Athletics Director Jim Schaus got the first good news of his short tenure early last week.
Ohio performed well in the annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) report, which is conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and measures the eligibility and retention rate of student-athletes.
None of Ohio's teams scored below 925, the lowest score a team can receive without facing penalties ranging from a publicly issued warning for first-time offenders to NCAA tournament bans for multiple offenders.
Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility, retention and graduation rate of each scholarship athlete.
It's very encouraging
Schaus said. To be above 925 the national threshold for all your teams
that is not that common. It speaks very well to our student athletes
our coaches and our academic support staff.
The volleyball team garnered a Public Recognition Award for receiving a perfect score of 1,000.
The only other team that scored in the top-10 percentile within its sport was men's golf, which scored a 997.
Despite the good scores, there are some areas that Schaus said he would like to improve.
Field Hockey scored a 961, making it the only team currently part of the Ohio athletic program to score in the lowest 10th percentile within its sport.
Women's basketball was the second-lowest score on the report with a 931.
When there are coaching changes there are sometimes transfers that occur
Schaus said. Having continuity in our programs is important
we weren't having eligibility issues
that wasn't the main factor.
The four teams cut last winter had similarly disappointing scores.
Men's swimming had the worst score of any Ohio team at 925, which was well below the Division I average of 967.
Lacrosse scored a 932, considerably lower than the average of 984. Men's indoor and outdoor track both scored a 936, 15 points below the average of 951.
Overall, Ohio performed much better than some of its Mid-American Conference counterparts.
The NCAA hit five MAC schools with various penalties.
Temple's football program just finished its first season in the MAC and will have a tough time competing next season with the penalties the NCAA just leveled on them. The team will be limited to 81 scholarships and 16 hours of practice time, four less than the 20 hours normally allowed.
MAC schools Akron, Toledo, Bowling Green and Central Michigan were dealt various punishments for sub-par scores.
Schaus said that Ohio must continue to earn high APR scores.
That will be a major area of focus for our athletic department while I'm here
Schaus said. It's going to be incumbent upon us to make it a high priority in the future.
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