NBA
NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
By MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer
Published: 2012-10-25 14:40:00
Updated: 2012-10-25 16:43:43
Oct 25, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA says football and men's basketball players are becoming more productive in the classroom.
A {{a ref="external_link-1"}}one-year measurement, released Thursday{{/a}}, showed that 70 percent or more of Division I athletes who were freshmen in 2005-06 in those sports earned their diplomas — the first time that has happened since the governing body started collecting data 11 years ago for the annual Graduation Success Rate.
How the ACC fared for four-year students entering in the 2002-03 academic year
The latest sortable statistics on the NCAA website accounts for four-year students entering classes from 2002-2003 through 2005-06.
In the ACC, Duke and Wake Forest each attained a 100 percent graduation rate for men's basketball with North Carolina placing third in the conference at 91 percent and Virginia Tech fourth at 90 percent. NC State's men's basketball program was eighth in the ACC with a 73 percent Graduation Success Rate.
In football, Boston College and Miami paced the ACC, each with 94 percent GSR. Duke was right behind them with a 92 percent GSR and Wake was slotted at fourth with an 86 percent.
UNC football tied with Clemson and Virginia Tech in the ACC with a 75 percent GSR. NC State was second to last in the ACC with just a 62 percent GSR.
Georgia Tech was dead last in the conference in men's basketball GSR with just 18 percent. They also tied with Florida State for lowest GSR in the ACC for football as just 55 percent.
In addition to Georgia Tech, three other schools - Maryland, Florida State and Virginia - failed to reach 70 percent GSR in either men's basketball or football. By contrast, Duke, Boston College, Miami and Wake Forest all had at least an 86 percent GSR in both sports.
The overall average for the ACC during the 2002-06 snapshot was 74.41 in men's basketball and 74.75 in football - both similar to the national average.
The ACC boasted an average men's basketball GSR of over five points higher - 79.54 - with the 11 schools ranked above Georgia Tech.
The National picture
Athletes in men's basketball graduated at a rate of 74 percent, a 6 percentage-point jump over the 2004-05 freshman class. Football Bowl Subdivision athletes improved their scores by 1 percentage point over the previous year, hitting 70 percent.
The records aren't confined to football and basketball.
Numbers compiled over four years, from the freshmen classes of 2002-03 through 2005-06, matched last year's record-high of 80 percent. The federal graduation rate also remained steady, matching the one-year record-high of 65 percent last year. That was also 2 percentage points above the overall student body, the same disparity the government reported last year.
Critics sometimes contend the NCAA's numbers are skewed because it uses a different calculation from the federal government. While both measure graduation over a six-year period, the feds do not count the performance of transfer students regardless of whether they earn a diploma.
NCAA President Mark Emmert believes the improvements can be explained by the NCAA's push for tougher academic standards over the past decade.
Back in 2003, the NCAA strengthened the eligibility requirements for incoming freshmen and college upperclassmen. It required high school seniors to complete 16 core courses and upperclassmen to finish a higher percentage of course work toward a degree to remain eligible.
Last year, Emmert pushed for — and got — the board of directors to approve tougher penalties including postseason bans for teams that don't make the grade on the annual Academic Progress Report, which is released in the spring. The Connecticut men's basketball team is the first major school in one of the two big sports to miss the cutline and will be ineligible for postseason play this season.
Not all of the numbers were better.
The overall grad rate for the 2005-06 freshman class was 81 percent, down one percentage point from the previous one-year total.
But the most notable numbers came in the two sports that traditionally lag behind the other sports.
The NCAA has seen an 18 percentage-point increase in men's basketball, a 21 percentage-point increase among black basketball players and a 7-percentage point increase in FBS players over the past 11 years.
Every sub-group measured by the government, with the exception of white men, shows athletes graduate at a higher rate than their peers. White male athletes trail their non-athletic peers by 1 percentage point.
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Most Recent Comments
RE: NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
I agree with your first three sentences. Dig a little and I'm pretty sure you'll find fraud at more schools, not just Carolina.
The current system isn't working. Require the "student"/athletes to actually be "students", by raising entrance standards, require them to attend class, do their own work, and keep their grades up, etc., Unfortunately, there is a culture that allows kids to attend schools to play football and basketball without keeping up the "student" end of the equation. There is more emhpasis on winning on the field instead of in the classroom, not a recipe for success when it comes to keeping America competitive in jobs. It may be more realistic for universities to have farm teams, which is basically what we have now anyway.
- Posted by jgunn
I'm afraid the culture that you speak of that allows athletes to play without being real students is the American culture. We can say what we value all we want. But when it comes to putting our money where our mouths are, we show that we value sports much more than education. We pay lip service to education, but we pay real dollars to star athletes and winning coaches.
