NCAA Responds to Kansas' Academic Progress Rate Appeals
April 7, 2006
The NCAA has concluded its review of Kansas Athletics’ appeal regarding Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores in baseball and football. The decisions are as follows:
–The NCAA has approved KU’s appeal regarding football; that approval means the Kansas football program will not lose any scholarships in the 2006-07 academic year.
–The Kansas baseball team will forfeit .24 of one scholarship. Because Coach Ritchie Price has already offered the full allotment of scholarships available for the 2006-07 academic year, baseball will defer the penalty to the 2007-08 academic year.
The NCAA’s APR is a calculation meant to measure the success of student-athletes in the classroom and the progress they make towards graduation. A team is subject to scholarship penalties if its APR is less than 925 and if underclassmen leave their institution in poor academic standing. The NCAA has emphasized that it expects KU’s baseball and football teams to raise their respective APR scores to the 925 mark.
“We are disappointed in the decision regarding baseball,” Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins said, “because we have shown tremendous improvement in the last couple of years.”
The baseball team’s APR rose from 848 in 2003-04 to 939 in 2004-05, for a two-year rate of 887. Last semester the baseball team compiled a 2.96 grade-point average, an all-time high for baseball at Kansas. Nine KU baseball players earned Academic All-Big 12 honors last season.
The Kansas football team’s APR rose from 899 in 2003-04 to 909 in 2004-05, and last fall 10 football players received Academic All-Big 12 honors. Last semester a KU-record 12 teams posted GPA’s of 3.0 or better.
A total of 214 Kansas Athletics student-athletes – 51 percent of students-athletes on active rosters – posted a 3.0 GPA or higher to qualify for the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. Included were 34 individuals with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Additionally, the entire athletic department posted a 2.91 GPA for the fall semester.
“We are determined,” Perkins added, “to continue to improve to the point where all our programs consistently shine as examples for programs around the country.”
