Mixed news for UT's academic progress rates : govolsxtra.com

Academic progress rate figures released by the NCAA and the University of Tennessee on Tuesday had the usual good news, bad news feel.

Overall, 17 of 20 men’s and women’s sports at UT met the required 925 ranking set by the NCAA as a sign of strong academic standing for the 2006-07 academic year.

Men’s basketball (911), men’s swimming and diving (920) and baseball (879) were the only sports to fall below NCAA standards.

Around the SEC, Arkansas was penalized a partial baseball scholarship and South Carolina lost one basketball scholarship. No other schools were subject to penalties.

The UT basketball and swimming programs were penalized scholarships, however they elected to pay that penalty during the 2007-08 season before last year’s figures were announced.

The Vols’ baseball team had an 850 ranking two years ago and was penalized 1.17 scholarships. The number improved to 865 last year and 879 in this year’s report.

Basketball was limited to 12 scholarships, swimming to 9.88 and baseball to 10.53.

Baseball is not listed as a team receiving further penalties because “everyone has left in good standing and they have a good plan for improvement,” UT spokesperson Tiffany Carpenter said, adding that first-year head coach Todd Raleigh’s APR track record at Western Carolina also helped Tennessee avoid further penalty.

The recent departures of Duke Crews and Ramar Smith do not factor into this year’s APR score for the men’s basketball team.

Those players will cost Tennessee’s basketball program at least one point each toward the 2007-08 APR for leaving school without graduating and not enrolling as full-time students. However, Tennessee would only be in a position to lose scholarships if its overall basketball APR score is below 925 and Smith or Crews were academically ineligible when they left school.

According to sources within the athletic department, academics were one reason why the two players will not return. Still, both are expected to leave UT as academic qualifiers.

Teams whose overall APR is below the NCAA limit are subject to scholarship penalties only if a player leaves school without graduating and is academically ineligible, known as a “0-for-2.” Whatever financial aid a 0-for-2 player received (in the case of Crews and Smith, full scholarships) would not be available for one year.

APR figures are based on the academic success and retention of student-athletes.

Each student-athlete can earn two points a semester — one for remaining academically eligible and another if he or she returns to the university as a full-time student the following term or graduates.

The APR figure is calculated by adding all the points earned divided by the total possible, which is then multiplied by 1,000.

Fernandez West, associate director of the Thornton Center (which provides academic support for athletes), was pleased with the overall numbers.

“We are very proud of our teams’ performance in the classroom,” he said in a UT release. “The NCAA’s Academic Reform package has challenged student-athletes to improve their academic endeavors, and UT’s student-athletes are stepping up to the challenge.

“Our coaches’ input and effort into the APR has really helped increase or maintain some of the APR numbers.”

No Lady Vol sport had an APR lower than 957 (softball). The women’s basketball team, which won its second consecutive national championship this season, had an APR of 963.

Overall, six of 11 women’s sports posted an APR above 975.

“I am very proud of the accomplishments our student-athletes have made,” women’s athletic director Joan Cronan said in the statement. “Now, we not only keep score on the field of play, but the APR is the win/loss record in the classroom, which is in accord with our mission statement that our student-athletes are students first.”

The APR is in its fourth year and the NCAA reported “only 218 teams at 123 institutions will be sanctioned for poor performance.”

UT football received a ranking of 948, a 10-point improvement over last year’s score, and the third-highest score among men’s programs behind golf (978) and cross country (950).

The Thornton Center and the Renewing Academic Commitment program have been key to improving results in UT’s various sports.

“The Thornton Center has been very active in the NCAA’s academic progression discussions and has put in place a great framework to make sure our athletes stay on track,” men’s athletic director Mike Hamilton said in the release. “If our student-athletes aren’t winning academically, they won’t be competing.”

Drew Edwards contributed to this report.