USC’s football and men’s basketball teams were among nine Trojan teams setting or matching their all-time high Academic Progress Rate scores, according to a new report issued by the NCAA.
The USC football team had a 968 Academic Progress Rate score, nine points higher than a year earlier, while the men’s basketball team had a 969 score, 10 points higher than a year earlier.
The other seven Trojan teams posting record or record-tying APR scores were men’s track and field (983), baseball (997 for the fourth consecutive year), men’s volleyball (1,000 for the second consecutive year), women’s beach volleyball (1,000), women’s cross country (1,000 for the third consecutive year), women’s golf (1,000) and women’s tennis (1,000 for the fourth consecutive year).
Fourteen of USC’s 21 teams had higher scores than one year ago, according to the report released Wednesday.
The Academic Progress Rate was implemented in 2003 to hold institutions accountable for the academic progress of their athletes.
The rate is a four-year average of academic performance that rewards student-athletes for remaining eligible as well as continuing education at the same school.
Every player receiving an athletic scholarship earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to determine the Academic Progress Rate.
Teams scoring lower than 930 can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships and be banned from postseason play.
All USC men’s teams were at least 38 points above the 930 Academic Progress Rate and all Trojan women’s teams were at least 19 points above it.
—City News Service