Post by bonastud on Jun 16, 2005 13:42:49 GMT -5
NCAA's academic reforms hold colleges accountable for student-athletes' academic performances
By RODNEY MCKISSIC
News Sports Reporter
6/16/2005
Buffalo News photo illustration
Click to view larger picture
Associated Press
NCAA President Myles Brand: "It's a complex new way of looking at things, but also there's good understanding that the issues themselves are complex. And you can't find a simple solution to a complex problem that works."
The University at Buffalo football and women's basketball programs and the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team have struggled for victories recently. And according to the NCAA, which is entering an aggressive stage of academic policing, they've been hit with less than gratifying numbers in the classroom as well.
Thanks to a newly devised NCAA academic standard called the academic progress rate, the schools risk losing scholarships under a plan that would penalize teams for not keeping their players on track toward graduation.
The NCAA is compiling an APR for every Division I program and tracking whether scholarship student-athletes remain at their school, stay academically eligible and graduate.
The NCAA recently released updated APR information. The figures are based on the 2003-04 academic year.
Points are awarded, student-athlete by student-athlete, and the NCAA has concluded that teams should reach 92.5 percent of their possible total of a perfect 1,000, which is an APR of 925.
The UB women's basketball program received an 852 while the football team had an 860. The Bona men's basketball team received an 850.
UB was the only Big 4 school with an overall APR (923) below NCAA standards. Canisius (973), Niagara (967) and St. Bonaventure (950) were all above.Canisius and Niagara didn't have any programs flagged by the NCAA. Seventeen Big 4 programs had perfect scores of 1,000 and Niagara had the most with seven.
Nationally, approximately 6 percent of all teams - a total of 363 - fell below the 925 APR cutoff. Many of those programs could face sanctions in coming years if they don't turn things around.
"The NCAA certainly wanted to change the focus of retaining student-athletes and ensuring that they graduate," said Canisius Athletics Director Bill Maher, who was the interim AD at UB for two years. "The focus on it, really, is against the worst offenders. They're trying to figure out which programs are the worst offenders."
Eleven of Texas Southern's 18 programs were flagged (an overall APR of 845), including half of its women's sports, while eight of Florida International's 17 programs were hit.
"I don't know anyone in higher education that would not be supportive in elevating students' academic successes and retention within the institution," said St. Bonaventure Athletics Director Dr. Ron Zwierlein. "The more people that stay the better off you are because kids graduate and they become alumni."
Here's an example using a men's basketball team. Each semester a player who remains at his school and stays eligible or graduates scores two out of a possible two points. A player who is academically eligible but transfers or leaves for the NBA accrues one point. An ineligible player who leaves is, in the NCAA jargon, 0 for 2.
A team offering the full complement of 13 scholarships can accumulate a maximum of 52 points (13 x two points x two semesters) each year. Each member can earn two points per semester, one for academic eligibility, and one for remaining in school. If two players are academically ineligible for one semester, that's minus-1 point for each. If another player leaves for the NBA in the second semester, and is academically ineligible, that's minus-2 points. The team now has 48 points, which is divided by the total possible points (52). The resulting figure is an APR of 923, two points shy of the NCAA cut line. Beginning next season, this program would be subject to an increasing series of sanctions.
"People recognize that it's a complex new way of looking at things, but also there's good understanding that the issues themselves are complex," NCAA President Myles Brand said. "And you can't find a simple solution to a complex problem that works."
Programs marked as deficient will be barred from replacing a scholarship player who leaves when he or she is academically ineligible.
Teams with annual poor academic rates could be shut out of the NCAA basketball tournament or a major bowl game, although it is unclear about the bowl bans because those football games are not run by the NCAA. The first of these more severe sanctions wouldn't be handed down until 2008-09. The most frequent offenders could be slapped with restricted membership and have all of their teams barred from postseason play as early as 2009-10.
"We expect that the result will be behavior that's different on the part of our teams and our athletic programs so that student-athletes have every opportunity to get a good education and to graduate with a degree at their college or university," Brand said. "Academic reform will make a difference."
