UE men’s golf and volleyball earn perfect scores
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Tuesday, the NCAA released its latest Academic Progress Report (APR), which holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.
Data submitted for the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years is included in the latest report. Two University of Evansville programs are being recognized for their multi-year APR scores. The Purple Aces women’s volleyball and men’s golf teams were honored for being in the top 10% of NCAA Division I.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work put in by our student-athletes, coaches and staff,” UE Athletics Director Dr. Ziggy Siegfried said. “To have two of our programs rank in the top 10% nationally is a prestigious honor for the University of Evansville and our athletics department.”
The four-year Academic Progress Rate national average for Division I teams remained steady at 984 this year, as the division marked the 20th anniversary of APR data collection. During those 20 years, overall student-athlete academic success has risen substantially.
Compared with the four-year period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2015-16 through 2018-19), the overall national four-year average across all sports increased one point. At the sport level, changes in the national average were small. Compared with pre-pandemic averages, baseball increased 1 point to 978, football fell 1 point to 963, men’s basketball increased 2 points to 968 and women’s basketball decreased 2 points to 981.
Dave Schnase, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs, said, “Student-athletes have achieved incredible success in the classroom over the last 20 years, mostly due to the hard work and commitment to academic achievement by student-athletes on campuses across the country.
“In addition, the unprecedented success is in part due to the work of the Committee on Academics and its predecessor, the Committee on Academic Performance. The policy changes they made, including initial-eligibility standards and progress-toward-degree requirements, along with on-campus support for student-athletes, contributed to the high rates we are seeing now.”
Each academic year, every Division I sports team’s APR is calculated using a simple and consistent formula. Scholarship student-athletes can earn 1 point for staying on course for a degree in their chosen major and 1 point for being retained (or graduating) at the end of each academic term. For schools that do not offer athletics scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.
This is the third consecutive year of publicly reported APRs after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the Division I board approved the release of APR scores but voted to continue the suspension of program penalties. After further review, the Committee on Academics is not enforcing the loss of access to postseason competition for teams that have scored lower than 930. Instead, a conditional waiver is being offered this year due to lingering impacts of COVID-19.
