Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tennessee's APR scores '09-10 '08-09Baseball 938 936Football 937 944Men's basketball 949 935Men's cross country 936 945Men's golf 974 969Men's swimming 975 972Men's tennis 947 947Men's indoor track 932 928Men's outdoor track 933 930Softball 952 948Volleyball 984 975Women's basketball 995 973Women's cross country 994 985Women's golf 1000 1000Women's rowing 990 987Women's soccer 953 947Women's swimming 977 975Women's tennis 1000 1000Women's indoor track 981 973Women's outdoor track 981 973
KNOXVILLE - The University of Tennessee's 20 men's and women's sports teams are continuing to make the grades in the classroom.
The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Rate numbers Tuesday, and no Volunteers or Lady Vols teams will face penalties from low scores for the second consecutive year.
"Our student-athletes and coaches are aware of the high priority placed on a strong record of accomplishment in the classroom," UT men's athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a university release. "These APR results are indicative of the efforts of our student-athletes and coaches ... in producing consistent academic success."
In its eighth year, the APR measures eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes, who can earn two points per regular academic term by remaining academically eligible and returning to school as full-time students the following term, over a four-year period from 2006-07 to 2009-10. Schools with scores below 925 or 900 and student-athletes leaving school while academically ineligible can result in various penalties such as scholarship reductions or postseason bans.
Three UT women's teams - basketball, golf and tennis - ranked in the nation's top 10 percent.
"Our student-athletes continue to produce great accomplishments in the classroom as well in athletic competition," said women's athletic director Joan Cronan. "The APR rates are a critical measure of how we were are succeeding in the classroom, and these numbers indicate that our strong track record continues."
UT's football APR dropped from 944 to 937, which tied the Vols with Arkansas at 11th in the Southeastern Conference. The Vols' APR scores for each individual academic year have dropped to 921 in 2009-10 and 928 in 2008-09 from 949 and 948 the previous two years. Of the four recruiting classes from the time period covering in the APR scores released Tuesday, 37 players who signed with UT either never made it to school or left the program for various reasons.
Two men's programs that recently have faced penalties for low APR scores showed improvement: basketball (935 to 949) and baseball (936 to 938). The basketball program lost one scholarship per year 2006-07 and 2007-08, and baseball lost more than two total scholarships over the three-year span from 2004-05 to 2006-07.
National APR averages went up across the board overall in Division I, including in football (944 to 946), men's basketball (940 to 945) and baseball (954 to 959) - what the NCAA calls its "high-profile" sports.