Breaking down the Big 4
The UB football team's score is reflective of keeping players eligible and retaining them. UB's academic standing is high in relation to many other schools in the Mid-American Conference as well as the NCAA's minimum standards.
While there are several factors that determine eligibility at UB, the essential one is that student-athletes must maintain a 2.0 GPA at all times. During the offseason, UB coach Jim Hofher didn't renew the scholarships of quarterback P.J. Piskorik, center Eric Weber and wide receiver Gabe McClover because of academics. The only Division I-A football programs with lower APR scores than UB were Middle Tennessee State (802), San Jose State (814), Oregon (849), Toledo (850) and San Jose State (852).
Retention is the biggest problem with the UB women's basketball program. During one two-year stretch, eight players left, including a point guard who had started for two seasons. Former coach Cheryl Dozier was an excellent tactician, but her style was somewhat abrasive. The team's subpar APR was one of the factors that led to the firing of Dozier.
"Clearly, coaches are going to have to look at how they do their recruitment and their evaluation of a player," Maher said. "From a personal standpoint, they're going to have to be far more in-depth on that to determine and be sure that the student-athlete has the ability to stay in college."
St. Bonaventure's academic scandal of two years ago rocked the program to its foundation and a mass exodus ensued. Four players departed from the 2002-03 team. Overall, St. Bonaventure is strong academically. Of 252 student-athletes, 67 have a 3.5 GPA or better, Zwierlein said. He added that 67 percent have a 3.0 or better and the overall GPA for all 14 sports is 3.09.
"Those are not bad scores and we're even better than the overall GPA for the entire institution," Zwierlein said. "The misleading information becomes a real nightmare for us to try to explain for potential recruits and their families."
While he supports academic reform, Zwierlein said more data should be gathered for the APR.
"When the graduation rates were implemented, they wanted data for four or five years because you have a five-year window before they say, "You're below standards on graduation rates.' With this (APR) we don't even have data for more than one or two semesters right now. To say, "You're below standards and you're not meeting the .925,' when there's not enough data to say where we're going to be in two or three years from now is, I don't think, a level playing field."
By RODNEY MCKISSIC
News Sports Reporter
6/16/2005
Buffalo News photo illustration
Click to view larger picture
Associated Press
NCAA President Myles Brand: "It's a complex new way of looking at things, but also there's good understanding that the issues themselves are complex. And you can't find a simple solution to a complex problem that works."
The University at Buffalo football and women's basketball programs and the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team have struggled for victories recently. And according to the NCAA, which is entering an aggressive stage of academic policing, they've been hit with less than gratifying numbers in the classroom as well.
Thanks to a newly devised NCAA academic standard called the academic progress rate, the schools risk losing scholarships under a plan that would penalize teams for not keeping their players on track toward graduation.
The NCAA is compiling an APR for every Division I program and tracking whether scholarship student-athletes remain at their school, stay academically eligible and graduate.
The NCAA recently released updated APR information. The figures are based on the 2003-04 academic year.
Points are awarded, student-athlete by student-athlete, and the NCAA has concluded that teams should reach 92.5 percent of their possible total of a perfect 1,000, which is an APR of 925.
The UB women's basketball program received an 852 while the football team had an 860. The Bona men's basketball team received an 850.
UB was the only Big 4 school with an overall APR (923) below NCAA standards. Canisius (973), Niagara (967) and St. Bonaventure (950) were all above.Canisius and Niagara didn't have any programs flagged by the NCAA. Seventeen Big 4 programs had perfect scores of 1,000 and Niagara had the most with seven.
Nationally, approximately 6 percent of all teams - a total of 363 - fell below the 925 APR cutoff. Many of those programs could face sanctions in coming years if they don't turn things around.
"The NCAA certainly wanted to change the focus of retaining student-athletes and ensuring that they graduate," said Canisius Athletics Director Bill Maher, who was the interim AD at UB for two years. "The focus on it, really, is against the worst offenders. They're trying to figure out which programs are the worst offenders."
