GEORGIA TECH IMPROVES OR EQUALS APR SCORES IN 14 OF 17 SPORTS

May 14, 2014

Fourteen of Georgia Tech’s 17 varsity sports improved or equaled their Academic Progress Report (APR) scores from the previous year, including three Yellow Jacket teams that posted perfect scores, in data released Wednesday by the NCAA. As announced last week, four Georgia Tech teams – football, golf, women’s tennis and men’s swimming – rank in the top 10 percent nationally within their sport when it comes to APR.

The APR numbers released today are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years. APR is calculated by assessing each scholarship student-athlete’s retention and eligibility each semester. To receive a perfect score of 1,000 each team’s student-athletes must meet the NCAA retention and eligibility guidelines.

The football program, which saw its APR score rise in each of the previous four years under head coach Paul Johnson, equaled its 983 score from a year ago. The Yellow Jackets tied for the second-highest APR score for football in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Tech was one of four ACC teams to rank in the top 10 percent nationally, the most of any of the power five conferences.

The men’s basketball team has made remarkable APR strides under head coach Brian Gregory. Three years ago the Yellow Jackets were saddled with APR-related penalties. However, after three consecutive single-year APR scores of 1,000, Tech (989) is tied for the fifth-best APR in the ACC and just six points shy of the league-high score of 995.

Every Georgia Tech team is in good APR standing, meaning no team is at risk of falling below a score of 930. Failure to achieve an APR score of 930 can result in penalties consisting of post-season ban, scholarship reductions or worse.

Athletic Director Mike Bobinski echoed his comments from last week when the top 10 percent teams were recognized, “Our vision is to create a top tier athletic program that achieves excellence on both the playing fields and in the classroom. This year’s APR results are evidence of solid academic progress.

“To further demonstrate the trend toward academic excellence, I learned last week that our collective student-athlete population achieved a mean GPA of 3.0 for the most recent Spring term. We are very proud of the commitment and effort of our student-athletes in both the classroom and athletic competition and we look forward to continued success in the years ahead.”