DDN
1/27
Ohio State passes NCAA test
Buckeye official: None of 36 sports will lose scholarships
By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State looks to have staged the equivalent of a fourth-quarter rally in meeting the criteria of the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, but school officials believe the comeback in the classroom began long before the landmark reform kicked in.
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<!-- inset --> <!--begintext--> Put in place for the 2003-04 academic year, the APR allows the NCAA to track how Division I colleges are doing at retaining their scholarship athletes and keeping them on pace to graduate.
Low performers in the first year were warned that they would lose scholarships in 2006 if they failed again to hit the APR's cutoff of 925. And football, men's basketball and five other sports at OSU were notified that they were at risk.
But while figures for the 2004-05 school year won't be made public until late February, Dr. John Bruno, OSU's faculty athletic representative, said none of the school's 36 sports is in danger.
"There's nothing but really promising news on the APR front," he said. "You may see one or two squads below 925, but they won't be subject to ... penalties because of the confidence interval."
Bruno declined to say which teams took advantage of the confidence interval, a provision that gives programs some wiggle room until four years of data can be collected. But football and men's basketball, which had scores of 892 and 910, respectively, in the first review, had some distances to climb.
Bruno attributed the turnaround to increased accountability.
"We didn't install a boatload of programs that we didn't have already," he said. "I think we just used them more effectively.
"We intervene earlier when we see potential problems. And we appeal to the kids, not only to keep themselves eligible, but also to do the right thing by their teams."
OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith said numerous schools will be socked with penalties, and he's ecstatic that the Buckeyes won't be joining them.
"I'm really thrilled," he said. "The program is on the right trajectory.
"I think my predecessor, Andy Geiger, started us on the right track. This is not a one-year effort. We're bringing in the right kids, and we have the right support systems in place. And over the years, things have just gotten better and better and better."
The Buckeyes still lag behind their Big Ten brethren in graduation rates. Only 61 percent of their student-athletes entering school in 1998 (the most recent figures available) earned degrees in the six-year allowable window, putting them last in the conference.
The football team's 31-percent rate was third-worst in the Big Ten.
But coach Jim Tressel's squad fared better in the NCAA's newly created Graduate-Success Rate, which takes into account players leaving school while academically eligible as well as incoming transfers who graduate.
The team's GSR was 54 percent — five points higher than the national average — and Bruno expects that figure to rise.
He pointed out that 56 current players had grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher during fall quarter, and the overall team GPA was 2.81.
"When Jim took over the program (in 2001), it was several tenths lower than that," said Bruno, who is a professor of psychology and neuroscience. "If you do the math, you begin to appreciate how difficult it is to move 105 guys several tenths of a percentage point in a GPA.
"What it really reflects is a culture change. What football has managed to do is change their academic culture under Coach Tressel."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
1/27
Ohio State passes NCAA test
Buckeye official: None of 36 sports will lose scholarships
By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State looks to have staged the equivalent of a fourth-quarter rally in meeting the criteria of the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, but school officials believe the comeback in the classroom began long before the landmark reform kicked in.
<!--endtext-->
<!-- inset --> <!--begintext--> Put in place for the 2003-04 academic year, the APR allows the NCAA to track how Division I colleges are doing at retaining their scholarship athletes and keeping them on pace to graduate.
Low performers in the first year were warned that they would lose scholarships in 2006 if they failed again to hit the APR's cutoff of 925. And football, men's basketball and five other sports at OSU were notified that they were at risk.
But while figures for the 2004-05 school year won't be made public until late February, Dr. John Bruno, OSU's faculty athletic representative, said none of the school's 36 sports is in danger.
"There's nothing but really promising news on the APR front," he said. "You may see one or two squads below 925, but they won't be subject to ... penalties because of the confidence interval."
Bruno declined to say which teams took advantage of the confidence interval, a provision that gives programs some wiggle room until four years of data can be collected. But football and men's basketball, which had scores of 892 and 910, respectively, in the first review, had some distances to climb.
Bruno attributed the turnaround to increased accountability.
"We didn't install a boatload of programs that we didn't have already," he said. "I think we just used them more effectively.
"We intervene earlier when we see potential problems. And we appeal to the kids, not only to keep themselves eligible, but also to do the right thing by their teams."
OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith said numerous schools will be socked with penalties, and he's ecstatic that the Buckeyes won't be joining them.
"I'm really thrilled," he said. "The program is on the right trajectory.
"I think my predecessor, Andy Geiger, started us on the right track. This is not a one-year effort. We're bringing in the right kids, and we have the right support systems in place. And over the years, things have just gotten better and better and better."
The Buckeyes still lag behind their Big Ten brethren in graduation rates. Only 61 percent of their student-athletes entering school in 1998 (the most recent figures available) earned degrees in the six-year allowable window, putting them last in the conference.
The football team's 31-percent rate was third-worst in the Big Ten.
But coach Jim Tressel's squad fared better in the NCAA's newly created Graduate-Success Rate, which takes into account players leaving school while academically eligible as well as incoming transfers who graduate.
The team's GSR was 54 percent — five points higher than the national average — and Bruno expects that figure to rise.
He pointed out that 56 current players had grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher during fall quarter, and the overall team GPA was 2.81.
"When Jim took over the program (in 2001), it was several tenths lower than that," said Bruno, who is a professor of psychology and neuroscience. "If you do the math, you begin to appreciate how difficult it is to move 105 guys several tenths of a percentage point in a GPA.
"What it really reflects is a culture change. What football has managed to do is change their academic culture under Coach Tressel."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
