June 5, 2013
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s football and golf teams rank among the nation’s best when it comes to the Academic Progress Rate (APR).
Both Yellow Jacket teams were recognized Wednesday by the NCAA for producing an APR ranking in the top 10 percent nationally within those sports for the 2011-12 school year.
While Georgia Tech’s football program has improved its APR every year under head coach Paul Johnson, Wednesday’s announcement puts the Yellow Jackets in the top 10 percent nationally for the first time since the APR originated in 2003-04.
For coach Bruce Heppler’s golf team, the top-10 percent recognition is old hat. Since the APR began, the Yellow Jacket golf program has recorded a perfect 1,000 score every year (although this year’s score won’t be revealed until June 11).
“This is a great accomplishment for our football program,” Georgia Tech athletic director Mike Bobinski said. “By improving its APR over the last four years, they have shown a consistent commitment to academics.
“Our golf team continues to be a model program, competing on the highest level nationally while consistently performing at the highest level in the classroom.
“Congratulations to both teams, the student-athletes, coaching staffs and our academic support team,” Bobinski said.
Background on APR Public Recognition Announcement.
Each year, the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.
APR is then measured two ways:
1) Multi-year: Average of 4 cohorts (incoming freshman classes) 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. (Top 10 rankings)
2) Single year: 2011-12.
