PSU athletes received the highest grades ever from the NCAA for their academic progress in a national report released Tuesday. The NCAA gave PSU's athletic program a 956 score out of a possible 1,000 in its 2009-10 Academic Progress Rate, with seven programs scoring a perfect 1,000.
The teams achieveing perfect 1,000 scores were men's basketball, men's cross country, men's tennis, men's indoor track, men's outdoor track, women's golf and women's soccer. All 15 Viking programs had APR scores over 900.
Portland State's women's golf program was recognized by the NCAA last week for having an APR score among the nation's top 10 percent of sports programs. The Viking golfers recorded a perfect 1,000 score in 2009-10, the fourth successive year they had reached that score for a perfect 1,000 multi-year rate.
Other PSU programs with high multi-year scores include women's volleyball (982), women's basketball (964) and women's soccer (962). The multi-year APR scores released span the 2006-10 academic years.
With its significant APR improvement in 2009-10, Portland State's men's basketball program has been absolved of all NCAA restrictions of previous seasons. In 2009-10, Tyler Geving's first year as Viking Head Coach, PSU earned a perfect 1,000 score, raising the team's multi-year rate over 900.
"I want to commend everyone involved in the academic success of PSU's student-athletes during this APR period," said Portland State Director of Athletics Torre Chisholm. "Student success is a team effort and coaches, academic advisers, and, of course, student-athletes are to be applauded for their outstanding efforts. I specifically want to recognize Tyler Geving, as well as current and former advisers Brandy Coleman and Josh Sine, for the hard work in correcting the basketball programs APR challenges."
The men's basketball program had suffered the loss of two scholarships, practice time and, last season, a one-year restriction on post-season play due to low APR scores for 2005-09. In 2011-12, the program will have no restrictions, be fully scholarshipped and resume full practice time.
The only PSU program currently receiving any scholarship reductions related to APR scores is football, which will receive a 0.29 scholarship reduction in 2011-12. However, that is a significant improvement over this past year, when the 2005-09 APR scoring had PSU reduced 5.07 scholarships. PSU football's 945 APR score in 2009-10 was its highest ever in the seven years of APR recording by the NCAA.
In reality, the football program will not be affected by the scholarship reduction as it comes assuming a full 63 scholarship program at the NCAA I FCS level. PSU usually gives scholarships totaling in the high 50s in football.
APR INFORMATION
· The Academic Progress Rate is a real-time measure of eligibility and retention of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team.
· The most recent APR scores are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years.
· The Division I Board of Directors set cut scores of 925 and 900 (out of 1,000) as a threshold for teams to meet or face possible immediate and historical sanctions.
· The goal of the NCAA's academic performance program is improvement, not punishment. Not only does the program ensure accountability for student-athletes, teams and institutions, but also it provides fairness by considering individual circumstances per team and school.
· Every team posting an APR score below 925 is required to develop a specific academic improvement plan. Teams posting APR scores below 900 must submit those plans to the NCAA national office for review.