Actually, maybe I should amend my statement: we value
winning at sports much more than education. Until that changes, we will have to either accept the status quo or recognize that intercollegiate sports - at least football and basketball - are professional, and regulate them accordingly.
I couldn't say it better, Ken. The "culture" that I wrote about, is indeed, the
American culture. I remember you wrote a few years ago about your view on college sports as "entertainment - nothing more and nothing less". I was stunned at the time. That said, you are absolutely right. I was kidding myself by thinking anything different. I would listen to interviews where athletes couldn't construct a sentence; did I think they went to class?
Something has to change: universities should either have the same standards for athletes as non-athlete students, or have the university support a farm team, separate from it's student population. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening. The NBA and NFL like it the way it is: let the colleges deal with coaching up the kids, and they'll take the finished product. A third option would be to offer the student/athlete courses they would benefit from in the "real world".
Your third option doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with your first. For reasons that are a little hazy, universities seem to be OK with allowing students to major in performing arts, but not athletics. I guess it's a highbrow/lowbrow issue. But last time I checked, Business Administration wasn't exactly one of the classic liberal arts, either. It's OK to be "crass" and train people how to make a buck in business, but it's not OK to prepare them for a career in sports after college.
Schools have curricula designed to give dimwitted sons of prominent donors an opportunity to claim they got an education. Why not athletes?
My third option is actually my first choice, if I had one. Love your observation about "dimwitted sons"; so true! How many educations have been bought by "donations"? Probably more than a few.
I don't know what your profession was, Ken, but you sure make a lot of sense when it comes to schools, athletes and how to fix the BCS!
RE: NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
I'm going to have to agree with Ken. Not only UNC, but most other schools are pushing these jocks through the easiest classes they can find. These jocks are probably having lots of help to get the few passing grades they can muster. It sounds like NCSU is prolly one of the few acc schools who tell it like it is. Why do these reports even list UNC? Even their own profs, faculty and student body admit that their graduation reports are completely bogus. At best, UNC should have an asterisk beside anything dealing with student/athletes and their grades.
- Posted by shakennotstirred
I agree with your first three sentences. Dig a little and I'm pretty sure you'll find fraud at more schools, not just Carolina.
The current system isn't working. Require the "student"/athletes to actually be "students", by raising entrance standards, require them to attend class, do their own work, and keep their grades up, etc., Unfortunately, there is a culture that allows kids to attend schools to play football and basketball without keeping up the "student" end of the equation. There is more emhpasis on winning on the field instead of in the classroom, not a recipe for success when it comes to keeping America competitive in jobs. It may be more realistic for universities to have farm teams, which is basically what we have now anyway.
I'm afraid the culture that you speak of that allows athletes to play without being real students is the American culture. We can say what we value all we want. But when it comes to putting our money where our mouths are, we show that we value sports much more than education. We pay lip service to education, but we pay real dollars to star athletes and winning coaches.
Actually, maybe I should amend my statement: we value
winning at sports much more than education. Until that changes, we will have to either accept the status quo or recognize that intercollegiate sports - at least football and basketball - are professional, and regulate them accordingly.
I couldn't say it better, Ken. The "culture" that I wrote about, is indeed, the
American culture. I remember you wrote a few years ago about your view on college sports as "entertainment - nothing more and nothing less". I was stunned at the time. That said, you are absolutely right. I was kidding myself by thinking anything different. I would listen to interviews where athletes couldn't construct a sentence; did I think they went to class?
Something has to change: universities should either have the same standards for athletes as non-athlete students, or have the university support a farm team, separate from it's student population. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening. The NBA and NFL like it the way it is: let the colleges deal with coaching up the kids, and they'll take the finished product. A third option would be to offer the student/athlete courses they would benefit from in the "real world".
Your third option doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with your first. For reasons that are a little hazy, universities seem to be OK with allowing students to major in performing arts, but not athletics. I guess it's a highbrow/lowbrow issue. But last time I checked, Business Administration wasn't exactly one of the classic liberal arts, either. It's OK to be "crass" and train people how to make a buck in business, but it's not OK to prepare them for a career in sports after college.
Schools have curricula designed to give dimwitted sons of prominent donors an opportunity to claim they got an education. Why not athletes?
RE: NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
I'm always amazed when I see people supporting the idea that athletes should not be held accountable for studies. For those who believe that, fire up google and check out the percentage of student athletes who make it in the professional realm of their selected sport(s). The odds are stacked against them and we need to make them realize that they need to have an education so that they have something to fall back on. In my era, the late 70's/early 80's, of the thousand boys who started Pop Warner, the odds were that 10% would play in college, and almost 1% of that thousand would GET A CHANCE to play in the NFL. It was well under 1% who would actually have a career in the NFL. Hmmmmmm, all of a sudden the realization that an education, a FREE education, doesn't look so bad now does it!!!
