respectively. The women's basketball team came in at 967.
In a separate announcement Tuesday, UCF had the highest number of athletes recognized on Conference USA's Commissioner Honor Roll, honoring students who had at least a 3.0 grade-point average. This is the second year that UCF has had that distinction, this year placing 194 athletes on the 1,824-member list.
Florida State's teams performed well on the APR and
the Seminoles men's teams did especially well.
Six of FSU's eight varsity men's teams -- including the football team -- performed better in the classroom than the Division I average in their given sports. The Seminoles' men's golf team scored a perfect 1,000 and received a public-recognition award from the NCAA.
Just three of the Seminoles' 10 women's sports scored above the Division I average in their sports. The softball team, however, scored a 992 and received an NCAA public-recognition award for its success. Overall, 14 Florida State teams scored a 950 or better.
UF fared well in this latest release of APR scores. Women's volleyball achieved a perfect 1,000 score, which earned the program special public recognition from the NCAA.
The lone problem program was men's basketball, which earned a score of 919. The score, which estimates the program's graduation rate at 55-60 percent, came in below the average for Division I men's basketball teams. It also forces UF to design a program to improve the score, a requirement for any school with a program that falls below 925.
Florida's football program, once plagued by academic problems, has rallied and achieved an APR of 962. UF's women's cross-country, golf and tennis programs all received scores higher than 990.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/c...,3226435.story