STARKVILLE — None of the athletic programs at Mississippi State University will be given warnings or sanctions due to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report numbers released Wednesday.
Each of MSU’s 16 athletic programs exceeded the NCAA’s baseline APR four-year level with every program above both the current 900 threshold and the 930 mark to take effect in the future.
The APR is based upon each student-athlete’s opportunity to earn two points during each regular academic term, one if the student-athlete is academically eligible and another is a retention point if the student-athlete returns to the school for the following academic term.
Each individual sport’s APR number is derived by dividing the number of points earned by the number of points possible. A score below 900 could bring historical penalties, which could include playing or practice time restrictions and/or post-season bans.
The men’s tennis and women’s golf programs at MSU each posted a perfect score of 1,000 during the 2010-11 reporting period to lead all sports. Both teams also lead in the four-year average with 992. A perfect score of 1,000 means every senior in that academic year graduated from Mississippi State in the five-year window accepted by the NCAA. The men’s tennis program led by coach Per Nilsson had three senior starters (Artem Ilyushin, George Coupland and Louis Cant) on a squad that reached the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
“These academic progress rates show the commitment of our department to make sure our student-athletes are leaving with a foundation for the future,” MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin said. “Our coaches, academic staff and compliance department have all done a good job of ensuring our student-athletes are put in the best position to be successful.”
The APR is derived from data submitted by Mississippi State for the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. Each sport is listed with both an individual year rate as well as a multi-year rate derived from the previous four seasons.
The most recent APR scores are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years
Under the revised penalty structure, the Division I Board of Directors has set a cut score of 900 as a threshold for teams to meet or face possible sanctions. That cut score will increase to 930 in the next few years. An APR of 930 projects a 50 percent Graduation Success Rate.
The only MSU program that fell below the 930 mark for the 2010-11 academic year is men’s track and field with a score of 926.
A record 10 men’s basketball teams including three-time national champion University of Connecticut were banned from this year’s NCAA tournament because of poor Academic Progress Rate scores. The Huskies became the first Bowl Championship Series school to face a postseason ban based solely on sub-par academics.
Joining the Huskies program on the banned list for the 2013 NCAA Tournament be University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of California at Riverside, California State University at Bakersfield, Jacksonville State University, Mississippi Valley State University,University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, University of Toledo and Towson University.
“I hope my colleagues come to the realization that if they change the rules and make this in effect that the NCAA has to change the way it review the data,” Connecticut athletic director Warde Manuel said. “That’s the only fair thing to do.”
Some schools, such as the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team, avoided penalties on the four-year score (894) because it met the two-year requirement.
The three major sports (baseball, basketball and football) at MSU also saw increases, including an important 17-point bump for the basketball program (965), although the single-year score for the 2010-11 academic year dropped 17 points to 944. The bump for MSU men’s basketball could be significant because of eight players leaving the program since January 2011, with only two of those departures being counted in the latest APR study.
Members of the MSU compliance staff have told The Dispatch that theprogram can survive a hit in men’s basketball and are expecting the next number for the final season of then-head coach Rick Stansbury to not be as significant a drop as expected. It is expected some of the players who left MSU before graduation could either salvage a point for leaving academically eligible (Rodney Hood) or get both points via a waiver if they’re selected in the professional draft (Arnett Moultrie).
Stricklin and MSU men’s basketball coach Rick Ray have told The Dispatch they’re confident the program has maintained a solid position in the four-year cycle that they are not expecting postseason bans.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.