Eleven of Texas Southern's 18 programs were flagged (an overall APR of 845), including half of its women's sports, while eight of Florida International's 17 programs were hit.
"I don't know anyone in higher education that would not be supportive in elevating students' academic successes and retention within the institution," said St. Bonaventure Athletics Director Dr. Ron Zwierlein. "The more people that stay the better off you are because kids graduate and they become alumni."
Here's an example using a men's basketball team. Each semester a player who remains at his school and stays eligible or graduates scores two out of a possible two points. A player who is academically eligible but transfers or leaves for the NBA accrues one point. An ineligible player who leaves is, in the NCAA jargon, 0 for 2.
A team offering the full complement of 13 scholarships can accumulate a maximum of 52 points (13 x two points x two semesters) each year. Each member can earn two points per semester, one for academic eligibility, and one for remaining in school. If two players are academically ineligible for one semester, that's minus-1 point for each. If another player leaves for the NBA in the second semester, and is academically ineligible, that's minus-2 points. The team now has 48 points, which is divided by the total possible points (52). The resulting figure is an APR of 923, two points shy of the NCAA cut line. Beginning next season, this program would be subject to an increasing series of sanctions.
"People recognize that it's a complex new way of looking at things, but also there's good understanding that the issues themselves are complex," NCAA President Myles Brand said. "And you can't find a simple solution to a complex problem that works."
Programs marked as deficient will be barred from replacing a scholarship player who leaves when he or she is academically ineligible.
Teams with annual poor academic rates could be shut out of the NCAA basketball tournament or a major bowl game, although it is unclear about the bowl bans because those football games are not run by the NCAA. The first of these more severe sanctions wouldn't be handed down until 2008-09. The most frequent offenders could be slapped with restricted membership and have all of their teams barred from postseason play as early as 2009-10.
"We expect that the result will be behavior that's different on the part of our teams and our athletic programs so that student-athletes have every opportunity to get a good education and to graduate with a degree at their college or university," Brand said. "Academic reform will make a difference."
Breaking down the Big 4
The UB football team's score is reflective of keeping players eligible and retaining them. UB's academic standing is high in relation to many other schools in the Mid-American Conference as well as the NCAA's minimum standards.
While there are several factors that determine eligibility at UB, the essential one is that student-athletes must maintain a 2.0 GPA at all times. During the offseason, UB coach Jim Hofher didn't renew the scholarships of quarterback P.J. Piskorik, center Eric Weber and wide receiver Gabe McClover because of academics. The only Division I-A football programs with lower APR scores than UB were Middle Tennessee State (802), San Jose State (814), Oregon (849), Toledo (850) and San Jose State (852).
Retention is the biggest problem with the UB women's basketball program. During one two-year stretch, eight players left, including a point guard who had started for two seasons. Former coach Cheryl Dozier was an excellent tactician, but her style was somewhat abrasive. The team's subpar APR was one of the factors that led to the firing of Dozier.
"Clearly, coaches are going to have to look at how they do their recruitment and their evaluation of a player," Maher said. "From a personal standpoint, they're going to have to be far more in-depth on that to determine and be sure that the student-athlete has the ability to stay in college."
St. Bonaventure's academic scandal of two years ago rocked the program to its foundation and a mass exodus ensued. Four players departed from the 2002-03 team. Overall, St. Bonaventure is strong academically. Of 252 student-athletes, 67 have a 3.5 GPA or better, Zwierlein said. He added that 67 percent have a 3.0 or better and the overall GPA for all 14 sports is 3.09.
"Those are not bad scores and we're even better than the overall GPA for the entire institution," Zwierlein said. "The misleading information becomes a real nightmare for us to try to explain for potential recruits and their families."
While he supports academic reform, Zwierlein said more data should be gathered for the APR.
"When the graduation rates were implemented, they wanted data for four or five years because you have a five-year window before they say, "You're below standards on graduation rates.' With this (APR) we don't even have data for more than one or two semesters right now. To say, "You're below standards and you're not meeting the .925,' when there's not enough data to say where we're going to be in two or three years from now is, I don't think, a level playing field."
