Lipscomb athletes’ academic performance scores well with NCAA

Lipscomb athletes’ academic performance scores well with NCAA

Due to the academic successes of its athletes, all of Lipscomb’s sports programs have escaped classroom-related penalties from the NCAA for the 12th straight year. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a system put in place by the NCAA to help measure whether Division I schools are ensuring their student-athletes are doing well academically. First enforced in 2003, APR is a statistic that tracks the “eligibility” and “retention” of athletic programs and their athletes nationwide. APR is calculated by giving one point per student-athlete in a given athletic program that is receiving financial aid for athletics, and another point if those students remain above the mandated academic thresholds. These points are added up, then divided by points possible, and finally multiplied by 1,000 to get the program’s total APR score. Programs with low APR scores will be penalized, with the first penalty being a limitation on practice time (16 hours over five days instead of 20 over 6). The NCAA also averages out the APR scores from the past four years to see if the program meets the minimum 930 standards it has set, and if the program does not, it is in danger of receiving a ban from participation in championship games. “It correlates an athlete’s ability to do the coursework,” said Lipscomb Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson. “A system that has some standards as opposed to not having any is probably the better approach,” In a year that saw 12 programs across 20 schools receive penalties, all of Lipscomb’s programs received scores high enough to avoid the one of their own. Men’s and women’s golf received the highest...

Lipscomb athletic teams post up passable APRs in recent report

Lipscomb athletics jumped the hurdle of the NCAA’s APRs last week, with each team having the necessary grades to carry on business as usual. The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rates are assessed each term and pinpoint low academic scores for all NCAA athletes under scholarship. Any team that reaches the point of scoring a 925 or under can incur scholarship loss. Scoring below a 900 can warrant a multitude of other penalties. Lipscomb athletics passed the reports, with no team scoring below a 940. For the second year in a row, women’s tennis led the school with a score of 1000 – the highest obtainable score. The program has had the same score of 1000 since the 2008-2009 report. Below is a chart showing the APRs of all Lipscomb teams, comparing them to last year’s reports. Visit the NCAA APR’s website for a complete history of Lipscomb’s APRs, as well as other NCAA team reports.  TEAM 2011-2012 APR 2010-2011 APR Baseball 940 945 Men’s Basketball 949 975 Men’s Cross Country 986 985 Men’s Golf 941 939 Men’s Soccer 953 970 Men’s Tennis 992 991 Men’s Indoor Track 967 980 Men’s Outdoor Track 978 980 Softball 984 971 Women’s Basketball 987 991 Women’s Cross Country 997 992 Women’s Golf 991 992 Women’s Soccer 970 964 Women’s Tennis 1000 1000 Women’s Indoor Track 992 990 Women’s Outdoor Track 992 990 Women’s Volleyball 989...