925.
Those three numbers are the goal of every team in Eastern
Michigan University's athletics program. Keep that
academic score or higher and a team retains all of its
scholarships under the NCAA's Academic Progress Report
or APR guidelines. Fall below that mark and teams may start
losing scholarships.
This issue was discussed at the Board of Regents' Athletic
Advisory Committee meeting Nov. 19.
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Reifel |
"We have two teams — men's cross country and men's
golf
— that scored a perfect 1,000. All women's
teams scored over the cut-off," Melody Reifel, EMU's director
of compliance, reported at the committee meeting. "Many
men's teams did, as well. Some men's teams are below the
cut-off, but it is important to understand that these data
are frm 2003-04 and 2004-05, before we knew what APR was
all about. Some new coaches are feeling the effects of
former coaches' decisions and approaches to recruitment
and retention. We do have the potential of losing scholarships
in a couple of sports right now."
But the athletics department, in an attempt to preserve
those scholarships, is currently seeking waivers from the
NCAA by asking that the governing body take into consideration
EMU's new academic support plan now in place.
"For example, we have expanded the services that
we offer in the Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS)
area," Reifel said. "We have hired four part-time learning
specialists who meet with individual student-athletes.
These learning specialists are paid out of the NCAA Student-Athlete
Opportunity Fund."
The NCAA already automatically takes small squad size
into consideration when considering granting waivers. The
governing body will do so until it has four years of data.
The NCAA began the 925 program two years ago and plans
to assess the APRs of Division I schools based on a four-year
period. Currently, only two years of data exists, as the
system originated with the 2003-04 year.
Under APR guidelines, individual student-athletes can
score a maximum of two points. One point is awarded if
the student-athlete completes a semester, having met all
of the NCAA academic eligibility requirements. The athlete
earns another point if he or she is enrolled at their current
school for the following semester. By the same token, student-athletes
can lose points by not meeting the NCAA academic eligibility
requirements and/or not enrolling, or transferring to another
school, during the following semester.
The NCAA's 925 team score is arrived at using the following
formula: Divide the number of points a team has by the
number of maximum points possible, and multiply that number
by 1,000. For example, if a team has 10 athletes, 20 are
the maximum number of points that a team can compile for
a semester. If the team scored a total of 19 points, its
score would be .950, above the APR guidelines. However,
there are circumstances where a team can score below 925
and not be subject to penalties, Reifel said.
According to an example on the NCAA's Web site, a team
might score 915. However, in the most recent academic
year, no student-athletes were "0-for-2" in any term, meaning
no athlete failed to meet GPA requirements or failed to
enroll at the institution the following semester. Even
though the team is below the desired 925 score, the team
is not subject to contemporaneous penalties.
In another example, a team could have two "0-for-2" athletes
but, because the team's overall score was 980 — above
the threshold — the team is not subject to contemporaneous
penalties.
"Our overall GPA for athletics has averaged over 3.0," said
Bob England, interim athletics director. "Our graduation
percentage was 60 percent versus 38 percent for the rest
of the student body. We are doing everything we can to
make our athletes successful."
While the overall GPA is solid, each team's individuals
have to do their part academically to keep their team above
the 925 level.
"You have to take the loss of a scholarship at the earliest
possible time (if a team falls below the number)," Reifel
said. "If one scholarship is open, you can't use
it. If all of the scholarships are committed through a
national letter-of-intent, you wait a year (before a scholarship
is eliminated). Either way, you have to take a scholarship
loss in one of the next two years."
Reifel added that all of the points are based on scholarship
athletes and don't apply to walk-ons. If a student-athlete
decides he or she does not want to play on a team any more,
but remains at EMU to pursue a degree, the particular team
would not lose points under the APR system, she told the
committee.
"It's very difficult to be an NCAA Division I school,
be in the Mid-American Conference and also follow the student
code of conduct," said Regent Roy Wilbanks, who chairs
the committee.
