Eagle Athletics Teams Continue to Improve APR Scores

STATESBORO, Ga. -- Ten Georgia Southern athletics teams improved their multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, according to the most recent data provided by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with all but two of the 15 achieving scores above the 925 standard. Later today, May 24th, the NCAA will release multi-year and single-year APR scores for the reporting period that ended with the 2009-2010 academic year.

Two Eagle squads posted perfect single-year scores of 1000 as both Cross Country and Swimming and Diving teams duplicated their efforts from the previous 2008-09 reporting period. Both the Eagle Men's Basketball and Football teams made strides in multi-year scores with the Football program increasing for the third-straight year to 921 and men's basketball posting a second-straight increase for a 905 score.

The NCAA initiated APR as a means for providing intercollegiate athletics programs with a snapshot of a team's academic success and progress of individual student-athletes, accounting for eligibility, retention and graduation. APR for each institution is calculated as follows: each student-athlete on scholarship, full or partial, in every intercollegiate sport, accounts for four APR "points" every academic year - two for the fall semester and two for the spring semester. One point is given for a student-athlete remaining academically eligible and the other point is given for continued enrollment at the respective institution. Each student-athlete can earn a maximum of four points each year.

Single-year APR data covers the 2009-2010 academic year only and is calculated by dividing the number of points earned by its student-athletes by the number of points possible and then multiplying by 1000 for a team's single-season APR. The multi-year number is an average of the APR scores of each sport from the past four academic years: 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. Thirteen of Georgia Southern's teams achieved single-year scores above the 925 mark with Men's Soccer and Football just below at 919 and 914, respectively.

Comparing the current data set to last year's data, improvements were made in the multi-year scores for 10 sports. Of the five teams that did not record increases in multi-year APR scores, none had more than a nine-point difference from the multi-year APR score reported last year based on the 2008-09 data set. The Eagle Football program accepted a reduction of 4.47 scholarships during the 2010-2011 year as a penalty for its multi-year score for the 2009-2010 reporting period.

"With this latest increase in the multi-year APR score for football and men's basketball, and having announced that this past year was one of the best years academically in the history of the department, we are encouraged that we will continue to make progress toward reaching the benchmarks," said Keith Roughton, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Eligibility and interim Director of Student-Athlete Services. "With more resources now in place, a new center for academics, additional staff members, and the commitment from Coach Monken and Coach Young and their staffs, we are in a much better position to meet the needs of our student-athletes. The results of these efforts will continue to have a positive impact on all our teams."

2009-10 APR (MULTI-YEAR APR)
Baseball - 935 (952)
Men's Basketball - 930 (905)
Women's Basketball - 953 (980)
Cross Country - 1000 (968)
Football - 914 (921)
Golf - 947 (955)
Men's Soccer - 919 (931)
Women's Soccer - 956 (970)
Softball - 987 (971)
Swimming & Diving - 1000 (982)
Men's Tennis - 964 (989)
Women's Tennis - 969 (985)
Track & Field (Indoor) - 959 (955)
Track & Field (Outdoor) - 964 (962)
Volleyball - 961 (957) 

Category: Athletics

Published on Tuesday, 24 May 2011 14:02