When NCAA released its 2003-04/2004-05 Academic Progress Rate
for the first time this past Wednesday, universities around the
country trembled in fear of the punishments they might receive.
For UCLA, however, there is no reason to worry just yet.
Although three Bruin teams were below the APR threshold of 925, the
Bruins did not receive any penalties because of NCAA rules.
The APR was designed by the NCAA in recent years to provide a
“more real-time assessment of teams’ academic
performance.” While the final data is recorded over a
four-year period, the data released March 1 only deals with the
2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years.
If any sport receives a score under 925 they become eligible for
punishment, which includes scholarship reduction, recruiting
restrictions, lack of access to postseason competition and
restricted membership.
UCLA had three teams””mdash;men’s basketball, football and
gymnastics””mdash;under 925 and two others””mdash;men’s soccer
and women’s basketball””mdash;that were dangerously close to
the 925 barrier. On a positive note, three teams””mdash;men’s
cross country, men’s golf and men’s tennis””mdash;had
perfect scores of 1,000.
Men’s basketball and football both scored a 915 leaving
them at the 10th-20th percentile for all NCAA sports. Women’s
gymnastics scored a 919, which also placed them in 10th-20th
percentile for all NCAA sports.
However, none of these three teams under the 925-point limit
will be receiving punishment because NCAA rules stipulate that
there is not a large enough data pool to provide an accurate enough
assessment of the teams.
Because this report still has two more years of data to collect,
the NCAA has applied a squad-size adjustment to some teams. These
teams won’t receive penalties for another two years, when all
the data is collected.
Ironically, gymnastics, which received one of UCLA’s
lowest APR scores, also has the highest cumulative GPA in the
athletic department (3.24 in “˜04-’05 and 3.32 in
03-04). According to UCLA sports information director Marc Dellins,
the low gymnastics score was because four gymnasts dropped their
classes midway through the 2005 spring quarter to work in shows at
amusement parks. The gymnasts then re-enrolled in the fall.
UCLA is confident that its scores for the three under-par sports
will get over the 925 mark before their squad-size adjustments
become void. Last year’s scores have already improved from
the initial 2003-04 scores.
“There is no huge shock here in our numbers,” said
Petrina Long, associate athletic director. “(The three sports
under 925) don’t have a problem, they have situations that
are explainable.”
Long cited losing elite players to professional leagues, and the
transfers that occurred due to the hiring of coach Karl Dorrell and
coach Ben Howland as major causes for UCLA’s low scores.
However, the APR does not factor these mitigating circumstances
into the report.
Richard Herczog, the Director of Compliance for UCLA athletics,
believes that many factors are to blame for UCLA’s low
scores, but believes student-athlete effort during the offseason is
one of the main reasons.
“Student athletes are less motivated to perform in the
winter … if they play a fall sport,” Herczog said.
NCAA athletes are required to have a 1.8 GPA after their first 3
quarters, a 1.9 GPA by their junior year, and a 2.0 GPA by their
senior year to be eligible.
The APR system only calculates the scores of scholarship
athletes. Each quarter a scholarship athlete can receive one
attrition point for returning to school and one eligibility point
if their grades for the quarter meet the NCAA’s GPA
requirements. Then, the total earned attrition points and
eligibility points for a particular team are divided by the total
number of possible points. The fraction that results is then
converted into a score between 0-1000.