Published November 30, 2010 - 6:27am
NEW: Discuss this topic in the Google+ community for SEC fans.
Here at Saturday Down South we do believe in good education, right? Of course we do. Here is a list of the SEC football teams’ graduation rates:
Vanderbilt 89%
Georgia 68%
Florida 67%
Alabama 67%
LSU 67%
Mississippi State 64%
Auburn 63%
Kentucky 63%
Ole Miss 61%
South Carolina 57%
Arkansas 55%
Tennessee 53%
The average graduation rate for the conference in football is 65%. Without Vanderbilt, the average is slightly over 62%.
The overall average for all SEC sports is 78%.
Arkansas and Tennessee are neck and neck for last place.
Georgia, Florida, Alabama and LSU are near the top and have been on or near the top on the field in recent history as well.
Does anything surprise you from this list?
It surprises me that Vandy’s grad rate is only 89%… lol Didn’t think they even recruited. :)
That’s because you go to Vandy for an education not to play football.
Nothing is really surprising about the list. If I remember correctly, isn’t this the average number that graduate with their incoming freshman class within four years at that school? It doesn’t take into account the athletes who transfer to other schools, or take lighter academic workloads and graduate at later times than that of their fellow classmates. Schools with players who leave early for the NFL draft would also see their numbers a bit lower than average. I would assume the actual number who graduate would be somewhat higher.
Graduation rates are meaningless in the world of big-time college athletics. Players transfer in and out. They leave early for the NFL. They get hurt, and having had no real intention of getting an education in the first place, quit. This is why the NCAA no longer judges schools in this way and why the Academic Progress Rate (APR) was created instead. The APR is a metric established by the NCAA to measure the success or failure of collegiate athletic teams in moving student-athletes TOWARDS graduation. Per the NCAA, “The APR is calculated by allocating points for eligibility and retention — the two factors that research identifies as the best indicators of graduation. Each player on a given roster earns a maximum of two points per term, one for being academically eligible and one for staying with the institution. A team’s APR is the total points of a team’s roster at a given time divided by the total points possible. Since this results in a decimal number, the CAP decided to multiply it by 1,000 for ease of reference. Thus, a raw APR score of .925 translates into the 925 that will become the standard terminology”.
Having established that, here are the APR rates per school. Keep in mind that the minimum, as stated above,is 925. Consistent years below this number can result in scholarship losses. The NCAA Football average is 944 for the last full year of data, 2008-2009.
Vanderbilt 982
Florida 982
Alabama 972
Georgia 965
LSU 961
Ole Miss 957
Kentucky 955
Mississippi State 954
Arkansas 944
South Carolina 934
Tennessee 928
Auburn 915
Some explanations are required and understandable for teams near the bottom. Arkansas and Tennessee both had recent coaching changes that led to transfers, bringing down the rates. I have no real explanation for South Carolina. Auburn is the easiest. It is a school filled with cow kissing rednecks that struggles to maintain it’s accreditation and pays players to attend. 915 is probably being generous.
Far be it from me to defend Auburn, but what I found on the NCAA APR site (http://web1.ncaa.org/maps/aprRelease.jsp) was very different from what you posted here.
Vanderbilt University TN 975
University of Georgia GA 973
University of Florida FL 971
Louisiana State University LA 965
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa AL 957
University of Kentucky KY 951
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 944
Mississippi State University MS 939
University of South Carolina, Columbia SC 938
Auburn University AL 935
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR 930
University of Mississippi MS 921
Admittedly, this is for Football only and not inclusive of all athletic programs.
Your numbers are multi-year, mine are for the latest full year 2008-09.
Nope. 2008-2009 only. Read the disclaimer at the top of the site.
auburn is best alabama is next waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar eagle
roooooooooooooooooooooooll tide
That is bull!