July 8, 2008

The Air Force Academy football team, along with men's basketball, wrestling and men's and women's outdoor track and field were honored by the NCAA for being in the top 10 percent of their respective sports in the Academic Performance Reports (APR), released recently.

Air Force continues to be the leader in academic excellence among the Mountain West Conference. The football team's score of 975 ranked highest among the nine-team MWC. Air Force is one of only five football playing Division I institutions to post a four-year APR in the top 10 percent nationally while playing in a major conference with the football bowl subdivision. Duke, Rice, Rutgers and Stanford are the other four.

Air Force football also tops the MWC in the other NCAA academic benchmark of graduation success rate. The Falcons have a 92 percent graduation success rate. The rate is more than 20 percent higher than any other school within the conference.

Top MWC Programs

APR:
Air Force -- 976
TCU -- 959
BYU -- 946
Utah -- 944
CSU -- 941

Graduation Success Rate:
Air Force -- 92
SDSU -- 70
TCU -- 69
CSU -- 66
Wyoming -- 63

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced on Tuesday, May 6.

For the NCAA's full reports, go to: http://tinyurl.com/3q3ksg (by sport) or http://tinyurl.com/53wjpc (by institution).