Released last week, the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rates showed improvement in Oregon athletics’ academic standing in many programs, including the football program, whose score of 953 improves the team’s four-year average of APR ratings from 935. That score is seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Oregon men’s basketball team’s score of 975 topped the Pac-10, while the women’s team is second to Stanford, with 988.
Programs are judged on a 1,000-point scale, and a school must stay above a score of 925 to avoid penalties. Oregon football averaged 921 last year.
This year’s ratings were accumulated from data from the fall semester in 2004 through spring of 2008, data that gives each athlete in a program a possible two points – one for staying academically eligible and one for either staying at the school or graduating from it.
No matter how well other programs improve, it’s going to be hard to match the success of the UO women’s golf program, which has averaged a perfect 1,000 the last four years.
Two schools are the first to feel the stiff penalties from continually missing the 925 mark.
Centenary’s men’s basketball team and Tennessee-Chattanooga’s football team will be barred from playing in the postseason next year. Additionally, the Summit League suspended Centenary from its conference tournament.
According to The Associated Press, Centenary’s first-year coach Greg Gary lost five players after he was hired.
Overall, 177 teams received penalties. Jacksonville State’s football program is appealing its team’s postseason ban.
“I think it is a watershed because it shows the depth and severity of the penalties for schools that cannot come into compliance with academic performance,” NCAA President Myles Brand told The Associated Press.
At George Washington University in Washington, D.C., an institution noted for its academic prowess, the men’s basketball team scored 917 and will lose a scholarship for next season. The university self-forfeited one of its 13 scholarships last season, as well.
In response, GWU is forming a committee to “evaluate the program and implement new oversight policies,” an article in The GW Hatchet student newspaper said.
“We’re fine academically,” Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz told the paper. “We have a problem with retention.”
The school’s senior vice president for Student and Academic Support Services said it will look at what went wrong before deciding on new policies.
“We’ll first assess what the problem was specifically and then come up with some solutions to try to address them so that there are accountable measures that are well-documented and that you can track,” Robert Chernak said.
Volunteers, more make football headlines
Is it ever not college football season?
Weeks after many programs finished their spring seasons, the sport is never far from the headlines around the country. Many include the University of Tennessee, where first-year head coach Lane Kiffin, a former USC assistant and Oakland Raiders head coach, has had a whirlwind offseason since he was hired in December.
The Volunteers have received a national scorn and commendation for recruiting Daniel Hood, 19, who six years ago as a juvenile was convicted by a juvenile court of helping rape a relative.
Hood is a defensive end and tight end at a private school in Knoxville, Tenn., where the university also is.
“We didn’t go about this lightly,” Kiffin said in a media release. “We spent a lot of time researching the issue and talking to a lot of people who are well-respected in the community. Everyone spoke very highly of Daniel. He’s a very bright young man who wants to move past this incident and be a good representative for the team, the university and the community.”
The victim of the rape, who was 14 when it occurred, sent a letter of support for Hood to Tennessee during the recruitment process, the Associated Press wrote. The partner in the rape received a 10-year prison sentence because he was 17 at the time and charged as an adult. Hood went to a rehabilitation program.
“I had a good friend tell me I should go as far west as possible,” Hood told The Knoxville News Sentinel, which first reported the story. “But I don’t think that it’s a situation that I should try to avoid. It was heinous. It was awful. Any bad thing you could say about it would probably fit it. But I think it’s not trying to put it in a corner and forget it ever happened. I think you have to take it and learn from it and grow from it … I’ve got a debt to (the victim) that I can never repay, just trying to throw it away like it never happened would be the worst thing I could do for her.”
As Hood begins his career as a Volunteer, 11 players have left the team since Kiffin took over. Four have left since the end of spring practice.
Cal makes it 24 in a row
Oregon will not make the 64-team NCAA Softball Tournament this season for only the second time since head coach Kathy Arendsen took over in 2003. While the Ducks will be absent from the tournament, it would be nearly unthinkable for No. 12 Cal (35-18) not to. The Golden Bears’ ticket to the Tallahassee, Fla., regional this weekend is the program’s 24th straight trip to the NCAA tournament, the second-longest active streak.
One player told The Daily Californian student newspaper that it’s only logical to understand why the Bears will play in the College World Series this year after taking a step further the last two.
“My freshman year we made regionals, and last year we made it to super regionals,” Marissa Drewrey said. “So it only makes sense that we are going to make it a step further this year.”
Cal is one of six Pac-10 teams to make the tournament. The top 16 teams in the 64-team field were ranked, and five Pac-10 schools were ranked; No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Washington, No. 8 Stanford and No. 10 Arizona State.
The Cardinal, Bruins and Sun Devils will host regional tournaments this weekend.
UW softball raises money for breast cancer research
All 19 players on Washington’s softball team wore pink jerseys two weekends ago to raise awareness for the American Cancer Society. All the jerseys were auctioned off an raised $2,285. All-American pitcher Danielle Lawrie’s jersey was sold for $950.
Washington beat Oregon 11-0 the day players wore the jerseys.
Fraternity at Stanford a breeding ground for baseball
If Stanford needs to fill a roster spot on its baseball team, head coach Mark Marquess can always look at the university’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
An article published two weeks ago in the The Stanford Daily student newspaper tells how seven starters and nine players on the Cardinal’s team are members of the fraternity, and the house’s lineage to several Major League Baseball players, including Cleveland Indians first baseman Ryan Garko and 2006 MLB Draft No. 2 pick Greg Reynolds, now a pitcher with the Colorado Rockies.
“It’s real nice to become close with a lot of other guys. A lot of players on the team only hang out with teammates. By being in SAE, I can get away from baseball, broaden my horizons and meet new people,” sophomore catcher Ben Clowe told the paper, which was written by an SAE member and did not mention if there was a similar connection from any other programs and Greek houses, male or female.
Former QB Keller sues EA Sports
Ex-Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller has entered a suit against EA Sports and the NCAA on the grounds that the video games the company makes with the NCAA’s consent do not use the likenesses and name of athletes correctly.
The suit is a class-action lawsuit, filed for any college football or basketball player whose sport has been made into a video game where they were also depicted. Though the games do not come with names attached to players, Keller alleges that rosters with names of every player can be uploaded onto a video game from the company’s Web site, and the profits m
ade from the game, should be divided between all the athletes.
His lawyer, Rob Carey, told The Associated Press Keller doesn’t want any money won from the suit.
“He just didn’t think it appropriate that, given that the NCAA says you can’t profit from your likeness … they do the wink and the nod when EA Sports presents them with the game, which has the likeness of the player,” Carey said.
UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion to undergo renovation
Finally, UCLA announced last weekend it will remodel renowned basketball arena Pauley Pavilion as part of its $100-million fundraising plan called Campaign of Champions, of which $52.5 million has already been donated. UCLA plans on expanding seating by 1,000 (making a total of 14,000), a new hi-definition video board plus additional or updated concessions and restrooms.
Construction will begin February of next year, with the re-opening scheduled for 2012.
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