For the fifth consecutive year, UCF’s aggregate APR (Academic Progress Rate) has increased, now lifting the Knights to lofty places around the state of Florida and Conference USA. These crucial rankings, first compiled in 2004, are a large part of late NCAA President Dr. Miles Brand’s comprehensive academic reform initiative to better assess the academic standards nationwide and the Knights have continued to excel.
UCF’s all-sports multi-year average APR is a 967. Amongst some of the highlights surrounding this score:
Of the 13 Floridian schools which compete at the Division I level, UCF’s 967 ranks third trailing only Miami (974) and Florida (972).
UCF’s 967 average places it third overall in Conference USA, trailing only elite academic universities Rice (985) and Tulane (980) while standing as the leader amongst public schools in the league.
Of UCF’s 16 varsity teams, 12 (75-percent) matched or exceeded their respective sport’s national average for public institutions.
Bolstering the school’s lofty multi-year average was an exemplary 2008-09 academic year which saw four different UCF teams (cross country, rowing, volleyball and women’s soccer) record a perfect score of 1000.
Likewise, a full 50-percent (eight of 16) of Knight teams had an APR score of 980 or higher for the 2008-09 academic year. In the 2008-09 academic year alone, UCF’s APR average per sport was 969, two points better than its multi-year average.
Of particular note is UCF’s performance in the sport of football:
UCF football’s multi-year APR of 972 ranks 16th nationally.
UCF is seventh in the nation for football APR amongst public schools, exempting service academies.
UCF ranks sixth nationally amongst schools from non-automatic qualifying BCS Conferences and Notre Dame and third for public schools in the group.
UCF’s 972 trails only Miami (978) amongst Florida’s 10 Division I football teams.
The Knights’ lofty APR trails only Rice (987) amongst C-USA schools.
Reflecting UCF head football coach George O’Leary’s mindful eye and heavy emphasis on academics, UCF’s current 972 has come a very long way from the 901 mark held by the team in 2006.
Football wasn’t the only UCF team to sit near the C-USA APR pinnacle.
The rowing team’s 993 was second only to Oklahoma amongst the many schools which row under the C-USA umbrella.
UCF’s men’s golf tied for third in the league while the women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams were both all alone in third place amongst their C-USA peers.
Both the men’s golf and women’s outdoor track and field teams won their respective C-USA Championships this spring as well.
With cross country, rowing, volleyball and women’s soccer recording perfect 1000 scores for 2008-09, it marks 22 times out of 100 total possible rankings since the APR began that a UCF team has scored perfectly.
It is the third time in six years that cross country and volleyball have achieved this feat. It was rowing’s second perfect score and women’s soccer’s first.
Meanwhile, none of UCF’s teams are below the 925 threshold for the third year in a row. UCF has never had a team penalized for low APR standings.
The APR is a matter taken extremely seriously by the NCAA as teams that score below a multi-year 925 and have a student leave school academically ineligible can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships.
The APR provides a real-time “snapshot” of a team’s academic success each semester by looking at current academic progress of every student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation as factors in the rate calculation and provides a much clearer picture of the current academic culture in each sport.
The APR is the fulcrum upon which the entire academic-reform structure rests. Developed as a more real-time assessment of teams’ academic performance than the six-year graduation-rate calculation provides, the APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team’s APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible.
