Over the past couple of days, we’ve been documenting the NCAA retreat featuring Association President Mark Emmert and over 50 Presidents and Chancellors from across the country. Just in case, here’s the Day One recap and the Day Two recap.
As you’ll recall from the second day, a very strong proposal was made to increase the minimum Academic Progress Rate (APR) for college programs from 900 to 930. It was brought forth that programs who did not meet the minimum requirements in the future could be banned from postseason play in all sports, including bowl games.
(Note: bowl games are not part of the NCAA-sponsored championships, so it’s pretty significant that the NCAA would enforce a ban on a school for a non-NCAA event.)
(Second note: for more information on how the APR is calculated, CLICK HERE)
One day after proposing the idea, the NCAA has acted on it, and programs will now be held more accountable for the academic success of their players.
The NCAA wrote today that the Division 1 Board of Directors “unanimously approved the concept of increasing the required academic performance of all teams and mandated that teams must meet those requirements in order to participate in any NCAA-sponsored championship or football bowl game.”
“This is about the academic performance of all of our students in all of our sports. This is about the academic expectations we have for all of our student-athletes,” said Emmert.
Currently, programs could face penalties if they fall below a four-year 900 APR score, including a loss of scholarships.