- Posted by JKKC
Try convincing an 18-year-old that they need to attend their US History class, when all they care about is Tackling 101. Of course you're absolutely right, but young kids with visions of professional sports dancing around in their heads are a little tough to convince what the value of an education is.
RE: NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
Let me correct that for you. NCAA graduation rates and grade records have no credibility.
The extent that an athlete's academic work is comparable to other students at their schools is purely coincidental. They didn't get their scholarships to study, they got them to play sports. That's the only thing they should be judged on.
- Posted by Ken D.
I'm going to have to agree with Ken. Not only UNC, but most other schools are pushing these jocks through the easiest classes they can find. These jocks are probably having lots of help to get the few passing grades they can muster. It sounds like NCSU is prolly one of the few acc schools who tell it like it is. Why do these reports even list UNC? Even their own profs, faculty and student body admit that their graduation reports are completely bogus. At best, UNC should have an asterisk beside anything dealing with student/athletes and their grades.
I agree with your first three sentences. Dig a little and I'm pretty sure you'll find fraud at more schools, not just Carolina.
The current system isn't working. Require the "student"/athletes to actually be "students", by raising entrance standards, require them to attend class, do their own work, and keep their grades up, etc., Unfortunately, there is a culture that allows kids to attend schools to play football and basketball without keeping up the "student" end of the equation. There is more emhpasis on winning on the field instead of in the classroom, not a recipe for success when it comes to keeping America competitive in jobs. It may be more realistic for universities to have farm teams, which is basically what we have now anyway.
I'm afraid the culture that you speak of that allows athletes to play without being real students is the American culture. We can say what we value all we want. But when it comes to putting our money where our mouths are, we show that we value sports much more than education. We pay lip service to education, but we pay real dollars to star athletes and winning coaches.
Actually, maybe I should amend my statement: we value
winning at sports much more than education. Until that changes, we will have to either accept the status quo or recognize that intercollegiate sports - at least football and basketball - are professional, and regulate them accordingly.
I couldn't say it better, Ken. The "culture" that I wrote about, is indeed, the
American culture. I remember you wrote a few years ago about your view on college sports as "entertainment - nothing more and nothing less". I was stunned at the time. That said, you are absolutely right. I was kidding myself by thinking anything different. I would listen to interviews where athletes couldn't construct a sentence; did I think they went to class?
Something has to change: universities should either have the same standards for athletes as non-athlete students, or have the university support a farm team, separate from it's student population. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening. The NBA and NFL like it the way it is: let the colleges deal with coaching up the kids, and they'll take the finished product. A third option would be to offer the student/athlete courses they would benefit from in the "real world".
RE: NCAA grad rates improving in football, basketball; Duke pacing ACC
Frankly, I think all Colleges and Universities should start a new Athletic governing body, make the rule book simple, readable, and comprehensionable. Then, withdraw from the NCAA memebership and take the money with them. The NCAA would sink like a rock.
Starting over isn't necessarily a bad thing. In the case it's also the best move.
As for all these percentages - take them with a grain of salt and a marguerita.
- Posted by Tarheel born
The problem isn't the NCAA. If all the member schools pulled out, but wanted to continue to play sports, they would just have to create another governing body, which would look pretty much like the NCAA.
As for taking the money with them, there isn't much to take. The big bucks the NCAA gets from the basketball tournament are pretty much divided up among member schools. Any governing body needs some money to operate. If you are going to charge them with enforcing rules, you have to give them the financial means to do it. Right now, it is clear that however much that is, it isn't enough.
I would agree on a few of your points Ken. However, the NCAA has gotten to be too big at the top, power hungry if you will. And too political as well. A new Agency modeled after the old, if necessary but not mandatory, would have to be simple to operate and quick to enforce. The schools would know they have to follow a moderate, as compared to thousands that are impossible to keep up with, amount of specific rules OR they get busted and pay the price immediately.
At any given point any school is in daily violation of some small insignificant rule that it's own NCAA enforcement can't find. So I'm back to downsizing the Rules and Regulatons again. It would be hard for anyone to disagree I think.
Everyone seems to be scared of the NCAA. It was supposed to be a partnership not a big bully. I don't like bullies and rarely if ever succumb to them. The NCAA is no longer concerned with the greater good just power.
The bottom line is: The Colleges and Universities gave birth to the NCAA, they can take them out as well.
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