Perfect APR Scores for Five Georgia Southern Programs

STATESBORO, Ga. - Five Georgia Southern University athletics teams earned perfect Academic Progress Rate (APR) single-year scores of 1000 for the academic 2008-09 year, the latest data available, which will be released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on Wednesday, June 9. The Eagles' Cross Country, Swimming and Diving, Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis and Volleyball teams posted the highest possible score for APR. Twelve of Georgia Southern's 15 programs earned multi-year scores above the 925 APR benchmark standard.

APR data provides athletics programs with a current 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 in the respective institution. Each student-athlete can earn a maximum of four points each year.

Dividing the number of points earned by its student-athletes by the number of points possible and then multiplying by 1000 will calculate a team's single-season APR. The multi-year number is the average APR score of each sport from the past four academic years: 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09.

The multi-year scores from last year's data set to the current data set showed improvement for Georgia Southern programs across the board. Ten of the 15 teams increased their multi-year APR scores with two of the five programs missing last year's number by a single point. Men's Basketball, which had accepted an APR penalty with the loss of one scholarship last year, will not regain that scholarship for its 879 multi-year APR score. The Men's Basketball APR score reflects a recalculation based on the NCAA penalties for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

Football, which had been previously penalized with a loss of scholarships, increased its score by seven points to a 920 multi-year APR. The program had a reduction of 3.83 scholarships in 2009-2010 based on the 2008-09 academic year data. The Men's Soccer team incurred a loss of 0.73 of a scholarship in the 2009-2010 academic year for falling below the 925 multi-year APR mark.

 "Our student-athletes' success in the classrooms translates to good APR scores for the University," said Director of Athletics Sam Baker. "We have programs that have achieved perfect scores for an academic year and we are seeing continuous improvement in the multi-year scores of most of our programs. We have initiated several changes in our student-athlete academic services area and believe those actions will have a positive impact not only on our APR scores, but in academic progress and retention."

2008-09 APR (MULTI-YEAR APR)
Baseball -- 967 (953)
Men's Basketball - 875 (879)
Women's Basketball - 984 (967)
Cross Country - 1000 (961)
Football - 907 (920)
Golf - 977 (935)
Men's Soccer - 919 (922)
Women's Soccer - 974 (974)
Softball - 949 (951)
Swimming & Diving - 1000 (971)
Men's Tennis - 1000 (989)
Women's Tennis - 1000 (992)
Track & Field (Indoor) - 932 (957)
Track & Field (Outdoor) - 932 (962)
Volleyball - 1000 (968)

Category: Athletics

Published on Monday, 07 June 2010 16:16