Holy Cross Scholar-Athletes Earn Top Scores in New Academic Measures

When the NCAA released scores from its new system for measuring academic success for student-athletes and teams, Holy Cross far exceeded the national average.

Additionally, new analysis of NCAA graduation rate data - and subsequent coverage in the New York Times, Boston Globe, and other media - gave prominent play to the Crusader women's basketball team: Of the 64 women's teams competing in NCAA Division I tournament in March, Holy Cross was one of only three teams with a 100% graduation rate.

That analysis was released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. The study, "Keeping Score When It Counts: Graduation Rates for 2005 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament Teams," compared graduation rates for all student-athletes to basketball student-athletes in general and African-American basketball student-athletes in particular. The graduation rates are from the 2004 NCAA report, which showed whether a scholarship athlete graduated within six years after entering school between the 1994-95 and 1997-98 academic years

Earlier this year, the NCAA unveiled its new academic measurement. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is based on the academic eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes at Division I schools. A perfect score is 1,000.

Holy Cross' total overall score of 987 was higher than the average for Patriot League schools - 978.63 - and far higher than the Division I average of 948. In addition, 14 of Holy Cross' 26 varsity sports had perfect APR scores of 1,000. The teams are: men's basketball, men's cross country, men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse, men's outdoor track, women's rowing, field hockey, women's ice hockey, women's lacrosse, softball, women's indoor and outdoor track, and women's volleyball.

The reports did not startle Director of Athletics Richard Regan '76.

"The priority of academics is an overriding principle in our conduct of athletics at Holy Cross," he said. "I am not at all surprised at how high our scores are in the Academic Progress Rate calculation and in our graduation rates."

The APR is calculated by awarding two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's total points is then divided by the total points possible to come up with a number.

The NCAA has established a "cut line" of 925, which is equivalent to an approximate graduation rate of 50 percent. Those schools falling below the cut line will be subject to penalties in the future. The scores are based on data collected for the 2003-04 academic year. For more information, visit www.ncaa.org.

Last fall the NCAA announced graduation rates, revealing that the Patriot League was top among Division I conferences for the sixth year in a row.

Holy Cross is tied (with Bucknell, Colgate and University of Richmond) for sixth place out of 316 reporting institutions with an 88 percent graduation rate.

Related information:

# www.ncaa.org