ACC Schools Strong in Academic Progress Rates

The scores for the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) came out Wednesday and showed an Atlantic Coast Conference well positioned academically on the whole.

All 58 ACC football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball programs exceeded the required 930 APR average putting a number of the conference’s flagship programs in good standing order.

A number of school’s within the ACC saw impressive ratings across the board.

The biggest news is that no ACC programs will be hit with penalties for low APR scores. That makes four consecutive years in good academic standing for all member institutions. Last week, 82 ACC programs received APR recognition awards. That’s good enough to lead all Power 5 conferences.

There are a lot of things one can take away from the report. Of note is that hockey leads all men’s sports with a four-year average APR score of 985. Technically, hockey is tied with fencing and water polo but I thought hockey ranking so high was worth shattering a stereotype or two.

Four schools around the nation were penalized for low multi-year APR scores: Alcorn State (SWAC), Florida A&M (MEAC), Stetson (Atlantic Sun) and Central Arkansas (Southland).

These programs are some of the most poorly funded and least successful in the NCAA ranks. It stands to reason big-time Power 5 schools have far greater resources to dedicate to maintaining a good APR score.

There seems to be a fair helping of, let’s say, “curious” information in this report and the surrounding mess. Certainly good for a belly laugh in certain parts of Kentucky and many parts around the SEC is lauding all those four-year players for coach Calipari down at Kentucky.