Success on the basketball court or football gridiron isn’t exclusive of academic prowess. The NCAA, the regulating body for college athletics, requires member schools to meet certain academic minimums for its student athletes. Fall short of these minimums and the NCAA can and will penalize schools by reducing the number of athletic scholarships each school can offer.
Academic Success Rates
Each year, the NCAA publishes data about the Graduation Success Rate of all Division I institutions and similarly tracks Division II schools with its Academic Success Rate. Division I institutions include those schools playing on the top level of college men’s and women’s basketball as well as football, and comprise teams from the Big East, Big Ten, SEC and other conferences.
The NCAA scores each institution and breaks its scoring down by sports program. For example, a school’s athletes who play women’s soccer may meet minimums, but its men’s lacrosse team might not. Under this scenario, the NCAA could take away scholarships or ban the team from post season play until academic performance is improved. This month, the NCAA has acted and has told member schools which of its programs are affected. Most notably, the University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team, winner of the latest NCAA men’s tournament, will give up two athletic scholarships as part of the NCAA’s penalty.
Eight Banned Schools
Eight teams have been banned from participating in post-season play for the coming academic year as a result of poor academic performance over the past few years. Five of these programs are men’s basketball; the affected schools are: Cal-State Northridge; Chicago State; Grambling; Southern University, Baton Rouge; and Louisiana-Monroe.
Three football programs will not be eligible for post-season play as well. They are: Idaho State, Jackson State and Southern University. Southern is the first school to receive bans in two sports in the same academic year.
The NCAA has banned seven other teams, but has given these schools conditional waivers. These waivers delay the ban by one academic year and may be rescinded if the schools show improvement. However, some schools will incur restrictions in the numbers of times per week that its affected teams may practice.
NCAA Penalties
Besides, UConn, 102 other schools received penalties with Howard University finding as many as eight of its programs falling short. Establishing hard hit were teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, representing numerous historically black colleges and universities.
Resources
The Associated Press; MEAC, SWAC Take Big Hits in Latest APR Report; May 25, 2011
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