May 6, 2008

PULLMAN, Wash. - The NCAA released its 2007 Academic Progress Rate (APR) figures and 13 of Washington State University's 17 intercollegiate athletic programs are in compliance with the association's guidelines. The report, released today, contains data over the previous four academic years measuring student-athlete academic progress and assigns each sport a corresponding score.

The APR is an annual assessment of each team's academic and retention history. 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. Beginning in the fall of 2007, the APR is based on four years of data. Every year thereafter, the most current year's data will be added and the oldest year of data will be removed, creating a four-year rolling rate.

The WSU football team recorded a four-year average score of 916, missing the 925 benchmark mandated by the NCAA. Teams falling below the 925 threshold are subject to contemporaneous penalties, which results in teams not being able to re-award that grant-in-aid to another player and are applied only when teams below 925 do not retain an academically ineligible player. In the case of the Cougar football program, the 2006-07 single-year score of 874 dropped the four-year average under 925. The previous three years produced APR scores of 916 (2003-04), 955 (2004-05) and 921 (2005-06), which resulted a three-year score of 930.

"I am encouraged by the majority of our athletic programs and the tremendous work our coaches and student-athletes have put forth, but the most recent APR score by our football program for last year is not acceptable," said WSU Director of Athletics Jim Sterk. "Our past history is not indicative of this last year, which overshadowed much of our prior successes related to the APR.

"We are very proud of the fact that over the last 10 years WSU student-athletes rank second in the Pacific-10 Conference in graduation rate related to those seniors who have exhausted their eligibility," Sterk continued. "The football team also graduates its student-athletes at a rate four percent higher than the national Division I average, which also ranks the team second in the Pac-10. And I would also stress our football cumulative team grade point average of 2.67 following the spring of 2007 is the fourth-highest ever."

As a result of its most recent score, the Cougar football team will lose eight scholarships, which are to be taken at the earliest opportunity. Two of those scholarships were applied to the 2007-08 academic year while the remaining six have already been factored into the 2008 recruiting class.

"The NCAA has an appeals process but at this point we felt it was best to accept our penalties and move the football program forward," said Sterk. "During his interview process (WSU Head Football Coach) Paul Wulff was aware of our situation and assured us academic accountability would be a priority under his direction. While at Eastern Washington, Coach Wulff's program recorded a multi-year APR score of 944 over the most recent three-year recording period."

The highest multi-year APR scores at WSU were earned by women's cross country (994), women's golf (993), and women's outdoor (992) and indoor track (991). On the men's side cross country (979) led the way followed by outdoor (963) and indoor track (962). The Cougar women's indoor track program was cited as being in the top-10 percent nationwide for its respective sport and received the NCAA's Public Recognition Award.

Three other Cougar sports did not reach the 925 benchmark, those being men's basketball (905), baseball (921) and volleyball (923), though none will lose any scholarships because these three sports did not have a student-athlete depart the institution ineligible.

Men's basketball has seen a dramatic improvement since Tony Bennett, and before him his father Dick, took control of the program. In Dick's first season (2003-04) men's basketball's APR score was 813. The following three years have produced scores of 938, 923 and 942 ending with the 2006-07 academic year.

Baseball has also seen a spike in its APR score under the direction of head coach Donnie Marbut. Following a score 853 in 2003-04, the year prior to Marbut beginning, Cougar baseball has recorded APR scores of 894, 952 and most recently, an APR score of 962 for 2006-07.

Volleyball has also seen its APR score rise over the past two academic years, producing scores of 976 in 2005-06 and 957 for 2006-07. That has taken the four-year average from 875 following the 2004-05 academic year to its current four-year average of 923.