Derek Dooley's personal report card has been released.
In Improving Academics of a Football Team, the new Tennessee coach apparently passed with flying colors at his last stop.
According to new personalized Academic Progress Rates broken down by individual coach instead of program, Dooley's score at Louisiana Tech improved in each of his three seasons and was always at least even with the national average prior to taking over the Vols in January. And though a coach's score isn't directly tied to scholarship penalties for a program and it doesn't provide any tangible reward, either, it does provide some evidence that Dooley's emphasis on areas away from the field isn't just talk.
"I think it's a good thing to identify the coaches, yeah, I do," Dooley said. "But what's important to realize about the numbers is that it's all relative to the situation you take over. Every school is different, too. You have to take those factors into consideration. You can't compare the head coach at Navy's APR with the head coach at San Jose State's APR. I'm not trying to demean San Jose State, but that's the only thing I caution people on.
"Also you need to look at where the program was when they arrived and then which way did it go over time. If it was good when they arrived and it stayed good, not necessarily having to improve, then that's good. If it was really bad when they arrived and it showed improvement, then that's good - even though the numbers may be low."
Dooley inherited some numbers that weren't great when he arrived at Louisiana Tech, but they were up across the board by the time he left the program for UT.
Over three years, the team's cumulative grade-point average went from 2.66 to 2.85, and the multi-year APR overall improved from 916 to 939 during the same period. Overall, Dooley posted personal APRs of 939 and consecutive marks of 946 with a program that certainly didn't have much of a reputation in the classroom when he arrived.
"When we got there it was a real bad academic culture," Dooley said. "It was a culture of poor grades, it was a culture of noncompliance, it was a culture of not going to class. We put in new academic accountability policies, we had great, tremendous support from the coaches being very involved.
"We didn't have all these things we have at Tennessee. We had one person, I hired her - in fact my first hire as head coach was somebody in charge of academic support for the football team. They didn't have one."
Dooley has a much larger staff at his disposal now, and he's inheriting a multi-year APR with the Vols that's higher than the one he left at Louisiana Tech.
And thanks to the new report cards, it will be easier now to track his progress with UT - or that of his rivals.
"If somebody has really bad APR, that's what everybody is going to say," Dooley said. "What I'm concerned about is - I can already see the newspaper story - this coach has this number, that coach has this number and this coach is better than that coach. I mean, come on."
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Comments » 31
ravensearay writes:
Every day I like him and his staff more and more....
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
Now do that here and keep the kids outta trouble
Stepchild_nFL writes:
Let me know when football season starts.
69vol08 writes:
Walking the walk!
Great point about the scores being relative to the program...where it was at when the coach took over and the direction it headed after.
I like the foundation this staff is building...keep it up!
Go Vols!
mdvol writes:
Only academic test passing I really care about right now is JOHN BROWN. C'mon big fella.
CCLC writes:
Some users consider this comment inappropriate. Reveal this comment.
Mark Richt's team scored 973 out of 1,000, trailing only Vanderbilt's 975. Florida was third at 971. Georgia ranks in the 80th-90th percentile nationally in football.
not bad for a Coach on the "hot seat".
orangecountyvols writes:
Uh, this is about Tennessee................not UGA
maddawg writes:
Dooley was heard to say "but don't ask me bout that discipline stuff"
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
I was thinking the same thing when I read the title.
CCLC writes:
trying to make it all relative.
Caspian writes:
I never really understand why this academic qualification stuff drags out so long. First of all, if it was me trying to qualify to play - and I was SERIOUS about playing - I would have my academic qualifications in the bag well before practice even started. But then why does it take so looooooooong for tests to be taken and scored. And then, more often than not, it takes the NCAA another 2 months to get around to adding their seal of approval to a posted test score. It just seems like a 3 day problem stretched out over 3 months. I don't get it. But if I was the coach (and especially if I had a hole to fill on the team) I'd be in somebody's face about it every dam day.
abnermc writes:
Wont mean a thing if he doesn't start winning the big games. Seat will just get hotter.
CCLC writes:
just don't want on that merry go round circus that has become Tennnessee football from the result of replacing Coach Phil Fulmer. Nope...nope ..nope... I like the 7-2 bowl wins and 10 win average. Hope tht doesnt make for a bad fan ,but I dont ever want a coach watching the matresses smoldering in his rear view mirror.
just sayin'
4114 writes:
Who really cares what he did on this test. The real "test" comes the 3rd Saturdays in September and October. If I were a betting man I would go ahead and give him a "F". This is going to be a long season.Get use to it VOLS Fans!
UTByrd writes:
All things being relative, winning is great and lifetime character development is priceless. Build a winning program based on high integrity and character and Mom and Dad are going to make sure Junior is going to take a hard look at UT's football program. This will also help all sports at UT.
Go VOLS!!!!!
