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Six men's sports and four women's sports posted gains.

By University Communications
May 6, 2008

The University of Arizona athletics department has received the NCAA’s yearly Academic Progress Report data for 2004-07, which will be released by the association today, and the data shows a number of improvements despite the eventual loss of a scholarship in one sport.

“We feel like we’ve turned a corner and are moving in a positive direction with the classroom performance of our student-athletes,” said Jim Livengood, the UA's director of athletics. "We show an upswing in the multiyear APR figures for six men’s sports and four women’s programs in today’s NCAA report.”

While the report covers the previous four years, the department's projections "for how we’ll rate at the end of next year are really solid,” Livengood said. “The APR provides a snapshot of the past, but making improvements in your academic situation is really a cumulative process and we know that our system is working.”

Four programs – baseball, football, men’s track and field, and women’s outdoor track – show APR figures below the contemporaneous penalty level of 925, but only men’s track faces a scholarship sanction because the other programs have demonstrated academic improvement based on varying NCAA guidelines.

“In the next year, we think we have the opportunity for five of our teams to be at the 1,000 level for an annual rate – the best – and we are on track to have each of our 19 programs at or above the critical 925 benchmark in the multiyear rating,” Livengood said.

The men’s track and field program received a sanction because a foreign student-athlete had credits toward graduation that did not transfer and ultimately withdrew after two semesters.

“We’ve made enormous progress in a number of key areas,” said Roger Grooters, UA director of academic services.

“It’s a nervous business, to be sure. Several sports have occasional built-in problems, such as travel schedules and professional drafts’ impact on undergraduate student-athletes,” he said. “But familiarity is a critical component. We know what’s happening on a daily basis and know where there have been difficulties."

Grooters and Mike Meade, assistant director of academics for the C.A.T.S. (Commitment to Athletes' Total Success) program, joined the UA in spring 2007, appointed by the UA’s student affairs office. They are located in the Cohn Academic Center, directing a staff that works closely with each UA sport.

“I’m buoyed by the fact Roger and Mike have determined that we’re making progress. Surely the NCAA’s report measures where you’ve been, but we’ve made good strides in building a foundation of programs that will help us meet or exceed the basic requirements in the near and distant future,” Livengood said. “And, actually, we’re looking to win annual ‘Public Recognition Awards’ for APR reports, not just make the grade.”