1volfan98 writes:
Well put UTBYRD thats what TENNESSEE is all about!!!!!You have to start rebuilding from the bottom to get to the top or should i say "ROCKY TOP"
CroKev writes:
You need to understand that an A at Vandy is much different than getting an A at any other SEC school. Vandy operates on a 3.0 GPA scale instead of a 4.0 scale because they don't recognize D's. That's right, a D is a failing score (just like an F). Vandy and Ivy League schools have a much higher standard for grading/scoring their students. Thus, your numbers reflect an "apples & oranges" approach. And, finally, I'm just glad for our sakes that a D would be a passing score for John Brown.
nola_vol writes:
"A-P-R? ... What the heck is APR? ... How do you spell it?"
---- one-half of phone conversation overheard in Tuscaloosa
(I won't say in which classroom building.)
maddawg writes:
Why do you think GA and other fans come on this site talking trash? We're tired of the immature VOL fans littering our sites with retarded comments.
Vol_in_VA writes:
"Well-rounded" is not a term that many people here agree with. *shrug*
CCLC writes:
I wasn't talking trash. I was pointing out that not only Vandy but Florida and Georgia produce good test scores and field competitive teams. Florida was 3rd in the SEC scores. CDD score is about the same as Mr. Fulmers.
just sayin'
gnm53108 writes:
Whow there 4114.
They are tying apr to scholy's.It's gonna be hard enough to reload without any schollarship reductions.
But you're right.The true test is on the gridiron...especially against the reptiles and bammers.
One step at a time.
Southland writes:
CCLC, please excuse some of the bitter people on this website. The fact that tsome are not concerned with academics and cant recognize simple dialogue is sad. We UT fans dont need to make fun of the intelligence level of any other school as long as we are concerned with winning at all costs and dont care about the welfare of the players. Dooley is having to rebuild a program and try to restore some class to some of the fans as well
johnlg00 writes:
The NCAA seems to take their own sweet time about all this so nobody can forget how important they are. Who is to say that the UT authorities AREN'T in the NCAA's face every day about this? Unfortunately, it is the nature of large bureaucratic organizations that the more pressure they get from people who don't control their purse strings, the more they dig in their heels to show how powerful they are. I'm not saying this is what is happening now, but it surely seems to be an ongoing problem and UT is not the only victim of the process.
VolAlum2003 (Inactive) writes:
Yeah...well, lets hope that UT doesn't end up with the same "success" that Richt has had of late. I love UT and I love their academics, but when it comes to football I want them to win. I'm not ashamed of it. I want UT to win. I like winning. I enjoy it. As far as I'm concerned, if every player on the D-Line has to have a personal tutor just so that he can spell the word "s-t-o-p," I don't care as long as he understands the concept on the field. Quarterbacks and kickers need to be intelligent...the rest of the team could eat lead paint...as long as we win.
tmartin writes:
You are obviously not a Vandy grad looking at your thoughts; probably more like Peli State. While they most assuredly have different academic standards, they still operate on 4.0 scale. According to your theory, an 'A' is worth 3.0 and therefore the highest GPA you can graduate with.
murrayvol writes:
It's very good for any coach whether his seat is warm or cold.
Sad part is it won't matter if he can't beat FU and Tennessee.
CoverOrange writes:
There are a couple things wrong with this theory. I went through grad school where getting a "C" in a class put you on probation and a second one dropped you from the school. The profs knew that and only gave a "C" if you really screwed up.
Second, a "C" is "average", thus if you flunk everybody below the average and kick them out then the average standard for those remaining goes up. Thus "B" students become "C" students, "C" students become "D" and are flunked out. Therefore nobody would make it beyone there sophmore year. I'm pretty sure somebody on here calls themselves a Vandy grad.
Third, a lot of Ivy league schools are really really really hard to get into. But once you are there it is really not that hard. Harvard fits that bill for instance.
CCLC writes:
Kinda harsh Murray...Richt is 6 and 4 lifetime against Vols. 7-2 Bowls and 10 win average. Gee are you really happy with that merry go round circus that has become Tennessee ball since you fired Mr. Phil Fulmer and Lame watched the mattresses smolder in his rear view mirror? Tennessee was a great SEC team. You have enterd the twilight zone. Took UGA about a decade to recover... once they got on the merry go round. The 90's were the Vols decade.... this is a different decade and you have a big hill to climb...been there and got that T-shirt.
Speaking of preseason power rankings, did you ever expect to see Tennessee listed at eleventh in the SEC? By Homer Chris Low ..no less?
Just sayin'
CCLC writes:
nobody spent time in ICU as a result of red panties. We dont have a Richt Cup either.
just sayin'
VolAlum2003 (Inactive) writes:
Ok...how exactly is this comment inappropriate? It's off topic because it's about UGA, but how could anyone consider it "inappropriate?"
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